adj 1: of, relating to, or resembling yeast 2a: immature, unsettled b: marked by change *c: full of vitality d: frivolous*“He has vigorous, yeasty ideas on how wide sidewalks should be, and why people enter some shop doors and not others.”—JOHN SKOW, TIME, FEBRUARY 27, 1989
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The word “yeast” has existed in English for as long as the language has existed. Spellings have varied over time (it was yest in Middle English and gist or geist in Old English), but the word’s meaning has remained basically the same for centuries. In its earliest documented uses, “yeast” referred to a creamy or yellowish froth that forms on the top of fermented beverages such as beers or ales (not surprising, given that one of the first commercial uses of yeast was in the preparation of such drinks), and that sense is still used today. In its first documented English uses in the 1500s, the adjective “yeasty” described people or things with a similarly yellowish or frothy appearance.
scurrilous
adj 1a: using or given to coarse language b: being vulgar or evil *2: containing obscenities, abuse, or slander*The man in the seat next to me kept making scurrilous remarks about the flight attendants.
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“Scurrilous” (along with its much rarer relative “scurrile”) comes to us via Middle French from the Latin root scurra, meaning “buffoon” or “jester.” Fittingly, the 18th-century lexicographer Samuel Johnson defined “scurrilous” as “using such language as only the licence of a buffoon could warrant.” But while vulgarity, irreverence, and indecorousness, qualities traditionally associated with buffoonery, can be invoked by the word, “scurrilous” language of the present day is more often intended to harm or slander than to produce a few laughs.
impious
adj : marked by irreverence toward a deity, a person, or a thingEveryone glared at Martha when she made a carelessly impious comment at the church breakfast.
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The Latin pius (originally meaning “dutiful to one’s gods and one’s parents”) gave rise to the word “pious” as well as the name Pius, adopted by 12 Popes. Its antonym “impious” was first documented in a 1542 reference to the traitorous Athenian general and politician Alicibiades (c. 450–404 B.C.), whose family had once been banished for sacrilege because his great-grandfather slew a group of rebels while they clung to an altar for protection. Other derivatives of pius include “piety,” “pity,” and “pittance” (first used in reference to food allotted to monks and nuns).
epenthesis
n : the insertion or development of a sound or letter in the body of a wordIn my view, the most annoying example of epenthesis is the pronunciation of “athlete” as “a-tha-lete.”
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If you pronounce “film” as “fil-um,” with two syllables, you’re committing epenthesis. This isn’t a punishable offense; in fact, it’s not an offense at all. Epenthesis (from a Greek verb meaning “to insert a letter”) is simply a natural way to break up an awkward cluster of consonants. It’s easier for some people to say “film” as two syllables instead of one, just as it’s easier for some to insert a “b” sound into “cummerbund,” pronouncing it as “cum-ber-bund.”
abulia
n : abnormal lack of ability to act or to make decisionsBy about two in the afternoon, I feel as if abulia has set in and I just can’t go on without another cup of coffee.
DID YOU KNOW?
Mark Twain wrote that he must have “a prodigious quantity of mind” because it took him “as much as a week, sometimes, to make it up.” The indecision Twain lamented is fairly common, but it has an uncommon name: abulia. The term we use today comes from a New Latin word that combines the prefix a-, which means “without,” with the Greek word boulē , meaning “will.” Although it’s most often used in medical or psychological contexts to describe physical or mental conditions that make it difficult, if not impossible, for an individual to act or make decisions, “abulia” can refer to the generalized indecision that sometimes afflicts us all.
deke
v *1: to fake (an opponent) out of position (as in ice hockey) 2: to deke an opponent*With a quick zigzag move, Pat deked the two remaining defensemen and was left one-on-one with the goalie.
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“Deke” originated as a shortened form of “decoy” and was used in that sense by Ernest Hemingway, who referred to hunting decoys in his 1950 novel Across the River and into the Trees (“I offered to put the dekes out with him”). In the 1960s, it began appearing in ice hockey contexts in Canadian print as a noun as well as a verb (“to fake out of position”). Today, “deke” has scored in many other sports, including baseball, basketball, and football. It has also checked its way into more general usage, referring to deceptive or evasive moves or actions, but this general application occurs too rarely to merit its own sense in the dictionary.
gelid
adj : extremely cold : icyMembers of the rescue team braved gelid conditions as they searched the mountain for the lost climber.
