A.Word.A.Day Archives
from https://wordsmith.org/awad
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Date: Mon Feb 2 00:01:03 EST 2015
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--nimrod
X-Bonus: The absence of flaw in beauty is itself a flaw. -Havelock Ellis, physician, writer, and social reformer (2 Feb 1859-1939)
The beginning of 2015 means the starting of engines in the US presidential
race. The elections will be held in late 2016, but around here we like to
start early.
POTUS, the President of the United States, is a potent title. Stakes are
high. If you have your eyes on the big prize, it helps to have endorsements
from powerful people. And if you can manage to get the nod from the ultimate
power, things should be breezy.
In the last election for the US president, no fewer than three presidential
hopefuls received the backing of god http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/06/god_caught_backing_multiple_go.html
(http://www.webcitation.org/6SM0VT9FC). Clearly god likes to hedge his bets.
Not sure why he changed his mind later on and dumped all three endorsees.
All the religious posturing by these politicians to convey their goodness
should be an obvious turn off. Unfortunately, many voters want the candidates
to wear their religion on their sleeves. Contrary to what they believe,
there's an inverse relationship between religiosity and goodness. (See
http://www.livescience.com/47799-morality-religion-political-beliefs.html
and here http://www.humanreligions.info/secular_morals.html ).
Religion is a personal thing. People should be free to spend as much time as
they want in their places of worship or in their homes, praying to a god of
their choosing. Why get government involved in the business of god (or god
in the business of government)?
Why not vote for the most capable candidate irrespective of whether she bows
to a particular god, or how often, or how long? Mixing religion and state is
like mixing water and petrol. It spoils both. And it creates a hazard.
At one time both the religious leader and the political leader was one and the
same person. In some places that's still the norm and the results are
disastrous.
Millennia of religion has left a mark on the language. I'm not religious,
but I'll read anything to track down words. This week we'll see five people,
places, and animals from the Bible that are now part of the English language.
nimrod (NIM-rod) noun
1. A stupid person.
2. A hunter.
[In the Bible, Nimrod was a hunter and Noah's great-grandson. It's not clear
how the sense of the word transferred from a hunter to a stupid person, but
the new sense was popularized in the Bugs Bunny cartoons when Bugs Bunny
called rabbit-hunting Elmer Fudd as "Poor little Nimrod". Earliest documented
use for sense 1: 1933, for sense 2: 1623. Even earlier, the first recorded use
in English is from 1548, in a now-obsolete sense as a tyrant.]
See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/nimrod
The Monastery of St. Matthew, Iraq https://wordsmith.org/words/images/nimrod_large.jpg
Photo: Rasoul Ali https://www.flickr.com/photos/rasoulali/8594936057
"What kind of a nimrod makes kids the responsible party in a dim-witted
ideology on poverty and neglect?"
Martin Hackworth; Ignoramus, of the Bloviating Type; Idaho State Journal
(Pocatello); Feb 3, 2013.
http://www.pocatelloshops.com/new_blogs/politics/?p=10176
"The big-ticket item at their giant auction was a nimrod package to go
hunting."
Dick Harmon; Hunt Nets Dough for Y; Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah);
Jun 12, 2004.
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Date: Tue Feb 3 00:01:02 EST 2015
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--via dolorosa
X-Bonus: It takes a lot of time to be a genius, you have to sit around so much doing nothing, really doing nothing. -Gertrude Stein, novelist, poet, and playwright (3 Feb 1874-1946)
This week's theme: Words from the Bible
via dolorosa (VY/VEE-uh dol-uh-RO-suh) noun
A distressing journey or experience.
[After the route believed to have been taken by Jesus on his way to Calvary.
From Latin via dolorosa (painful path), from via (path) + dolor (pain).
Earliest documented use: 1878.]
Via Dolorosa, Jerusalem https://wordsmith.org/words/images/via_dolorosa_large.jpg
Photo: Antonio Acu�a https://www.flickr.com/photos/antonioacuna/4862592068
"David Cameron must offer a vision of hope at the end of the Via Dolorosa
we must tread for the next few years."
Max Hastings; The Ostrich Election; The Daily Mail (London, UK); Apr 9,
2010.
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Date: Wed Feb 4 00:01:04 EST 2015
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--scapegoat
X-Bonus: Poor is the power of the lead that becomes bullets compared to the power of the hot metal that becomes types. -Georg Brandes, critic and scholar (4 Feb 1842-1927)
This week's theme: Words from the Bible
scapegoat (SKAYP-goht)
noun: One blamed for another's wrongdoing.
verb tr.: To blame someone for another's wrongdoing.
[As sometimes happens with ancient books, this term arose as a misreading of
a word as Hebrew 'ez 'ozel (goat that departs) for what was, in fact, the
proper noun Azazel, apparently a name for a demon. The explanation given
in Leviticus 16:8 is that one casts one's sins on a goat and lets it escape
into the wilderness. Earliest documented use: 1530.]
See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/scapegoat
The Scapegoat https://wordsmith.org/words/images/scapegoat_large.jpg
Art: William Holman Hunt, 1854.
"Not surprisingly, these writers found their ideal scapegoat in Alfred
Dreyfus, a Jewish military officer wrongly accused of treason in what
became the trial of the century."
Turning Dark; The Economist (London, UK); Apr 26, 2014.
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Date: Thu Feb 5 00:01:04 EST 2015
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--gethsemane
X-Bonus: All progress has resulted from people who took unpopular positions. -Adlai Stevenson, governor, ambassador (5 Feb 1900-1965)
This week's theme: Words from the Bible
Gethsemane (geth-SEM-uh-nee) noun
An instance or a place of suffering.
[In the New Testament, Gethsemane was a garden near the Mount of Olives in
Jerusalem, and the scene of Jesus's agony and betrayal. Via Latin and Greek
from Aramaic gat samne (oil press). Earliest documented use: 1901.]
Agony in the Garden https://wordsmith.org/words/images/gethsemane_large.jpg
Art: Andrea Mantegna, circa 1460
"She shared their troubles, and her courage and devotion provided a shield
for them in the dark hours of their Gethsemane."
Maude D. Petre; Alfred Loisy; Cambridge University Press; 2014.
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Date: Fri Feb 6 00:01:04 EST 2015
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--samaritan
X-Bonus: A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist. -Louis Nizer, lawyer (6 Feb 1902-1994)
This week's theme: Words from the Bible
Samaritan (suh-MAIR-i-tn) noun
A person who voluntarily helps others in distress.
Also used as: good Samaritan.
[From the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:30-37 in the New Testament
where a Samaritan stopped to help a man who had been injured and robbed,
while others passed by. The word Samaritan is from Latin Samaritanus (a
resident of Samaria), ultimately from Greek Samareia, Samaria. Earliest
documented use: 1000.]
See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/Samaritan
The Good Samaritan: https://wordsmith.org/words/images/samaritan_large.jpg
Art: Aim� Morot (1880)
"Khan and his band of Samaritans ferried the injured to the Suri Sadar
Hospital."
Amitava Roy; Locals Turn Samaritans at Train Disaster Site; Outlook
(New Delhi, India); Jul 20, 2010.
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Date: Mon Feb 9 00:11:03 EST 2015
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--exordium
X-Bonus: Activism is the rent I pay for living on the planet. -Alice Walker, author (b. 9 Feb 1944)
It's nice to see more and more of the world's information getting organized
-- sorted, indexed, and cataloged -- making it easy to find. We now know
more of what is where and how to access it.
But there's something to be said about serendipity. Sometimes there's no
substitute for walking into a random aisle in a library and perusing books.
Sometimes, getting lost results in finding what you may need.
In that spirit, this week's words have been selected randomly, by getting
lost in the dictionary and landing on a word. If you need more, we have a
way for you to see a word at random from A.Word.A.Day archives
https://wordsmith.org/words/random.cgi .
exordium (ig/eg-ZOR-dee-uhm, ik-SOR-) noun
The beginning or introductory part of anything, especially of a discourse,
treatise, etc.
[From Latin ex- (out, from) + ordiri (to begin). Earliest documented use: 1531.]
See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/exordium
"'Reading the OED' ... is described in the author's exordium with 'I have
read the OED so that you don't have to.'"
William Safire; Presents of Mind; The New York Times Magazine; Jun 22, 2008.
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Date: Tue Feb 10 00:11:03 EST 2015
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--recrudescence
X-Bonus: What for centuries raised man above the beast is not the cudgel but the irresistible power of unarmed truth. -Boris Pasternak, poet, novelist, Nobel laureate (10 Feb 1890-1960)
This week's theme: Random words
recrudescence (ree-kroo-DES-uhns) noun
A renewed activity after a period of dormancy.
[From Latin recrudescere (to become raw again), from re- (again) + crudescere
(to get worse), from crudus (raw). Earliest documented use: 1665.]
See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/recrudescence
"A recrudescence of doubt made Jal hesitate at the building entrance."
Rohinton Mistry; Family Matters; McClelland and Stewart; 2002.
"A recrudescence of McCarthyism is always possible but seems unlikely."
Richard Kreitner; Tricky Lessons; The Nation (New York); Aug 18, 2014.
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Date: Wed Feb 11 00:02:03 EST 2015
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--opprobrium
X-Bonus: The government ought not to be invested with power to control the affections, any more than the consciences of citizens. -Lydia Maria Child, activist, novelist, and journalist (11 Feb 1802-1880)
This week's theme: Random words
opprobrium (uh-PRO-bree-uhm) noun
1. Strong criticism.
2. Public disgrace
[From Latin opprobrium (reproach), from ob- (against) + probrum (infamy,
reproach). Ultimately from the Indo-European root bher- (to carry),
which also gave us bear, birth, barrow, burden, fertile, transfer,
offer, suffer, euphoria, and metaphor. Earliest documented use: 1656.]
See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/opprobrium
"Most countries have armies, but in Pakistan the army has a country. ...
The army's record is not one to be proud of. Wars launched against India
in 1947, 1965, and 1999, won little or nothing beyond international
opprobrium."
Nosebags; The Economist (London, UK); Sep 20, 2014.
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Date: Thu Feb 12 00:01:03 EST 2015
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--comportment
X-Bonus: The difference in mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, certainly is one of degree and not of kind. -Charles Darwin, naturalist and author (12 Feb 1809-1882)
This week's theme: Random words
comportment (kuhm-PORT-muhnt) noun
Behavior; demeanor; bearing.
[From French comportement (behavior), from comporter (to bear), from Latin
comportare (to transport), from com- (with) + portare (to carry). Ultimately
from the Indo-European root per- (to lead, pass over), which also gave us
support, petroleum, sport, passport,
colporteur (a peddler of religious books) https://wordsmith.org/words/colporteur.html ,
rapporteur https://wordsmith.org/words/rapporteur.html ,
deportment https://wordsmith.org/words/deportment.html ,
Swedish fartlek https://wordsmith.org/words/fartlek.html , Norwegian fjord (bay),
and Sanskrit parvat (mountain). Earliest documented use: 1605.]
See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/comportment
"Let's hear from no less an arbiter of manners and proper comportment
than David Studer, the CBC's journalistic standards and practices boss."
Terry Glavin; After the Paris Atrocities, a Long-Overdue Reckoning with
Ourselves; Ottawa Citizen (Canada); Jan 14, 2015.
http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/glavin-after-the-paris-atrocities-a-long-overdue-reckoning-with-ourselves
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Date: Fri Feb 13 00:01:06 EST 2015
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--solicitude
X-Bonus: In some circumstances, the refusal to be defeated is a refusal to be educated. -Margaret Halsey, novelist (13 Feb 1910-1997)
This week's theme: Random words
solicitude (suh-LIS-i-tood, -tyood) noun
Care or concern for another.
[From Latin sollus (whole), ultimately from the Indo-European root
sol- (whole), which brought us solid, salute, save, salvo, soldier,
catholicity https://wordsmith.org/words/catholicity.html ,
salutary https://wordsmith.org/words/salutary.html , and
salubrious https://wordsmith.org/words/salubrious.html
+ citus, past participle of ciere (to arouse), ultimately from the
Indo-European root kei- (to set in motion), which also gave us cinema,
kinetic, excite, and resuscitate. Earliest documented use: 1412.]
See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/solicitude
"We also meet 'Little', a 19-year-old on death row for robbing and
kidnapping, whom the other inmates treat with tender solicitude after
he wakes up in the middle of the night screaming and in tears."
Jenna Fisher; For a Song and a Hundred Songs; The Christian Science Monitor
(Boston, Massachusetts); Jul 3, 2013.
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Date: Mon Feb 16 00:01:02 EST 2015
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--frankenfood
X-Bonus: A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. -Henry Adams, historian and teacher (16 Feb 1838-1918)
According to an old joke (perhaps a true story), there's this ad in a magazine:
Learn to write novels.
Easy-to-understand instructions.
Send $20.
You send money to the given address and in return they send you a dictionary
with the instructions, "Some assembly required."
Joking aside, that's all there is to it really -- whether you want to write
stories, poems, or novels -- though learning assembly takes time, often years,
besides practice.
Writing is crafted by putting together small blocks to make bigger ones,
letters to words, words to sentences, sentences to paragraphs, and so on.
This week we'll feature five words made using combining forms.
What are combining forms? You can think of them as Lego (from Danish,
leg: play + godt: well) bricks of language. As the term indicates, a
combining form is a linguistic atom that occurs only in combination with
some other form, which could be a word, another combining form, or an affix
(unlike a combining form, affixes alone cannot combine to form a word).
Frankenfood (FRANG-kuhn-food) noun
Genetically modified food.
[From franken- (genetically modified), alluding to the artificially created
Frankenstein's monster https://wordsmith.org/words/frankenstein.html .
Earliest documented use: 1992.]
https://wordsmith.org/words/images/frankenfood_large.jpg
Photo: Emiliano Zanichelli https://www.flickr.com/photos/emilianozanichelli/6891592343
"[David Bronner's] real problem with GMOs has less to do with Frankenfood
fears than with the documented effects of herbicide- and pest-resistant
GM crops, which were sold as a way to reduce harmful spraying."
Josh Harkinson; The Audacity of Soap; Mother Jones (San Francisco);
Jan/Feb 2014.
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/02/dr-bronners-magic-soap-david-bronner-gmo-hemp
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Date: Tue Feb 17 00:01:03 EST 2015
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--preternatural
X-Bonus: Time is the fairest and toughest judge. -Edgar Quinet, historian (17 Feb 1803-1875)
This week's theme: Words made with combining forms
preternatural (pree/pri-tuhr-NACH-uh-ruhl) adjective
Beyond what is natural or normal.
[From Latin praeter- (beyond, past) + naturam (nature). Earliest documented
use: 1580.]
See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/preternatural
"Ms. Yousafzai made a rapid recovery, and quickly drowned out her critics
with her preternatural poise and speaking skills."
Declan Walsh; Two Champions of Children Are Given Nobel Peace Prize;
The New York Times; Oct 10, 2014.
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Date: Wed Feb 18 00:01:02 EST 2015
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--logomaniac
X-Bonus: If there's a book you really want to read but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it. -Toni Morrison, novelist, editor, professor, Nobel laureate (b. 18 Feb 1931)
This week's theme: Words made with combining forms
logomaniac (lo-guh-MAY-nee-ak) noun
One who is obsessively interested in words.
[From Greek logo- (word) + -mania (excessive enthusiasm or craze).
Earliest documented use: 1870.]
https://wordsmith.org/words/images/logomaniac_large.jpg
Photo: Robbert van der Steeg https://www.flickr.com/photos/robbie73/4289385819
"Thumbing through the dictionary in this way can create many
a pleasurable afternoon for the irrepressible logomaniac."
Tracy Lee Simmons; Johnson's Canon; The Weekly Standard
(Washington, DC); May 29, 2006.
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Date: Thu Feb 19 00:01:09 EST 2015
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--parthenogenesis
X-Bonus: Architecture is inhabited sculpture. -Constantin Brancusi, sculptor (19 Feb 1876-1957)
This week's theme: Words made with combining forms
parthenogenesis (par-thuh-no-JEN-uh-sis) noun
Reproduction without fertilization.
[From Greek partheno- (without fertilization, maiden) + -genesis (creation).
Earliest documented use: 1849.]
See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/parthenogenesis
Microscopic bdelloid rotifers who reproduce exclusively by parthenogenesis:
https://wordsmith.org/words/images/parthenogenesis_large.jpg
Photo: Danelle Vivier
"If men are obsolete, then women will soon be extinct -- unless we rush
down that ominous Brave New World path where women clone themselves by
parthenogenesis, as famously do Komodo dragons, hammerhead sharks, and
pit vipers."
Camille Paglia; It's a Man's World, and It Always Will Be; Time (New York);
Dec 16, 2013.
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Date: Fri Feb 20 00:01:02 EST 2015
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bryology
X-Bonus: There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept. -Ansel Adams, photographer (20 Feb 1902-1984)
This week's theme: Words made with combining forms
bryology (bry-OL-uh-jee) noun
The branch of botany that deals with mosses, liverworts, and hornworts.
[From Greek bryo- (moss) + -logy (study). Earliest documented use: 1863.]
https://wordsmith.org/words/images/bryology_large.jpg
Photo: Damien Douxchamps http://damien.douxchamps.net/photo/japan/kansai/kyoto/arashiyama/giyou-ji/
"The book's protagonist ... spends most of her life practicing bryology on
her father's estate."
Maggie Caldwell; Gather No Moss; Mother Jones (San Francisco); Sep/Oct 2013.
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Date: Mon Feb 23 00:31:03 EST 2015
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--modus operandi
X-Bonus: The theory of democratic government is not that the will of the people is always right, but rather that normal human beings of average intelligence will, if given a chance, learn the right and best course by bitter experience. -W.E.B. Du Bois, educator, civil rights activist, and writer (23 Feb 1868-1963)
Angela Kubicke, a 15-year-old from Vermont, wrote to her state senator
to suggest a Latin motto for the state, "Stella quarta decima fulgeat"
("May the fourteenth star shine bright"), as Vermont was the 14th state
to join the United States.
