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Nov 1, 2004

This week's theme
Toponyms

This week's words
neanderthal
zabernism
macedoine
cilice
corinthian

Previous week’s theme
Eponyms

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Whether it's when we drink champagne (from Champagne, France), make a solecism (after Soloi, an Athenian colony in Cilicia), or when we meet our Waterloo (Waterloo, Belgium) we are (perhaps unknowingly) alluding to a distant land and its history. This week's words take us on a tour of Europe.

Neanderthal or Neandertal

adjective:
1. Of, or pertaining to Neanderthal man, a member of an extinct subspecies of Homo sapiens who lived in caves in Europe and the Mediterranean 100,000 to 30,000 years ago.
2. Boorish, uncivilized.

noun:
1. Neanderthal man.
2. An unenlightened or uncouth man.

After Neanderthal (literally, Neander valley) in western Germany near Düsseldorf, where bones of a Neanderthal man were first discovered in 1856. In 1904 German spelling was regularized so Thal became Tal.

"Formula One racing is unique for its Neanderthal attitude to everything female."
Janet Street-Porter; What is it About Men and Cars?; The Mercury (Durban, South Africa); Jul 13, 2004.

"Is hi-tech bad for us? What are you, some kind of Neanderthal? How would we ever cope with the modern era without technology?"
Vikas Singh; Is the Hi-tech World Laying Us Low?; The Times of India (New Delhi); Jul 3, 2004.

See more usage examples of neanderthal in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

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