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“Gelid” first appeared in English late in the 16th century, coming to the language from the Latin gelidus, which ultimately derives from the noun gelu, meaning “frost” or “cold.” (Our noun “gelatin,” which can refer to an edible jelly that undergoes a cooling process as part of its formation, comes from a related Latin word: gelare, meaning “to freeze.”) “Gelid” can describe anything of extremely cold temperature (as in “the gelid waters of the Arctic Ocean”), but it can also be used figuratively to describe a cold demeanor (“the criminal’s gelid stare”).
shrive
v 1: to administer the sacrament of reconciliation to *2: to free from guilt*Only a letter of forgiveness from her son could shrive the woman who stood before us.
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The history of “shrive” begins with the Latin verb scribere (“to write”), which found its way onto the tongues of certain Germanic peoples and was brought to Britain in the early Middle Ages. Old English adopted the word as scrīfan. Because it was often used for laying down directions or rules in writing, eighth-century speakers used the term to mean “prescribe or impose.” The Church adopted scrīfan to refer to the act of assigning penance to sinners and, later, to hearing confession and administering absolution. Scrīfan became “shrive” in Modern English and also gave us the noun “shrift,” which makes up half of “short shrift,” a phrase meaning “little or no consideration.” Originally, “short shrift” was the barely adequate time for confession before an execution.
haptic
adj : relating to or based on the sense of touchMark could differentiate the various kinds of yarn purely by haptic clues.
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“Haptic” (from the Greek haptesthai, “to touch”) entered English in the 19th century as a medical synonym of “tactile.” By the 1950s it had developed a psychological sense, describing individuals whose perception supposedly depended primarily on touch rather than sight. Although no one today divides people into “haptic” and “visual” personalities, the word retains its broadened psychological sense as well as the older “tactile” sense.
catchpole
n : a sheriff’s deputy; especially : one who makes arrests for failure to pay a debtSuspecting that a catchpole was at the door, David quickly threw on some clothes and climbed out a window.
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Imagine chasing a chicken around the barnyard. Catching it would be no mean feat. And chasing down someone who owes you money is pretty challenging, too. It’s no surprise then that these two taxing tasks come together in “catchpole,” which derives from a word that literally means “chicken chaser”—the Anglo-French cachepole. Before it referred to the debt police, “catchpole” was used more generally for any tax collector. That’s the sense demonstrated in a 12th-century homily about the apostle Matthew: “Matheus thet wes cachepol thene he iwende to god-spellere” (“Matthew who was a catchpole until he turned into a writer of the Gospel”).
kvell
v : to be extraordinarily proud : rejoiceAmy’s parents kvelled over her performance in the young people’s piano recital.
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“Kvell” is derived from Yiddish kveln (“to be delighted”), which in turn comes from the Middle High German word quellen, meaning “to well, gush, or swell.” Etymologists have not pinpointed an exact date for the debut of “kvell” in the English language, although its appearance in a 1952 handbook of Jewish words and expressions affords a time frame. Still, actual usage evidence remains unseen.
diapause
n : a period of physiologically enforced dormancy between periods of activityUnlike many other butterflies, North America’s pygmy blue does not undergo a diapause in the winter.
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“Diapause” (from the Greek diapausis, meaning “pause”) may have been coined by the entomologist William Wheeler in 1893. Wheeler’s focus was insects, but spontaneous periods of suspended animation that seem to happen in response to adverse environmental conditions also occur in the development of crustaceans, snails, and other animals. Exercising poetic license, novelist Joyce Carol Oates even gave the word a human application in her short story “Visitation Rights” (1988): “Her life, seemingly in shambles, . . . was not ruined; . . . injured perhaps, and surely stunted, but only temporarily. There had been a diapause, and that was all. . . .”
megrim
n 1a: migraine b: vertigo, dizziness 2a: fancy, whim *b plural : low spirits*Though she had suffered from a case of the megrims all week, Julie cheered up when her friend from Alabama made a surprise visit to town.
DID YOU KNOW?
“Megrim” and “migraine” share a meaning and an etymology. Greeks afflicted with a pain in one side of the head called their ailment hēmikrania, from hēmi- (“half”) and kranion (“cranium”). French-speaking sufferers used migraine, a modification of the Late Latin hemicrania, for the same condition. English-speakers then adopted migraine—twice. In the 14th century, they modified the French term to form migreime, which in turn gave rise to “megrim.” Later, in the 15th century, they returned to the original French migraine. Nowadays, “megrim” and “migraine” are still used interchangeably, but “megrim” can also refer to much less severe and painful departures from normal health.
Ruritanian
adj : of, relating to, or having the characteristics of an imaginary place of high romanceTolkien fans were elated when the Ruritanian world of Middle Earth was finally depicted on the big screen.
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In 1894, British author Anthony Hope published The Prisoner of Zenda, a novel set in the mythical kingdom of Ruritania. The book relates the adventures of Rudolf Rassendyll, a British gentleman who impersonates the king of Ruritania to save him from a treasonous plot. An improbable but high-spirited tale filled with heroes, villains, courtly intrigue, romance, and swordplay, Hope’s narrative (and its fictional locale) quickly captured the imagination of the public. Within two years of the novel’s publication, George Bernard Shaw saw fit to use “Ruritanian” as a generic adjective: “Our common sense . . . must immediately put a summary stop to the somewhat silly Ruritanian gambols of our imagination.” Romantic or fanciful places or things have been “Ruritanian” ever since.
couloir
n : a steep mountainside gorgeDuring our helicopter tour of the mountain range, we saw several snowboarders taking on the steep terrain of the couloir.
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“Couloir” entered English in the 19th century from French, where it literally meant “passage.” The term was first applied specifically to steep gorges in the Alps and later to similar gorges elsewhere, especially ones used by skiers as passages down mountains. Because of their narrowness and steepness, couloirs can be dangerous terrain for even expert skiers. In fact, journalist Jim Kochevar, writing of his experiences in the Telluride ski area for the Chicago Tribune in October 1997, redefined “couloir” as a French word for “cold, narrow place to die.”
neoteric
adj : recent in origin : modernThis gallery eschews traditional works of art in favor of neoteric works such as computer graphic displays.
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An odd thing about “neoteric” is that this word for something new is itself very old. It’s been part of English since at least 1596, and its roots are found in ancient Greek. We adapted the word from neotericus, a Late Latin word that meant “recent” and was ultimately based on the Greek neos, meaning “new” or “young.” As old as its roots are, however, “neoteric” itself entered English later than its synonyms “modern” (which appeared earlier in the 16th century) and “newfangled” (which has been with us since the 14th century).
vade mecum
n *1: a book for ready reference : manual 2: something regularly carried about by a person*Every good student should invest in at least one vade mecum of English usage.
DID YOU KNOW?
Vade mecum is Latin for “go with me” (it derives from the Latin verb vaden, meaning “to go”). Since at least 1629, the phrase has been used in English to refer to manuals or guidebooks sufficiently compact to be carried in a deep pocket. From the beginning, however, it has also been used for such constant companions as gold, medications, and memorized gems of wisdom.
lief
adv : soon, gladlyIn Shakespeare’s As You Like It, Rosalind condemns Orlando’s tardiness with the words “Come no more in my sight. I had as lief be woo’d of a snail.”
DID YOU KNOW?
“Lief” began as lēof in Old English and has since appeared in many literary classics, first as an adjective and then as an adverb. It got its big break in the epic poem Beowulf as an adjective meaning “dear” or “beloved.” The adverb first appeared in the 13th century, and in 1390 it was used in John Gower’s collection of love stories, Confessio Amantis. Since that time, it has graced the pages of works by William Makepeace Thackeray, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and D.H. Lawrence, among others. Today, the adverb still pops up in the phrases “had as lief,” “would as lief,” “had liefer,” and “would liefer.”
bludge
v, chiefly Australia & New Zealand 1: to avoid work or responsibility *2: to sponge*“I come home and bludge off Mum and Dad, but if I had to stay in London I would have to find another job.”—HANNAH BAGSHAW, QUOTED IN THE CHRISTCHURCH (N.Z.) PRESS, December 27, 2000
DID YOU KNOW?
Though they can be annoying, people who bludge are relatively harmless. On the other hand, a bludgeoner can do some pretty major damage. “Bludgeoner” was shortened in England to “bludger” (slang for “pimp”) back in the 19th century. That bludger was certainly a kind of bully, one apparently willing to wield a bludgeon now and then to ensure his livelihood. In the early 20th century, “bludge” became the verb for what a bludger does. By then, a somewhat softened “bludger” had appeared in Australia and New Zealand, and the “bludge” family was reduced to mere cadging or sponging.
manumit
v : to release from slaveryMillions of former slaves celebrated their newfound freedom after being manumitted by the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865.
DID YOU KNOW?
If you think of freeing someone from captivity as releasing that person from the hand (control) of the captor, you’ll see the aptness of the following derivation. “Manumit” descends ultimately from manus, the Latin word for “hand,” plus the verb mittere, meaning “to let go” or “send.” The two roots joined hands in Latin to form the verb manumittere, which meant “to free from slavery” and which in turn eventually passed into Middle English as manumitten. Another descendant of manus is “emancipate,” which is both a relative and a synonym of “manumit.”
devoir
n *1: duty, responsibility 2: a usually formal act of civility or respect*“Goaded by filial devoir (barely ahead of an insatiability for musty pubs), I went to Europe for a few days.”—PAUL DEAN, LOS ANGELES TIMES, JANUARY 24, 1987
DID YOU KNOW?
In a manner of speaking, “devoir” was borrowed twice. First, back in the days of Middle English, we took the French dever and gave it a distinctly non-French pronunciation, stressing the first syllable so that it rhymed with “never.” Then, a hundred or so years later, some writers changed the English spelling from “dever” to “devoir” to match the modern French word. And that borrowing was given the French pronunciation that has persisted to this day.
amative
adj 1: strongly moved by love and especially sexual love *2a: indicative of love b: of or relating to love*On Valentine’s Day, Fred composed a poem to express his amative feelings for Nancy.
DID YOU KNOW?
“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways . . .” Elizabeth Barrett Browning came up with eight ways to express her love in her poem; we offer six ways, or rather six words. Besides today’s “amative” and the familiar “amorous,” there’s “amatory,” “amoristic,” “amatorious,” and “amatorial” (you have to go to our unabridged dictionary to look up the last two). All the words in this list stem from Latin amare, meaning “to love.” “Amative,” which was first introduced in 1636, was modeled on Medieval Latin amativus, from the past participle of amare. “Amorous,” on the other hand, goes back to Middle English and came from Medieval Latin amorosus, an adjective based on the noun amor (“love”).
cupidity
n *1: inordinate desire for wealth : avarice, greed 2: strong desire : lust*“Capitalism is a mechanism for coping with cupidity, not for enhancing it.”—WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY, JR., THE NATIONAL REVIEW, JUNE 2003
DID YOU KNOW?
The Latin verb cupere (“to desire”) produced three nouns that have passed with minimal modification into English. Cupiditas, which meant “yearning” or “greed,” gave rise to our word “cupidity.” Cupido started out as a synonym of cupiditas but came to stand for the personification of carnal desire (the counterpart of the Greek erōs) and ended up as our familiar (and rather domesticated) Cupid. Concupiscere, meaning “to desire ardently,” yielded the word concupiscentia in the Late Latin of the Christian church; that noun came to connote sexual desire, a meaning reflected in the English “concupiscence.”
sitzmark
n : a depression left in the snow by a skier falling backwardWe found ourselves skiing over sitzmarks produced by novices who didn’t belong on that trail.
