This week’s theme
Kings who became words

This week’s words
Nero
Herod

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(HER-uhd)

MEANING:

noun: A cruel and wicked tyrant.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Herod the Great (74/73 BCE - 4 BCE), King of Judea under Roman authority. Earliest documented use: 1405.

NOTES:

Herod was worried that no one would mourn him. So he ordered that distinguished citizens be executed at the time of his death, ensuring public displays of grief.

According to the Gospel of Matthew, fearing that a newborn child in Bethlehem would usurp his throne, Herod ordered the killing of all boys aged two and under there. While this episode, known as Massacre of the Innocents, is considered apocryphal, it aligns with his reputation for paranoia and brutality. His name has also turned into a verb: out-Herod.

USAGE:

“[Pope] Francis continued, saying some migrants are ‘surviving the Herods of today, who, to impose their power and increase their wealth, see no problem in shedding innocent blood’.”
Bethlehem Marks Christmas Amid Tensions; Dominion Post (Wellington, New Zealand); Dec 26, 2017.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: