This week’s theme
Words with multiple personas

This week’s words
onolatry
grizzle
polyphony
bibble


Previous week’s theme
Verbs

---

A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(oh-NOL/NAHL-uh-tree)

MEANING:

noun:
1. Worship of the donkey or ass.
2. Devotion to foolishness.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Greek ono- (ass) + -latry (worship). Earliest documented use: 1903.

NOTES:

In the beginning, an ass was merely a donkey. The anatomical term was arse. As words wade along the river of language, they get smoothened with time: curse became cuss, parcel turned into passel, and arse morphed into ass. Of course, both forms coexist.

Regardless of the form, one truth remains: asses get no respect. In any language. Greek gave us onolatry and Latin added asinine to our linguistic stable.

There’s even the onocentaur, but that may be just a half-assed attempt at mythology.

USAGE:

“From his foretelling hoofs; the bray
Of the world of asses following Darius --
The sound that scattered the great Scythian hordes;
The sound of the crowd’s onolatry, and after.”
Edith Sitwell; Out of School: To José Garcia Villa; The Atlantic; Jun 1949.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: