perspicacity \pur-spuh-KAS-uh-tee\ (noun) - Clearness of understanding or insight; penetration, discernment.
"I understand he was a great help to Chex Centaur. There is also no problem about feeding him. I commend you for your perspicacity in selecting him." -- Piers Anthony, 'Heaven Cent'
Perspicacity comes from Latin perspicax, perspicac-, "sharp-sighted," from perspicere, "to look through," from per, "through" + specere, "to look."
virtu \vuhr-TOO; vir-\ (noun) - 1 : love of or taste for fine objects of art. 2 : Productions of art (especially fine antiques). 3 : Artistic quality.
"There were gorgeous carpets and hangings, frescoed ceilings, spurious objects of virtu, and pier-tables loaded with ornaments." -- Emile Gaboriau, 'The Count's Millions'
Virtu comes from Italian virtù "virtue, excellence," from Latin virtus, "excellence, worth, goodness, virtue."
firmament \FUR-muh-muhnt\ (noun) - 1 : The region of the air; the sky; the heavens. 2 : The field or sphere of an interest or activity.
"Then all at once he reached the gates of the firmament and the cloud opened, so that Moses could step out." -- Howard Schwartz, 'Gabriel's Palace: Jewish Mystical Tales"
Firmament comes from Late Latin firmamentum, "firmness, the sky," from Latin firmare, "to make firm."
melange \may-LAHNZH\ (noun) - A mixture; a medley.
"Harley Burton's office was a melange of overcrowded and mismatched furnishings. The desk, huge and oblong, was too large for the room; the chairs too small..." -- Katherine V. Forrest, 'Amateur City'
Melange derives from Old French meslance, from mesler, "to mix," ultimately from Latin miscere, "to mix."
redivivus \red-uh-VY-vuhs; -VEE-\ (adjective) - Living again; brought back to life; revived; restored.
"'He can't be redivivus if he's never died,' Diotallevi said. 'Sure he's not Ahasuerus, the wandering Jew?'" -- Umberto Eco, 'Foccault's Pendulum'
Redivivus comes from Latin, from the prefix red-, re-, "again" + vivus, "alive."
alfresco \al-FRES-koh\ (adverb) - In the open air; outdoors.
(adjective) - Taking place or located in the open air; outdoor.
"I thought an alfresco picnic would be fun, and the weather is supposed to be rather nice, later, for March; we can wrap up warm and sit on the beach." -- Tess Stimson, 'The Adultry Club'
Alfresco is from the Italian al fresco, "in the fresh (air)," from al, "in the" (a, "to, in" + il, "the") + fresco, "fresh."
modicum \MOD-ih-kum\ (noun) - A small or moderate or token amount.
"She and the last three queens before her had been hard pressed to maintain a modicum of control over the miners and smelters in the Mountains of Mist..." -- Robert Jordan, 'The Fires of Heaven'
Modicum is from Latin modicus, moderate, from modus, measure.
hauteur \haw-TUR; (h)oh-\ (noun) - Haughty manner, spirit, or bearing; haughtiness; arrogance.
"The earl's eyes were momentarily hurt, his expression baffled; then he dismissed the emotions and replaced them with cold disdain, relying on the hauteur Robin knew so well." -- Jennifer Roberson, 'Lady of the Forest'
Hauteur is from the French, from haut, "high," from Latin altus, "high." It is thus related to altitude.
deliquesce \del-ih-KWES\ (intransitive verb) - 1 : To melt away or to disappear as if by melting. 2 : (Chemistry) To dissolve gradually and become liquid by attracting and absorbing moisture from the air, as certain salts, acids, and alkalies. 3 : To become fluid or soft with age, as certain fungi. 4 : To form many small divisions or branches -- used especially of the veins of a leaf.
"I stammered, rubbing my eyes and feeling my bowels deliquesce as soon as he put my life in the past conditional." -- Jon Fasman, 'The Geographer's Library'
Deliquesce comes from Latin deliquescere, from de-, "down, from, away" + liquescere, "to melt," from liquere, "to be fluid." It is related to liquid and liquor.
quaff \KWOFF; KWAFF\ (transitive verb) - To drink with relish; to drink copiously of; to swallow in large draughts. (intransitive verb) To drink largely or luxuriously. (noun) A drink quaffed.
"Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!' Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore.'" -- Edgar Allen Poe, 'The Raven'
Quaff is of unknown origin.
xenophobia \ZEN-uh-FOE-bee-uh\ (noun) - Fear or hatred of strangers, people from other countries, or of anything that is strange or foreign.
"Even if Indians had been accepting of mixed alliances, the xenophobia of the British warranted no other response to Anglo-Indian alliances..." -- Indu Sundaresan, 'The Splendor of Silence'
The word xenophobia was formed from the Greek elements xenos "guest, stranger, foreigner" + phobos "fear."
rhabdomancy \RAEB-deh-maen-see\ (noun) - Divination of the location of water, oil, etc. by means of a divining rod or stick; dowsing, witch-wiggling.
"I doubt, however, if he would find the children of Yankees more passive under his rhabdomancy than those of us Britishers." -- William Howitt, 'Woodburn Grange'
From Greek rhabdomanteia based on rhabdos "rod" + manteia "divination." The Proto-Indo-European root is werb- or werbh- "to turn, bend" that also developed into "warp" and "wrap." Other variants of this stem underlie "rhapsody" from Greek rhapsoidia based on rhapsis "stitching together" (from rhaptein "to sew") + oide "song, ode" + ia, a noun suffix. The suffix -mancy comes from Late Latin -mantia inherited from Greek manteia "divination." This relates today's word with an earlier Word of the Day, gastromancy "divination by means of stomach rumblings." They can cause a bit of wiggling, too.
indolent \IN-duh-lehnt\ (adjective) - 1 : Disinclined to exert oneself; habitually lazy. Conducive to inactivity or laziness; lethargic. 2 : Causing little or no pain. Slow to heal, grow, or develop; inactive.
"For the indolent body there are soft lounges, soft stools; for indolent feet soft rugs; for indolent eyes faded, dingy, or flat colors..." -- Anton Chekov, 'The Wife'
Late Latin indolens, indolent-, painless : Latin in-, not + Latin dolens, present participle of dolere, to feel pain.
rigmarole \RIG-meh-rol\ (noun) - 1 : Rambling, disconnected speech; 2 : red tape, complicated procedure or process.
"What she really meant was not all the rigmarole of turning the futon into a bed but the secondary rigmarole of putting a sheet down..." -- Edward Docx, 'Pravda'
Today's word is an alteration of obsolete ragman roll "catalog" from the name of a scroll used in Ragman('s) Roll, a game in which objects on strings were pulled from a scroll, sometimes to gamble, sometimes for fun. The name may ultimately come from Ragemon le bon "Ragemon the Good," the title of a collection of poems about a character of that name. The original meaning of "rigmarole" was simply a long list, a catalog. Now, "roll" comes from Latin rotula "little wheel" (from rota "wheel") via Old French roler "to roll." Clearly "rotate," "rotary," "rotunda" and several other words go back to "rota" but so does "rodeo," the Spanish word for "detour, roundup" derived from rodear "to twist, wind about" from rueda "wheel, ring," a natural descendent of Latin rota.
lascivious \lae-SI-vi-yehs\ (adjective) - Lustful, lewd, wanton; eliciting or expressing carnal desire.
"I say, gentlemen, that lascivious details cannot be screened by a moral ending, otherwise one could account all the orgies imaginable, one could decribe all the depravities of a harlot, so long as she were to made to die on a pallet in the poorhouse." -- Gustave Flaubert, 'Madame Bovary'
Today's word comes from Late Latin lasciviosus, the adjective of lascivia "lewdness, playfulness," itself from lascivus "lustful, sportive, playful" from the Proto-Indo-European root *las- "to be eager, wanton, or just unruly." Akin to "lust," highly resemblant cousin of German Lust "love, desire" as in Wanderlust "love of travel." From an older word "lascivy" = "lasciviousness," this word seems to have run amok, accumulating several suffixes only to return full circle semantically to its original meaning. The adverb is "lasciviously" and the current noun is "lasciviousness." The verb is lasciviate "to behave lewdly." Avoid such behavior at all costs but enjoy the word when criticizing others.
schlep \shlep\ (verb) - To drag, lug; to haul; to travel a great distance.
"You schlep to this village, you schlep to that one, you set up an ambush, you go back to base. Once in a while a mine blows somebody up." -- Norman Green, 'The Angel of Montague Street'
Today's word is from Yiddish shlepn "to drag, pull" taken from Middle Low German "slepen," today German schleppen "to drag, plod along, tow something heavy." "Schleppen" is related to schleifen "to grind, to drag along the floor" and apparently meant originally "to make slide." The original root, *slei-, ended up in English as "slime," "slick," "slip," and "slice." Latin limus "slime" is apparently a descendant of the same root, minus the initial [s]. Don't forget to double the final [p] before suffixes with vowels, "He schleps" but "He schlepped," "He is our schlepper," and "He is schlepping." This verb may also be used as a noun referring to a lazy, unkempt person.
groundling \GROUND-ling\ (noun) - 1 : A person of unsophisticated taste; one that lives or works on or near the ground; 2 : a spectator who stood in the pit of an Elizabethan theater.
"But then, Roger was not a groundling. He was no mere spectator, but a leading man — a (Capulet or a Montague, take your pick — who was using the Square as a sort of Green Room." -- Neal Stephenson, 'The System of the World'
In Elizabethan times, play-going audiences consisted of the upper gallery (where the wealthier patrons fanned themselves and looked with disdain at those in the pit below) and pit spectators, who had to sit or stand in close proximity on the bare floor, exposed to the sweltering sun or the dampening rain. The pit was also called the "ground"; those in it were "groundlings." Today, we use "groundlings" to refer not only to the less than couth among us, but also (often with some facetiousness) to ordinary Janes or Joes.
habitue \huh-BICH-oo-ay; huh-bich-oo-AY\ (noun) - One who habitually frequents a place.
"Fielding had been an habitue of this dingy but commodious establishment for nearly twenty years." -- Simon Raven, 'Morning Star'
Habitue is from the past participle of French habituer
factitious \fak-TISH-uhs\ (adjective) - 1 : Produced artificially, in distinction from what is produced by nature. 2 : Artificial; not authentic or genuine; sham.
"However, he had enough strength in him -- factitious no doubt -- to very nearly make an end of us, as you shall hear directly." -- Joseph Conrad, 'Heart of Darkness'
Factitious comes from Latin facticius, "made by art, artificial," from the past participle of facere, "to make."
pellucid \puh-LOO-sid\ (adjective) - 1 : Transparent; clear; not opaque. 2 : Easily understandable.
"It was the first time he had seen her out of mourning, and above the pellucid eyes and the pencilled brows, on the dark hair, there was a small coronal of diamonds; swaying and scintillating as if a breath played about them." -- Frank Danby, 'Joseph in Jeopardy'
Pellucid comes from Latin pellucidus, "shining, transparent," from pellucere, "to shine through," from per-, "through" + lucere, "to shine."
The recent splash landing of Flight 1549 in the Hudson River introduced us to a new hero -- "Sully" -- and a new word -- "snarge."
According to Carla Dove, the aptly named program manager of the Feather Identification Laboratory at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, "snarge" is what's left of a bird after it goes through a jet engine.
Dove's lab examines snarge and feathers found in airplane engines to determine what kind of birds be"fowl"ed them. Identifying the species involved in such collisions can help aviation and wildlife officials avoid future feather benders.
But whence "snarge"?
I found one possible clue in a British book of army and navy slang -- "Soldier and Sailor Words and Phrases" by Edward Fraser and John Gibbons published in 1925. It includes this entry: "SNARGE: "Any ugly or unpleasant person."
Was it possible that a British term for a jerk became a term for bird glop and then jumped the pond to the U.S.? After all, it usually works the other way around; the substance becomes the person. Think "rotten egg," "bad apple," "little snot."
So I called Dove at the Smithsonian, wondering if she or someone in her lab had coined the term. No luck. She said "snarge" was already in common use among museum technicians when she entered the field 20 years ago.
When I mentioned the book of British slang, Dove suggested I email Robert Prys-Jones, an ornithologist who heads the bird group at Britain's Natural History Museum.
"I regret I've no idea," he emailed back. "It's not a word I've heard used in British ornithological/museum circles." So much for the Brit theory.
My hunch is that American museum technicians concocted "snarge" sometime prior to 1989 simply by blending an "sn-" word with an "arge" word. After all, words beginning with "sn-" often have nasty or gooey connotations: "snide," "snicker," "snort," "sniffle." And the "arge" sound can suggest something gooey: "discharge," "porridge," "parge" (to coat with plaster).
In fact, the online lexicon Double-tongued Dictionary suggests that "snarge" is a combination of "snot" and "garbage." So it appears that "snarge" may have been formed, appropriately enough, by blending two substances we'd just as soon not find in our windpipes or jet engines.
chicanery \shih-KAY-nuh-ree\ (noun) - 1 : The use of trickery or sophistry to deceive (as in matters of law). 2 : A trick; a subterfuge.
"Here's how to talk and keep the upper hand:
For no man's half as barefaced as a woman
When it comes to chicanery and gammon." -- Geoffrey Chaucer, 'The Canterbury Tales
Chicanery comes from French chicaner, "to quibble, to use tricks," perhaps from Middle Low German schicken, "to arrange," with the sense "to arrange to one's own advantage."
coxcomb \KOKS-kohm\ (noun) - 1 : obsolete. A cap worn by court jesters; adorned with a strip of red. (Now cockscomb). 2 : archaic. The top of the head, or the head itself. 3 : Obsolete. A fool. 4 : A vain, showy fellow; a conceited, silly man, fond of display; a superficial pretender to knowledge or accomplishments; a dandy; a fop.
"Not at all -- I never saw him; but I fancy he is very unlike his brother -- silly and a great coxcomb." -- Jane Austen, 'Sense and Sensibility'
Coxcomb is a corrupted spelling of cock's comb, the comb of a rooster, hence the badge resembling it that was worn in the cap of a professional fool or jester, hence the wearer of the cap, hence a fool or a vain and silly man.
quaff \KWOFF; KWAFF\ (transitive verb) - To drink with relish; to drink copiously of; to swallow in large draughts. (intransitive verb) To drink largely or luxuriously. (noun) A drink quaffed.
"Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!' Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore.'" -- Edgar Allen Poe, 'The Raven'
Quaff is of unknown origin.
officious \uh-FISH-uhs\ (adjective) - Marked by excessive eagerness in offering services or advice where they are neither requested nor needed; meddlesome.
"Another officious-looking woman, who looked remarkably like the first officious-looking woman, down to the little chain on her reading glasses, had him sit down across from her while she looked at Jody's papers and ignored him." -- Christopher Moore, 'Bloodsucking Fiends'
Officious comes from Latin officiosus, obliging, dutiful, from officium, dutiful action, sense of duty, official employment, from opus, a work, labor + -ficere, combining form of facere, to do, to make. It is related to official, of or pertaining to an office or public trust.
My recent column on children's verbal errors elicited a batch of delightful anecdotes from readers.
Bonnie Reinders reports that, as a young girl, she rendered the line from the Christmas carol "O Holy Night" "long lay the world" as "long-legged world." Claire Fazio remembers her son's singing "Felice Navidad" as "Release Mommy's Duck."
Another reader said a childhood friend interpreted the line from an old Latin hymn -- "Macula non est in Te" ("There is no stain in You") -- as "Dracula drinks Nescafe." That friend later went to the seminary.
A reader named Kathy recalls that, after moving her family from the North to Oklahoma, her 5-year-old daughter asked her why everyone there wanted God to be cleaner. When Kathy asked what she meant, the girl said, "Everyone down here 'washups' him."
David Menkes of Auckland, New Zealand, grew up in California, where he misheard the line in the Pledge of Allegiance as "and to the republic for witched stands." He said he visualized "roadside stalls, perhaps at Halloween, thronged with witches buying or selling apples, pumpkins, broomsticks or black cats."
Kami McManus reports that one day her 6-year-old son, Connor, came home from school and told her he hadn't been able to talk to Jesus at recess. Asked why, he said, "Because he is the sun of God, and it is cloudy out today."
Duane Schrag of Freeman, S.D., recalls that, when a friend teaching in a Catholic elementary school asked her students to write the Rosary, almost all of them rendered one line as, "Blessed is the fruit of thy wound, Jesus."
"When I was in first grade," writes Kathleen Egan, "I thought God was a gigantic legume because Sister Anna Marie had said that God was the 'Supreme Bean.'"
Lionel Loza couldn't figure out why his son Thomas was knocking over his toy dinosaurs one by one and shouting, "You stink! You stink!" Then he realized Thomas was saying, "You're extinct! You're extinct!"
Ann Manz of McKeesport, Pa., remembers that, when her husband was teaching good toilet habits to their 3-year-old son, Eric, the boy emerged from the bathroom and sputtered fearfully, "We have bugs!" All because his father had pointed to his zipper and said, "This is a fly."
And when one dad told his 7-year-old daughter he was tired because he was "getting old," she replied, "Well, Daddy, I wish you were new again."
"The difference between the right word and the wrong word," wrote Mark Twain, "is the difference between the lightning and the lightning bug." After reading these "enlightening" bloopers from newspapers and magazines, you'll surely agree. Can you spot the blots?
1. "Maybe lightening will strike by the end of the General Assembly's session." Will the legislators turn blonde? (Ann Duffy, Broad Brook, Conn.)
2. "The fire was the result of a lightening strike." (Mark Lander, Old Lyme, Conn.)
3. "The first-floor bath has a laundry shoot to the basement." Talk about being shot at "clothes" range! (Anastasia Stoletina, Trenton, N.J.)
4. "An administrative assistant has tenured her resignation." (Betty Lundy, West Point, Miss.) 5. "The teenagers had planned a prom around one theme, but when that fell through they adopted another theme in luau of the first." Something Hawaiian? (Susan Worthington, Lexington, Mo.)
6. Next to a check box on an absentee ballot: "My religious tenants . . . forbid secular activity on the day of the referendum." Well, then evict them! (Stuart Sidney, Storrs, Conn.)
7. "The accompanying 7.4-percent spending increase must be reigned in." Well, it is a king-sized increase. (Harold Wiest, Newcastle, Calif.)
8. "Denis of Cork was in last place at the three-quarter poll of the race." Just ahead of "Undecided." (Gerald Daly via email)
9. ["Citizens will be able to] "speak their peace and go home." (Judy Beck, Warren, Mich.)
10. (From a restaurant ad) "Peal and eat shrimp." Perfect for ringing in New Year's Eve. (Oren Spiegler, Upper Saint Clair, Pa.)
11. "He hoped [his comments] were being taken in the proper vain." But not in vain. (Art Frackenpohl, Watertown, N.Y.)
12. "Addis said a handful of dealers have always been able to peak behind the curtain." (Phil DeVergilio, Detroit)
And three from Jo Ann Lawlor of San Jose, Calif.: 13. "The California Public Utilities Commission, which overseas code changes." Man, they're outsourcing everything these days! 14. "[Menopause] is being viewed by many women as a positive right of passage." 15. The seven different colors match the palate of Texas wildflowers." Are they Venus flytraps?
doula \DOO-luh\ (noun) - A woman who assists during childbirth labor and provides support to the mother, her child and the family after childbirth.
"Our daughters are grown and on their own. Penny is a doula and midwife assistant in Oregon." -- Piers Anthony, 'Swell Foop'
Doula derives from Greek doula, "servant-woman, slave," akin to hierodule.
megalomania \meg-uh-lo-MAY-nee-ah; -nyuh\ (noun) - 1 : A mania for grandiose or extravagant things or actions. 2 : A mental disorder characterized by delusions of grandeur.
"I assure you all that I'm not trying to be melodramatic, and that I don't think I'm allowing my megalomania or paranoia to get the better of me." -- David Weber, 'War of Honor'
Megalomania is Scientific Latin, from the Greek elements megal-, great + mania, madness.
paterfamilias \pay-tuhr-fuh-MIL-ee-uhs; pat-uhr-; pah-\ (noun) plural patresfamilias \pay-treez-; pat-reez-; pah-treez-\ - The male head of a household or the father of a family.
"Here within these hallowed portals the Vestal Virgins had assembled to greet their new paterfamilias on the only ground within the Domus Publica which was common to both lots of tenants." -- Coleen McCullough, 'Caesar's Woman'
Paterfamilias is from Latin pater, "father" + familias, "of the family or household," the archaic genitive form of familia, "family or household."
egregious \ih-GREE-juhs\ (adjective) - Conspicuously and outrageously bad or reprehensible.
"Now, while I rigorously defend your right to be wrong, I feel I must address some of your more egregious utterances." -- Joy Fielding, 'Heartstopper - A Novel'
Egregious derives from Latin egregius, separated or chosen from the herd, from e-, ex-, out of, from + grex, greg-, herd, flock. Egregious was formerly used with words importing a good quality (that which was distinguished "from the herd" because of excellence), but now it is joined with words having a bad sense. It is related to congregate (to "flock together," from con-, together, with + gregare, to assemble, from grex); segregate (from segregare, to separate from the herd, from se-, apart + gregare); and gregarious (from gregarius, belonging to a flock).
arriviste \a-ree-VEEST\ (noun) - A person who has recently attained success, wealth, or high status but not general acceptance or respect; an upstart.
"Then Violet McKisco, whose prettiness had been piped to the surface of her, so that she ceased her struggle to make tangible to herself her shadowy position as the wife of an arriviste who had not arrived." -- F. Scott Fitzgerald, 'Tender is the Night'
Arriviste comes from French, from arriver, "to arrive," from (assumed) Vulgar Latin arripare, "to reach the shore," from Latin ad-, "to, toward" + ripa, "shore."
prink \PRINGK\ (transitive verb) - To dress up; to deck for show.
