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Nov 17, 2020
This week’s theme
Words derived from body

This week’s words
gambit
propugnaculum
flatfooted
consanguineous
ham-handed

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with Anu Garg

propugnaculum

PRONUNCIATION:
(praw-puhg-NAK-yuh-luhm)

MEANING:
noun: A fortress; defense; protection.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin propugnaculum (bulwark), from propugnare (to fight in defense of something), from pro- (toward) + pugnare (to fight), from pugnus (fist). Ultimately from the Indo-European root peuk- (to prick), which is also the source of point, puncture, pungent, punctual, poignant, pounce, poniard, oppugn, repugn, impugn, pugnacious, pugilist, and repugnant. Earliest documented use: 1773.

USAGE:
“Something rather paradoxical has been happening to this Self, this base camp of behaviorism, this propugnaculum of steadfastness, this command post of the soul.”
Philip Mirowski; Machine Dreams; Cambridge University Press; 2002.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Through others, we become ourselves. -Lev Vygotsky, psychologist (17 Nov 1896-1934)

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