Pretty harmless? Yet some citizens took Latin to mean Latin America and
brought out their inner xenophobe http://www.ifyouonlynews.com/politics/daily-derp-vermonts-new-state-motto-is-in-latin-conservatives-bash-latinos-screenshots/ .
So much for "E pluribus unum" ("Out of many, one").
Languages are a reflection of our interconnected history -- they all borrow
from each other. If you speak English, you speak parts of more than a hundred
languages.
This week we focus on Latin. We'll see five terms from Latin that are part
of the English language.
A note about the pronunciation: The indicated pronunciation is how a term
would be pronounced in English. Once we adopt a word in a language, it
usually plays by its new language's rules.
modus operandi (MOH-duhs op-uh-RAN-dee, -dy) noun
A particular way of doing something, especially a person's typical mode of operation.
[From Latin modus operandi, from modus (mode) + operari (to work).
Earliest documented use: 1654.]
See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/modus%20operandi
"David Cameron's characteristic modus operandi is to do anything and
everything he can to buy off his critics."
Tim Bale; The Tory Schism; New Statesman (London, UK); Sep 5-11, 2014.
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Date: Tue Feb 24 00:01:03 EST 2015
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--per se
X-Bonus: When once the itch of literature comes over a man, nothing can cure it but the scratching of a pen. -Samuel Lover, songwriter, composer, novelist, and artist (24 Feb 1797-1868)
This week's theme: Latin terms in English
per se (puhr SAY) adverb
In or by itself; intrinsically.
[From Latin per se, translation of Greek kath auto. Earliest documented use:
1505. Perse https://wordsmith.org/words/perse.html is something different.]
See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/per%20se
NOTES: Today's term makes an appearance in the word ampersand which is a
corruption of "and per se and". What does it mean? Earlier the & symbol
was considered the 27th letter of the alphabet. Yes, they used to say "A
to ampersand" instead of "A to Z". It'd be awkward to recite the alphabet
as "... X Y Z &" (and what?), so schoolchildren reciting the alphabet
would end it with "& per se and", meaning the symbol &, by itself, is the
word "and".
Where did the symbol & come from? It's a corruption of "et", the Latin
word for "and". That explains why sometimes "etc." is written as "&c".
The 27-Letter Alphabet https://wordsmith.org/words/images/per_se_large.jpg
From the book The Dixie Primer, for the Little Folks, 1863
Photo: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill http://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/moore/moore.html
"SHERLOC will not be searching for life per se -- only for the trail it
leaves behind."
Corey Powell; Have We Found Alien Life?; Popular Science (New York);
Feb 2015.
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Date: Wed Feb 25 00:01:03 EST 2015
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ex post
X-Bonus: The pain passes but the beauty remains. -Pierre-Auguste Renoir, artist [responding to Matisse on why he painted in spite of his painful arthritis] (25 Feb 1841-1919)
This week's theme: Latin terms in English
ex post (eks POST)
adjective: Based on past events; actual, rather than predicted.
adverb: Retrospectively.
[From Latin ex (from) + post (after). Earliest documented use: 1937.]
"But today, ex post, I know it was the arrow that was the most important,
so in telling this I move it to the forefront."
Witold Gombrowicz; Cosmos; Grove Press; 2005.
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Date: Thu Feb 26 00:01:05 EST 2015
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bona fide
X-Bonus: Mirrors, those revealers of the truth, are hated; that does not prevent them from being of use. -Victor Hugo, novelist and dramatist (26 Feb 1802-1885)
This week's theme: Latin terms in English
bona fide (BOH-nuh fyd, FY-dee)
adjective: Genuine.
adverb: In good faith; sincerely.
[From Latin bonus (good) + fides (faith). Earliest documented use: 1542.]
See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/bona%20fide
"How dare this animal treat me with suspicion? I was a bona fide member
of the same family."
From Spooky to Spunky; Gulf News (Dubai); Apr 20, 2012.
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Date: Fri Feb 27 00:01:02 EST 2015
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--per contra
X-Bonus: He that respects himself is safe from others; he wears a coat of mail that none can pierce. -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet (27 Feb 1807-1882)
This week's theme: Latin terms in English
per contra (per KON-truh)
adverb: On the contrary.
noun: The opposite side.
[From Latin per (per) + contra (against). Earliest documented use: 1554.]
"I'm sure you must be thinking horrible thoughts about me right now,
thinking I've been terrible to you. If only you could understand that
it's not so. Per contra, this has all been for your benefit."
William Bernhardt; Dark Eye; Ballantine Books; 2006.