(intransitive verb) - To dress or arrange oneself for show; to primp.
"Richard and Peg's back room held an excellent double bed with thick linen curtains drawn about it from rails connecting its four tall posts, several chests for clothing, a cupboard for shoes and boots, a mirror on one wall for Peg to prink in front of, a dozen hooks on the same wall, and William Henry 's gimbaled cot." -- Colleen McCullough, 'Morgan's Run'
Prink is probably an alteration of prank, from Middle English pranken, "to show off," perhaps from Middle Dutch pronken, "to adorn oneself," and from Middle Low German prunken (from prank, "display").
Methuselah \muh-THOO-zuh-luh\ (noun) - 1 : The name of a biblical patriarch said to have lived 969 years. 2 : An extremely old man.
"It just comes natural to me, I suppose. I used to know all the generations of Adam down to Methuselah." -- Paul Green, 'This Body the Earth'
Methuselah is from Hebrew Methushelah, Biblical patriarch represented as having lived 969 years.
pervicacious \puhr-vih-KAY-shuhs\ (adjective) - Refusing to change one's ideas, behavior, etc.; stubborn; obstinate.
"May they be efficacious upon the mind of one of the most pervicacious young creatures that ever was heard of!" -- Samuel Ricardson, 'clarissa harlowe volume 1'
Pervicacious is from Latin pervicax, pervicac-, "stubborn, headstrong," from root pervic- of pervincere, "to carry ones point, maintain ones opinion," from per-, "through, thoroughly" + vincere, "to conquer, prevail against" + the suffix -ious, "characterized by, full of."
sere \SEER\ (adjective) - Dry; withered.
"Long columns of hunters are broken here and there by squads of sere." -- Ahmadou Kourouma, 'Waiting for the Vote of Wild Animals'
Sere comes from Old English sear, "dry."
fructuous \FRUHK-choo-uhs\ (adjective) - Fruitful; productive.
"This quiet, cloistered but not inactive nor unexciting life in these most ancient and fructuous groves of academe is what I want." -- Reginald Hill, 'Death's Jest'
Fructuous comes from Latin fructuosus, from fructus, "enjoyment, product, fruit," from the past participle of frui, "to enjoy."
apotheosis \uh-pah-thee-OH-sis; ap-uh-THEE-uh-sis\ (noun) plural apotheoses \-seez\ - 1 : Elevation to divine rank or stature; deification. 2 : An exalted or glorified example; a model of excellence or perfection of a kind.
"So it would seem that the only thing standing in the way of Ariadne's apotheosis must have been some innate reluctance on her part to undergo such an irrevocable transformation." -- Fred Saberhagen, 'Ariadne's Web'
Apotheosis comes from Greek, from apotheoun, "to deify," from apo- + theos, "a god."
flaneur \flah-NUR\ (noun) - One who strolls about aimlessly; a lounger; a loafer.
"A squaw-man, a flaneur and dilettante took my virtue. For years I was his mistress -- no one knew. I learned from him the parasite cunning with which I moved..." -- Edgar Lee Masters, 'Spoon River Anthology'
Flaneur comes from French, from flâner, "to saunter; to stroll; to lounge about."
We love to cut words down to size. When the term "mobile vulgus" became unruly, we chopped it to "mob." When "pantaloons" seemed a few sizes too big, we tucked it to "pants." When "abdominals" bulged, we buffed it to "abs."
Speaking of abs, here's a trim six pack: cab (cabriolet), gab (gabble), bra (brassière), deb (debutante), dis (disrespect) and fan (fanatic).
Sometimes we ask the barkeep to pour a short one instead of a double: rum (rumbullion) and whiskey (usquebaugh). And once in a while we even see double: Specs is short for both specifications and spectacles.
All the aforementioned abbreviations are formed by clipping off the back portion of a word. But once in a while we shorten a word by deleting its first part. Off with its head!
In many cases this fore-clipping (technically called "aphaeresis") involves deleting the first letter: lone (alone), cute (acute), special (especial), spy (espy), pert (apert), mend (amend) and live (alive).
Sometimes we clip a couple of letters: fend (defend), sport (disport), peal (appeal), stain (distain), ply (apply), fray (affray) and tend (from both attend and intend).
The words "apert" and "distain," of course are now obsolete, but even the old-fashioned term "drawing room" is the product of fore-clipping; it comes from "withdrawing room."
In recent years, dropping the first part of a word has become downright 'rendy, er . . . trendy. Teenagers named Topher (Christopher), Tricia (Patricia) and Zandra (Alexandra) now head to the mall (pall-mall) in the 'burbs (suburbs) to escape their 'rents (parents) and eat za (pizza). Speaking of escape, I wrote this column while vacationing in the 'Dacks, a fore-clipping I use for Adirondacks.
Now here's your chance to play executioner. Can you behead each of these words to form its abbreviated form?:
1. Miami Hurricanes 2. magazine 3. kayak 4. attitude 5. potato 6. askutasquash 7. trombone 8. alligator 9. telephone 10. turnpike 11. helicopter 12. airplane 13. raccoon 14. periwig 15. violoncello 16. omnibus 17. cantaloupe 18. caravan 19. Vietnam 20. Afro
senescence \sih-NEH-suhn(t)s\ (noun) - The state of being old; the process of growing old; aging.
"Tiberius, aware of this, fumed and snuffled, but he had arrived at that stage of senescence where he hadn't the energy to sustain his varied indignations." -- Lloyd C. Douglas, 'The Robe'
Senescence is from Latin senescere, "to grow old," from senex, "old." It is related to senile. The adjective form is senescent.
providential \prov-uh-DEN(T)-shuhl\ (adjective) - 1 : Of or resulting from divine direction or superintendence. 2 : Occurring through or as if through divine intervention; peculiarly fortunate or appropriate.
"It's a prophecy, a plain, providential sign to us. We will rebuild the walls of Zion and enlarge our borders. The people will rally to us in our distress." -- Charles Monroe Sheldon, 'Howard Chase, Red Hill, Kansas'
Providential derives from Latin providentia, from providens, provident-, present participle of providere, literally, "to see ahead," from pro-, "forward" + videre, "to see."
Today's Word "Cockaigne"
Cockaigne \kah-KAYN\ (noun) - An imaginary land of ease and luxury.
"While analogues exist between the literary genre and other utopic forms, Utopian literature is not: myth, fantasy, folktale, Cockaigne or Earthly Paradise..." -- Alexandra Aldridge, 'The Scientific World in Dystopia'
Cockaigne comes from Middle English cokaygne, from Middle French (pais de) cocaigne "(land of) plenty," ultimately adapted or derived from a word meaning "cake."
Today's Word "misprize"
misprize \mis-PRYZ\ (transitive verb) - 1 : To hold in contempt. 2 : To undervalue.
"What was it that enabled him, short of being a monster with visibly cloven feet and exhaling brimstone, to misprize so cruelly a nature like his wife's..." -- Henry James, 'Madame de Mauves'
Misprize comes from Middle French mesprisier, from mes-, "amiss, wrong" + prisier, "to appraise."
Today's Word "favonian"
favonian \fuh-VOH-nee-uhn\ (adjective) - Pertaining to the west wind; soft; mild; gentle.
