This week’s theme
Toponyms

This week’s words
Smithfield bargain
kryptonite
Punic

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(PYOO-nik)

MEANING:

adjective:
1. Relating to Carthage.
2. Treacherous, faithless.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin Punicus (Carthaginian), from Greek Phoinix (Phoenician). Carthage was founded as a Phoenician colony, in present-day Tunisia. Earliest documented use: 1590.

NOTES:

The Romans and Carthaginians clashed in three Punic Wars (264-146 BCE). Rome eventually won, but not without plenty of drama: elephants crossing the Alps, double-crosses, and more salt than a Caesar salad (according to some historians the Romans salted Carthage’s fields after).

USAGE:

“They have cancelled Brexit this Friday because they want to bully and browbeat Parliament into agreeing the Punic terms on which the EU insists.”
Boris Johnson; The People’s Day of Jubilation Hijacked by Spineless Pirates; The Daily Telegraph (London, UK); Mar 27, 2019.

See more usage examples of punic in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: