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Aug 3, 2020
This week’s themeWords derived from body parts This week’s words iron-hearted pugnacious ithyphallic chicken-livered hysteric 
Photo: Kanisis / Dreamstime Previous week’s theme Words having origins in tree names 
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu GargThe heart is the seat of emotions. That’s what people in earlier times believed and that’s how languages have grown to have terms such as sweetheart, cruel-hearted, dishearten, heartbreak, and more. The heart is an important part, but it takes a whole bunch of parts to make a body run. This week, I have collected words derived from various body parts, both internal and external. These words are nowadays used metaphorically to describe someone. Can you think of a person for each of these words? For extra credit, identify one person to whom all these words would apply.
Update on the cherry tree I mentioned last week. Sunday (Aug 2) evening when I came out for a walk, the tree was gone. 10 years to grow a tree. 10 minutes to turn it into a stump.
iron-hearted
PRONUNCIATION:
(EYE-uhrn-har-tid)
MEANING:
adjective: Cruel; unfeeling.
ETYMOLOGY:
From iron, from Old English iren + heart, from Old English heorte. Earliest
documented use: 1570.
USAGE:
“the steely Gullah slave who was his grey-eyed great-great-great-grandmother survived endless snares to savor a life, scot-free of iron-hearted masters, harsh shouts, & malarial fields.” Cyrus Cassells; Praise Song; African American Review (St Louis, Missouri); Fall 2015. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
What a child doesn't receive he can seldom later give. -P.D. James,
novelist (3 Aug 1920-2014)
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