"The sun had a misty glare, the favonian wind blew steadily from the same quarter, and the streets were dismal with uncol- lected refuse." -- Vincent McHugh, 'I Am Thinking of My Darling'
Favonian is derived from Latin Favonius, "the west wind."
Cool Off with a Babbling Book
For word lovers, the summer of 2008 arrives with a refreshing splash of beach books, lakeshore lexicons and poolside paperbacks.
In "The Prodigal Tongue -- Dispatches from the Future of English" (Houghton Mifflin, $25), Mark Abley predicts that by 2015, half the world's population will be learning or speaking English. This lively, anecdotal book reports, for instance, that the blend languages Manglish, Konglish and Chinglish now flourish in Malaysia, South Korea and China, respectively.
Of course, the proliferation of English can lead to trouble. In "Screwed Up English -- Twisted Translations of English from around the World," by Charlie Croker (Adams Media, $10.95), you'll find these ominous signs: (on a menu in Madrid) "Our wine list leaves you nothing to hope for"; (for a donkey ride in Thailand) "Would you like to ride on your own ass?"
Speaking of menus, did you know "meat" once meant any kind of food? That "satellite" once denoted an obsequious attendant? That "tall" once described someone who was fair or handsome? You'll discover these delightful transformations in "Semantic Antics -- How and Why Words Change Meaning," by noted editor and lexicographer Sol Steinmetz (Random House, $14.95).
No list of summer word books is complete without "The Man Who Made Lists -- Love, Death, Madness and the Creation of Roget's Thesaurus," by Joshua Kendell (G. P. Putnam, $25.95). Kendell tells the fascinating story of British physician and scholar Peter Mark Roget (1779-1869), whose lifelong obsessions with lists culminated in the book we all consult (turn to, access, scour) for just the right word.
Language columnist June Casagrande offers common sense, down-to-earth advice that punctures the pomposity of linguistic purists. Her handy new book "Mortal Syntax" (Penguin, $14.00) tells you when to hold the line -- "This is between you and I" (wrong); when to hesitate -- "Loan me some money" (many oppose using "loan" as a verb); and when to go with the flow -- "Hopefully these grammar snobs will get a life" (OK).
And for those lazy afternoons in the hammock, consider "Not Bartlett's -- Thoughts on the Pleasures of Life: People, Love, Gardens, Dogs and More," edited by Elise Lufkin (Helen Marx Books, $16.95). This relaxing alternative to the more compendious "Bartlett's Quotations" offers literary blooms such as "A book should serve as an axe for the frozen sea within us" (Franz Kafka). Now, there's a nice cool thought for summer
Today's Word "peccant"
peccant \PEK-unt\ (adjective) - 1 : Sinning; guilty of transgression. 2 : Violating a rule or a principle.
"It is allowed, that Senates and great Councils are often troubled with redundant, ebullient, and other peccant Humours..." -- Jonathan Swift, 'Gulliver's Travels'
Peccant comes from the present participle of Latin of peccare, "to sin."
Today's Word "delectation"
delectation \dee-lek-TAY-shun\ (noun) - Great pleasure; delight, enjoyment.
"Julia frequently played the harp, and would choose, for her friend's special delectation, her most doleful nocturnes..." -- Leo Tolstoy, 'War and Peace'
Delectation derives from Latin delectatio, from the past participle of delectare, "to please."
Today's Word "preternatural"
preternatural \pree-tuhr-NACH-uhr-uhl; -NACH-ruhl\ (adjective) - 1 : Existing outside of nature; differing from the natural; nonnatural. 2 : Surpassing the usual or normal; extraordinary; abnormal. 3 : Beyond or outside ordinary experience; inexplicable by ordinary means.
"New Rome was busy with other matters, such as the petition for a formal definition on the question of the Preternatural Gifts of the Holy Virgin..." -- Walter M. Miller, 'A Canticle for Leibowitz"
Preternatural derives from the Latin phrase praeter naturam, "beyond nature."
Today's Word "vivify"
vivify \VIV-uh-fy\ (transitive verb) - 1 : To endue with life; to make alive; to animate. 2 : To make more lively or intense.
"Words realize nothing, vivify nothing to you, unless you have suffered in your own person the thing, which the words try to describe." -- Jules Verne, Around the World in Eighty Days
Vivify comes from French vivifier, from Late Latin vivificare, from Latin vivus, alive.
Today's Word "apogee"
apogee \AP-uh-jee\ (noun) - 1 : The point in the orbit of the moon or of an artificial satellite that is at the greatest distance from the center of the earth. 2 : The farthest or highest point; culmination.
"He had suggested that perhaps a human life was a simple parabola in which one never knew when the apogee -- the highest, most sublime point -- had been." -- Dan Simmons, 'A Winter Haunting'
Apogee is derived from Greek apogaion, from apogaios, "situated (far) away from the earth," from apo-, "away from" + gaia, "earth."
Red, Write and Blue
Why are Democratic states called "blue states" and Republican states "red states"?
This mystery is worthy of another "National Treasure" movie. In fact, if you look closely at the face side of a $20 bill, the eagle on the left is blue and the number "20" in the lower right corner is red. A-ha!
OK, enough "hue"y. In fact, all language sleuths agree on one thing: The current color scheme grew out of election maps used by TV networks during the 2000 election.
Washington Post staff writer Paul Farhi claims the first use of the terms "red states" and "blue states" emerged just before the 2000 election on NBC's "Today Show" when the late Tim Russert pointed to a map provided by MSNBC and asked, "So how does [Bush] get those remaining 61 electoral red states?"
But Grant Barrett, editor of "Hatchet Jobs & Hardball: The Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang," says the terms "red states" and "blue states" were used well before Bush v. Gore. "If you go back to pre-2000," Barrett told a radio interviewer in 2004, "you'll actually see people talk about red states and blue states, but they're switched the other way around."
Evan Morris, who writes about word origins at www.worddetective.com, agrees. The use of blue and red on electoral maps dates back to at least 1908, Morris notes, and this color scheme has flipped back and forth several times.
But as the 20th century progressed, "red" acquired negative connotations of radicalism and communism while blue retained its association with truth and quality -- "true blue," "blue chip." So each party was increasingly reluctant to be colored red.
Finally, in 1976, trying to avoid charges of favoritism, the TV networks agreed to set blue for the incumbent party and red for the challenging party, with the colors switching every four years.
From 1976 through 1996, this scheme led to the Republicans' being blue and the Democrats' being red in every election save 1988. This reversed in 2000 and 2004 when the Republicans were red and the Democrats blue, and it's this configuration that gave us the "red state-blue state" terminology of the 2000s.
According to the 1976 agreement, the incumbent Republicans should be blue this year and the challenging Democrats red. But will the networks, in choosing this year's color scheme, abandon this dictate and yield to the powerful nomenclature of the watershed 2000 election?
Today's Word "satiety"
satiety \suh-TY-uh-tee\ (noun) - The state of being full or gratified to or beyond the point of satisfaction.
"His hungry eyes looked with a hitherto unknown, amazed satiety. More than that: here hunger was satiety and satiety, hunger." -- Harry Steinhauer, 'The Heretic of Soana'
Satiety is from Latin satietas, from satis, "enough."
Today's Word "punctilio"
punctilio \punk-TIL-ee-oh\ (noun) - 1 : A fine point of exactness in conduct, ceremony, or procedure. 2 : Strictness or exactness in the observance of formalities; as, "the punctilios of a public ceremony."
