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From: The Other Boleyn Girl, by Philippa Gregory
The first rent day came a few weeks later in April when my father was appointed treasurer to the king's household, a post which brought him access to the king's daily wealth which he could peculate as he thought best.
The narrator is Mary (Boleyn) Carey, Anne younger sister.
The meaning is quite clear from the sentence, but i had never seen the word peculate before.
Peculate; pky-lt
TRANSITIVE & INTRANSITIVE VERB: Inflected forms: pec·u·lat·ed, pec·u·lat·ing, pec·u·lates
To embezzle (funds) or engage in embezzlement.
ETYMOLOGY: Latin peclr, peclt-, from peclium, private property. See peku- in Appendix I.
http://www.bartleby.com/61/24/P0142400.html
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Pooh-Bah
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And probably related, closely, to speculate, I would have thought. I've seen it before, although I would imagine it's an obsolete word these days.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Gurunet has, for the origin of peculate:
[Latin pecūlārī, pecūlāt-, from pecūlium, private property.]
For speculate, it has:
[Latin speculārī, speculāt-, to observe, from specula, watchtower, from specere, to look at.]
Note: where there are carets over the vowels, there should actually be lines. And, while I'm on a roll, G-net shows the origin of caret as:
[Latin, there is lacking, third person sing. present tense of carēre, to lack.] Which, I suppose, is apropos, since the capability for displaying lines over letters seems to be lacking...
EDIT: !!!!!!!! What the heck??? NOW it finally shows as an e with a line over it! [throwing hands in air e]
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Carpal Tunnel
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there is lacking
Maybe it got its name from the fact that it is commonly used in French and Portuguese to indicate that an s in the original Latin has been lost in the pronunciation and spelling.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Really? Cool, Faldage! Obviously I'm not up on the names of things like that (let alone the origins), since I have to say "e-with-a-line-over-it". Someone here posted the word for that not too long ago, but all I can remember is that it made me think of the word moron...
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Carpal Tunnel
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macron!  So what's the difference between a caret and a circumflex? Also, Wikipedia offers a rather clumsy list of diacritical marks and their functions; as well as instructions on how to produce them on both kinds of computers: country AND western! http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diacritic_marksCan anybody find a better list? Ah, maybe AHD...
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Carpal Tunnel
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RE: Gurunet has, for the origin of peculate:
[Latin pecūlārī, pecūlāt-, from pecūlium, private property.]
Such a fine mantle it is Jackie, i shall wear it well...
(see open GREEEN text in open post)
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Carpal Tunnel
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And green suits you well, dear Irish Rose!
Howsomever, I submit that you are only half-mantled. Jackie did come up with a slight variation on the Latin root, and used it to counterpose the same for speculate.
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Carpal Tunnel
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the difference between a caret and a circumflexThinking more on the subject, it is usually called a caret when it is being used to indicate what is lacking from the proofread text: was
The house broken in to.
^ In its use as a diacritical it is normally called a circumflex.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear Faldage: why didn't you mention that "caret" means "it lacks"?
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Carpal Tunnel
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why didn't you mention
Din't wanna mantle Jackie.
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Carpal Tunnel
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If you mantled somebody while you were drugged, would that be a Mickey Mantle?
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Carpal Tunnel
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One man's umbrage is another man's robe of honor.
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Carpal Tunnel
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One man's umbrage
Die im Dunkeln sieht man nicht.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Die im Dunkeln sieht man nicht
Harrumph®. That's Mackie Messer, not Mickey Mantle.
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Carpal Tunnel
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FWIW Department: Erich Segal used "peculate" in Acts of Faith (1992), when his hero has (mis)used the company computer to play the stockmarket with company funds. It was only for a week and the funds were all paid back, but it was grounds for throwing him out nevertheless. "So, Danny, indulged in a bit of peculation, have we?"
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