"He said, that people of birth stood a little too much upon punctilio; as people of value also did." -- Samuel Richardson. 'Clarissa: History of A Young Lady'
Punctilio comes from Obsolete Italian punctiglio, from Spanish puntillo, diminutive of punto, "point," from Latin punctum, from pungere, "to prick."
Today's Word "compunction"
compunction \kuhm-PUHNK-shuhn\ (noun) - 1 : Anxiety or deep unease proceeding from a sense of guilt or consciousness of causing pain. 2 : A sting of conscience or a twinge of uneasiness; a qualm; a scruple.
"However, he died intestate: I was his heir-at-law, and I felt a certain compunction in taking his money -- he would so have disliked my having it." -- Patrick O'Brian, 'Testimonies'
Compunction derives from Late Latin compunctio, compunction-, "sting or pricking of conscience," from the past participle of compungere, "to prick severely," from com-, intensive prefix + pungere, "to prick."
Today's Word "Hogmanay"
Hogmanay \hog-muh-NAY; HOG-muh-nay\ (noun) - The name, in Scotland, for New Year's Eve, on which children go about singing and asking for gifts; also, a gift, cake, or treat given on New Year's Eve.
"The bells were almost lost in the raucous bonhomie of the Hogmanay dance." -- Val McDermid, 'The Distant Echo'
The origin of the word Hogmanay is unknown.
Today's Word "sporadic"
sporadic \spuh-RAD-ik\ (adjective) - Occurring singly, or occasionally, or in scattered instances.
"During my lectures, my pacing could appear sporadic to the students. If I looked sporadic, I would be perceived as being sporadic." -- Christopher Scott, 'Protege'
Sporadic derives from Medieval Latin sporadicus, scattered, from Greek sporadikos, from sporas, sporad-, scattered like seed.
English Descends from Its Pedestal
A singles ad in a Texas newspaper read, "I'm looking for a man who will put me on a pedal stool." That blooper, spotted by John Bowman of San Antonio, was one of many verbal lulus sent to me recently by readers across the country. Can you spot the blots?
1. "The robber was described as a white man with a stalky to medium build." A stalker? (spotted by Phebe Krouse, Du Bois, Pa.)
2. "The eatery even created the Bush Plate, featuring ribs, beans, leaks and potato salad." Reporters must love the place. (Sandy Harris via email)
3. "[About a 92-year-old preacher] "He . . . walked slowly, with great effort and a sliding gate to the podium." At least it wasn't a pearly gate. (Betty Lundy, West Point, Miss.)
4. "Dr. NEED FIRST NAME Sutherland, an obstetric gynecologist . . ." Copy editor on vacation? (Jo Ann Lawlor, San Jose, Calif.)
5. "When I . . . saw the look of shear horror on my 16-year-old daughter's face." She didn't like her new haircut? (Susan Sherwin, Homestead, Pa.)
6. "It is a phantasmagoric display of bison heads and dear antlers?" Trophy wives? (Clare Barton, Glastonbury, Conn.)
7. "The 42-inch mowing deck, powered by a wench . . ." Strong woman! (Rod Heiman, Emery, S.D.)
8. [From a classified ad for home health workers]: "Help asses and enroll new members." Would those be the bosses? (Geri Chmil, New York City)
9. "Once our investigation starts and we have a propensity of evidence to recommend disciplinary charges, we will." That sentence should have been pre-pondered. (Elmer Sullivan, Ewing, N.J.)
10. "I just gave him the old 'eagle eye' and walked away." (Jay Lloyd, Benicia, Calif.)
11. "I was always taught to stay away from racial slurs and epitaphs." (Charles Duncan, Potsdam, N.Y.)
12. From an otherwise perfectly crafted resume: "Impeachable references upon request." (Anonymous via email)
13. "I'm engaged in a plutonic relationship." Must be out of this world! (Anonymous via email)
14. From an ad for a tool kit: "Includes level, adjustable wrench, groove joint, pliers, ape measure." Perfect for zookeepers. (Mrs. Robert Cerwonka, Potsdam, N.Y.)
15. About a film directed by John Carpenter: "Carpenter maintains a taught pace . . ." He must have learned from the best! (Carol Opdyke, Norfolk, N.Y.)
Today's Word "misprize"
misprize \mis-PRYZ\ (transitive verb) - 1 : To hold in contempt. 2 : To undervalue.
"What was it that enabled him, short of being a monster with visibly cloven feet and exhaling brimstone, to misprize so cruelly a nature like his wife's..." -- Henry James, 'Madame de Mauves'
Misprize comes from Middle French mesprisier, from mes-, "amiss, wrong" + prisier, "to appraise."
Today's Word "propitious"
propitious \pruh-PISH-uhs\ (adjective) - 1 : Presenting favorable circumstances or conditions. 2 : Favorably inclined; gracious; benevolent.
"'And what do the omens say this hour is propitious for... 'It is propitious for the making of a priestess in the ancient way.'" -- Marion Zimmer Bradley, 'The Forest House'
Propitious derives from Latin propitius, "favorable."
Today's Word "puissant"
puissant \PWISS-uhnt; PYOO-uh-suhnt; pyoo-ISS-uhnt\ (adjective) - Powerful; strong; mighty; as, a puissant prince or empire.
"'The Duke is a most high and most puissant prince, the Marquis and Earl most noble and puissant lord, the Viscount noble and puissant lord...'" -- Victor Hugo, 'The Man Who Laughs'
Puissant is from Old French puissant, "powerful," ultimately from (assumed) Vulgar Latin potere, alteration
Today's Word "ebullient"
ebullient \ih-BUL-yuhnt\ (adjective) - 1 : Overflowing with enthusiasm or excitement; high-spirited. 2 : Boiling up or over.
"He was extremely nervous and extremely jealous of other tenors and he covered his nervous jealousy with an ebullient friendliness." -- James Joyce, 'Dubliners'
Ebullient comes from Latin ebullire, "to bubble up," from e-, "out of, from" + bullire, "to bubble, to boil."
subterfuge \SUB-tur-fyooj\ (noun) - A deceptive device or stratagem.
"Subconsciously, yes, and I was aware of the subterfuge involved, but not aware of it in a way that ever allowed me in those days to use the word subterfuge..." -- Paul Scott, 'The Jewel in the Crown'
Subterfuge comes from Late Latin subterfugium, "a secret flight," from Latin subterfugere, "to flee in secret, to evade," from subter, "underneath, underhand, in secret" + fugere, "to flee." It is related to fugitive, one who flees.
rubicund \ROO-bih-kund\ (adjective) - Inclining to redness; ruddy; red.
"But the rubicund bald colonel, more rubicund after wine, most rubicund now the Marsala was going, snatched her attention..." - D.H. Lawrence, 'Aaron's Rod'
Rubicund comes from Latin rubicundus, "red, ruddy," from rubere, "to be red."
Sometimes Language Needs Retrofitting
Linguists' version of a blonde joke:
A natural blonde, a paleoconservative and George H. W. Bush walk into a bar.
"Do you know what we all have in common?" the blonde asks the barkeep.
"You're all Republicans!" he replies.
"Nope," replies the blonde. "We're all retronyms."
Retro . . . what?
A "retronym" is a word created to distinguish an old object, concept or person from a new one. When liquid soap came along, for instance, regular soap was dubbed (actually, rubba-dub-dubbed) "bar soap" to distinguish it from the new kind. Likewise, computer searches spawned "eyeball searches" and bottled water uncorked "tap water."
And without bottle blondes, we'd have no "natural blondes," without neocons we'd have no "paleocons" (traditional conservatives), and without George W. Bush we'd have no George H. W. Bush, who was known simply as "George Bush" pre son-shine. (Of course, biologically speaking, without George H. W. Bush we'd have no George W. Bush.)
Technophobes like me love retronyms. The emergence of a retronym for a device I still use -- "black and white TV," "land line" and "dial-up Internet" -- fully certifies my dinosauric status. That's why I'm looking forward to Feb. 19, 2009, when full-power TV stations begin broadcasting in digital format only; it gives me the chance to savor the retronym for my old, rabbit-eared box -- "analog TV."
Fast-changing technology has spawned retros galore: "terrestrial radio," necessitated by satellite radio; "broadcast TV" by cable TV; "full-frame format" by letterbox format; "desktop computer" by the laptop computer.
Retail retronyms and their protonyms include "brick-and-mortar store" ("online store"), "sit-down restaurant" ("fast food restaurant"), "skirt suit" ("pants suit"), "cloth diapers" ("disposable diapers"), "paper ticket" ("e-ticket"), "natural turf" ("artificial turf"); "single-wide trailer" ("double-wide trailer").
In sports, the popularity of water polo, recumbent bicycles and above-ground pools has produced "horse polo," "upright bicycles" and "in-ground pools." But if you really want a retro fest, try the "summer Olympics" in "mainland China" featuring "indoor volleyball" and "racquet tennis," courtesy of the winter Olympics, Taiwan, beach volleyball and table tennis, respectively.
Some retronyms simply repeat the name of the original. Tired of e-books? Read a "book-book." Don't want to tee off with a metal driver? Use a "wood-wood."
But perhaps the most depressing retronyms are those I see at the gas station: "full-service island" and "free air."
Today's Word "microcosm"
microcosm \MY-kruh-koz-uhm\ (noun) - 1. A little world. 2 : A smaller, representative system having analogies to a larger system.
"You live in your microcosm and I live in mine, but you'd like to believe that because your microcosm produces a regular check it's more valid than mine." -- Charlotte Vale Allen, 'Dream Train'
Microcosm comes from Greek mikros kosmos, "small world." Today's Word "pandemic"
pandemic \pan-DEM-ik\ (adjective) - Affecting a whole people or a number of countries; everywhere epidemic.
(noun) - A pandemic disease.
"Once a pandemic is upon you, the prime focus has to be for you to extricate yourself from any urban areas or areas of high population density." -- Alex Haynes, 'The Apocalypse Handbook'
Pandemic ultimately derives from Greek pandemos, "of all the people," from pan-, "all" + demos, "people."
Today's Word "voluptuary"
voluptuary \vuh-LUHP-choo-er-ee\ (noun) - A person devoted to luxury and the gratification of sensual appetites; a sensualist.
(adjective) - Voluptuous; luxurious.
"The hackneyed voluptuary is like the jaded epicure, the mere listlessness of whose appetite becomes at length a sufficient penalty for having made it the principle object of his enjoyment and cultivation." -- Sir Walter Scott, 'Peveril of the Peak'
Voluptuary derives from Latin voluptarius, "devoted to pleasure," from voluptas, "pleasure." Today's Word "termagant"
termagant \TUR-muh-guhnt\ (noun) - A scolding, nagging, bad-tempered woman; a shrew.
(adjective) - Overbearing; shrewish; scolding.
"For you are the witch Magrit, the horrid harridan, the repulsive termagant, the fustigant fury, the execrable harpy, the verminous virago, the loathsome she-wolf." -- Eric Flint, 'Forward the Mage'
Termagant comes from Middle English Termagaunt, alteration of Tervagant, from Old French. Termagant was an imaginary Muslim deity represented in medieval morality plays as extremely violent and turbulent. By the sixteenth century, termagant was used for a boisterous, brawling, turbulent person of either sex, but eventually it came to refer only to women Today's Word "contradistinction"
contradistinction \kon-truh-dis-TINK-shuhn\ (noun) - Distinction by contrast; as, "sculpture in contradistinction to painting."
"The balloon, for the twenty-two days of its existence, offered the possibility, in its randomness, of mislocation of the self, in contradistinction to the grid of precise, rectangular pathways under our feet." -- by Donald Barthelme, 'Sixty Stories'
Contradistinction is contra-, from Latin contra, "against" + distinction, from Latin distinctio, from distinguere, "to distinguish." Today's Word "avoirdupois"
avoirdupois \av-uhr-duh-POIZ; AV-uhr-duh-poiz\ (noun) - 1 : Avoirdupois weight, a system of weights based on a pound containing 16 ounces or 7,000 grains (453.59 grams). 2 : Weight; heaviness; as, a person of much avoirdupois.
"The Yemeni eased his avoirdupois upon the leather chair at his desk, cracked his knuckles, and typed in a rapid sequence -- a password, no doubt." -- Robert Ludlum, 'The Bancroft Strategy'
Avoirdupois is from Middle English avoir de pois, "goods sold by weight," from Old French aveir de peis, literally "goods of weight," from aveir, "property, goods" (from aveir, "to have," from Latin habere, "to have, to hold, to possess property") + de, "from" (from the Latin) + peis, "weight," from Latin pensum, "weight."
Today's Word "grok"
grok \GRAWK\ (transitive verb slang) - To understand, especially in a profound and intimate way. Slang.
'"Even if you explain it in short words I'm not going to grok it, okay?" Benjamin frowned the uncomprehending frown of someone whose learning of the English language had missed the word "grok" entirely."' - Eric Flint, Andrew Dennis, '1634: The Galileo Affair"
The slang word grok was coined by Robert A. Heinlein in the science fiction novel "Stranger in a Strange Land", where it is a Martian word meaning literally "to drink" and metaphorically "to be one with". It was adopted into the vocabulary of 1960's youth and hackish jargon, whence it has become a part of net culture. Today's Word "Brobdingnagian"
Brobdingnagian \brob-ding-NAG-ee-uhn\ (adjective) - Of extraordinary size; gigantic; enormous.
"The cover was removed... revealing two gigantic pots... capable of holding 200 gallons each...a cooking apparatus as might have graced a Brobdingnagian kitchen." -- Frank T. Bullen, 'Cruise of the Cachalot Round the World After Sperm Whales'
Brobdingnagian is from Brobdingnag, a country of giants in Swift's Gulliver's Travels. Today's Word "edify"
edify \ED-uh-fy\ (transitive verb) - To instruct and improve, especially in moral and religious knowledge; to teach. --edifying, adjective
"He attended like holiness itself; He attended to edify the people with His example, to teach them His doctrine, and to favor men with His grace." -- José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi, 'The Mangy Parrot: The Life and Times of Periquillo Sarniento'
Edify is from Old French edifier, from Latin aedifico, aedificare, to build.
Today's
Word
"winsome"
winsome
\WIN-suhm\
(adjective)
- 1 :
Cheerful;
merry;
gay;
light-hearted.
2 :
Causing
joy or
pleasure;
agreeable;
pleasant.
"Above
all, it
was
winsome,
devastatingly
winsome.
For a
pretty
face to
be
winsome
is
normal
enough
and very
winsome
it can
be, but
it is a
tepid
thing..."
--
Mervyn
Peake,
'The
Gormenghast
Novels'
Winsome
is from
Old
English
wynsum,
from
wynn,
"joy" +
-sum
(equivalent
to
Modern
English
-some),
"characterized
by."
Today's Word
"stoic"
stoic \STOH-ik\
(noun) - 1 :
(Capitalized). A
member of a
school of
philosophy
founded by Zeno
holding that one
should be free
from passion,
unmoved by joy
or grief, and
should submit
without
complaint to
unavoidable
necessity. 2 :
Hence, one who
is apparently or
professedly
indifferent to
or unaffected by
pleasure or
pain, joy or
grief.
(adjective) - 1
: Of or
pertaining to
the Stoics;
resembling the
Stoics or their
doctrines. 2 :
Not affected by
passion; being
or appearing
indifferent to
pleasure or
pain, joy or
grief.
"A Stoic never
evaded life: he
faced it. A
Stoic never
avoided
responsibility:
he accepted it.
A Stoic not only
believed in
liberty: he
practised it."
-- H. J. Duteil,
'The Great
American Parade'
Stoic comes from
Greek stoikos,
literally "of or
pertaining to a
colonnade or
porch," from
stoa, "a roofed
colonnade, a
porch,
especially, a
porch in Athens
where Zeno and
his successors
taught."
Today's Word
"desideratum"
desideratum \dih-sid-uh-RAY-tum;
-RAH-\ (noun) -
Something desired or
considered necessary.
plural desiderata
"I went, had admittance,
and offered him my
service as a master of
the Greek language,
which I had been told
was a desideratum in
this university." --
Oliver Goldsmith, 'The
Vicar of Wakefield'
Desideratum is from
Latin desideratum, "a
thing desired," from
desiderare, "to desire."
Today's Word "superfluous"
superfluous \soo-PER-floo-us\
(adjective) - More than is
wanted or is sufficient;
rendered unnecessary by
superabundance; unnecessary;
useless; excessive. (adverb)
superfluously, (noun)
superfluousness
"You must consider that what is
necessary always occurs, and
what is superfluous usually, but
what is almost necessary, at
least in my case, rarely, as a
result of which, robbed of all
context, it can become slightly
pathetic, i.e. amusing." --
Hanns Zischler, 'Kafka Goes to
the Movies'
Superfluous comes ultimately
from the Latin superfluus, from
superfluo, superfluere, to
overflow, from super-, over,
above + fluo, fluere, to flow.
Today's Word "prevaricate"
prevaricate
\prih-VAIR-uh-kayt\ (intransitive verb)
- To depart from or evade the truth; to
speak with equivocation.
"As regards your question, however, I
will not prevaricate nor deceive you,
but what the old man of the sea told me,
so much will I tell you in full." --
Homer, 'The Odyssey'
Prevaricate derives from the past
participle of Latin praevaricari, "to
pass in front of, or over, by
straddling; to walk crookedly; to
collude," from prae, "before, in front
of" + varicare, "to straddle," from
varicus, "straddling," from varus,
"bent."
Today's Word "halcyon"
halcyon \HAL-see-uhn\
(noun) - 1 : A kingfisher. 2 : A mythical bird,
identified with the kingfisher, that was fabled
to nest at sea about the time of the winter
solstice and to calm the waves during
incubation.
(adjective) - 1 : Calm; quiet; peaceful;
undisturbed; happy; as, "deep, halcyon repose."
2 : Marked by peace and prosperity; as, "halcyon
years."
"West foreshadowed the end of Los Angeles's
halcyon moment. He saw the city of angels
becoming a city of despair, a place where hopes
get crushed..." -- Michael Connelly, 'The
Concrete Blonde'
Halcyon derives from Latin (h)alcyon, from Greek
halkuon, a mythical bird, kingfisher. This bird
was fabled by the Greeks to nest at sea, about
the time of the winter solstice, and, during
incubation, to calm the waves.
Today's Word "inimical"
inimical \ih-NIM-ih-kul\
(adjective) - 1 : Having the disposition or temper of an
enemy; unfriendly; unfavorable. 2 : Opposed in tendency,
influence, or effects; antagonistic; adverse.
"The gods did not care -- or rather, were inimical.
Beyond question, they were inimical to him." -- Gene
Wolfe, 'Litany of the Long Sun'
nimical comes from Late Latin inimicalis, from Latin
inimicus, unfriendly, adverse, hostile, from in-, not +
amicus, friendly, well-wishing, favorable to, from amare,
to love.
Today's Word "peregrination"
peregrination \pehr-uh-gruh-NAY-shun\
(noun) - A traveling from place to place; a wandering.
"They continued their peregrination, stopping to spend a few
minutes in this circle or that before moving on again, she a
foot before him, he prowling, relaxed but watchful, in her
wake." -- Stephanie Laurens, 'On a Wild Night'
Peregrination comes from Latin peregrinatio, from peregrinari,
"to stay or travel in foreign countries," from peregre, "in a
foreign country, abroad," from per, "through" + ager, "land."
Today's Word
"concomitant"
concomitant \kuhn-KOM-uh-tuhnt\ (adjective)
- Accompanying; attendant; occurring or existing concurrently.
(noun) - Something that accompanies or is collaterally connected with
something else; an accompaniment.
"I think it's worthy of note that passions do not tend to be inflamed
without the presence of concomitant phantasms." -- Don DeLillo, 'Ratner's
Star'
Concomitant comes from the present participle of Latin concomitari, to
accompany, from com- (used intensively) + comitari, to accompany, from
comes, comit-, a companion.
Today's Word
"politic"
politic \POL-ih-tik\ (adjective) - 1 : Of or
pertaining to polity, or civil government; political (as in the phrase
"the body politic"). 2 : (Of persons): Sagacious in promoting a policy;
ingenious in devising and advancing a system of management;
characterized by political skill and ingenuity; hence, shrewdly tactful,
cunning. 3 : (Of actions or things): Pertaining to or promoting a
policy; hence, judicious; expedient; as, "a politic decision."
"Berenike swallowed her fury and gave the governor her most politic
smile." -- Randall Scott, 'Retribution'
Politic derives from Greek politikos, and from polites, "citizen," from
polis,
Today's Word "undulant"
undulant \UN-juh-lunt; UN-dyuh-\
(adjective) - Resembling waves in form, motion, or occurrence.
"After some time the car slowed to a palpitant pause at a spot
where the road was bordered on one hand by a woods, on the other
by meadow-lands running down to an arm of a bay, on whose gently
undulant surface the flame-tipped finger of a distant lighthouse
drew an undulant path of radiance." -- Louis Joseph Vance, 'The
Destroying Angel'
Undulant is from Late Latin undula, "a small wave," diminutive
of Latin unda, "wave."
Today's Word
"distrait"
distrait \dis-TRAY\ (adjective) - Divided or
withdrawn in attention, especially because of anxiety.
"I noticed that after my host had read it he seemed even more distrait
and strange than before." -- Arthur Conan Doyle, 'The Adventure of
Wisteria Lodge'
Distrait is from Old French, from distraire, "to distract," from Latin
distrahere, "to pull apart; to draw away; to distract," from dis- +
trahere, "to draw, to pull." It is related to distraught and distracted,
which have the same Latin source. |