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Are you among the “uncoordinated masses” to whom Richard Wolkomir referred in 1984 when he wrote, “for us, to ski is to make sitzmarks”? If so, you may want to give your backside a break and plop down in a comfy chair in the ski lodge instead of plunking back onto the snow. Either way, you’ll find yourself sitting on your derriere, a fact you can use to remember “sitzmark.” It’s most likely a word created by English-speakers from “mark” in its sense of “impression” preceded by the German verb sitzen, meaning “to sit.”
inselberg
n : an isolated mountainA scan of the vast plain showed the occasional inselberg poking up over the horizon against a wide expanse of deep blue sky.
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“Inselberg” comes from the German words Insel, which means “island,” and Berg, meaning “mountain.” Apparently, German explorers thought isolated mountains rising from the plains of southern Africa looked like islands in the midst of the ocean. Geologically speaking, an inselberg is a hill of hard volcanic rock, such as granite, that has resisted wind and weather and remained strong and tall as the land around it eroded away. Ayers Rock in central Australia is a spectacular example of an inselberg.
dragon’s teeth
n *1: seeds of strife 2: wedge-shaped concrete antitank barriers laid in multiple rows*Political analysts insisted that the government’s proposed policy would only sow dragon’s teeth by increasing poverty and discontent.
DID YOU KNOW?
In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote that Pearl “never created a friend, but seemed always to be sowing broadcast the dragon’s teeth, whence sprung a harvest of armed enemies, against whom she rushed to battle.” In Hawthorne and elsewhere, “dragon’s teeth” alludes to a story involving Cadmus, the legendary Phoenician hero reputed to have founded Thebes and invented the alphabet. The tale holds that Cadmus killed a dragon and planted its teeth in the ground. From the teeth sprang fierce armed men who battled one another until all were dead but five. These founded the noblest families of Thebes and helped build its citadel.
raconteur
n : a person who excels at telling anecdotesA true Irish raconteur, Michael can turn even boring, mundane experiences into hilariously entertaining stories.
DID YOU KNOW?
The story of “raconteur” is a tale of telling and counting. English borrowed the word from French, where it traces back to the Old French raconter, meaning “to tell.” Raconter in turn was formed from another Old French verb, aconter or acompter, meaning “to tell” or “to count,” which is ultimately from Latin computare, meaning “to count.” Computare is also the source of our “count” and “account.” “Raconteur” has been part of the English vocabulary since at least 1828.
hyperborean
adj 1: of or relating to an extreme northern region : frozen *2: of or relating to any of the arctic peoples*Despite her hyperborean ancestry, Pauline barely tolerated the winter cold and eagerly awaited spring.
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In ancient Greek mythology, the Hyperboreoi were a people who lived in a northern paradise of perpetual sunshine beyond the reaches of the god of the north wind. (Their name combined the prefix hyper-, meaning “above,” and Boreas, the Greek name of the north wind.) When “hyperborean” first appeared in our language in the 15th century, it named those legendary folk. By the late 1500s, however, the word was being used more generally for anything relating to the far north or the people who live there.
zeitgeber
n : an environmental agent or event that provides the stimulus setting or resetting a biological clock of an organismLight is a zeitgeber that helps to keep plants and animals on their normal daily and seasonal schedules.
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Zeitgebers are nature’s alarm clocks, both biologically and etymologically. In German, Zeit means “time” and Geber means “giver,” so a “zeitgeber” is literally a “time giver.” In nature, zeitgebers tend to be cyclic or recurring patterns that help keep the body’s circadian rhythms operating in an orderly way. For plants and animals, the daily pattern of light and darkness and the warmer and colder temperatures between day and night serve as zeitgebers, cues that keep organisms functioning on a regular schedule. For humans, the societally imposed schedules of the work or school day and mealtimes can become zeitgebers as well.
morass
n 1: a marsh or swamp *2: something that traps, confuses, or impedes*For what seemed like an eternity, the Campbells were caught up in the legal morass of a messy divorce.
DID YOU KNOW?
We won’t swamp you with the details: “morass” comes from the Dutch word moeras, which itself derives from the Old French word maresc, meaning “marsh.” In its earliest English uses, “morass” was a synonym of “swamp” or “marsh” (Robert Louis Stevenson described Long John Silver emerging from the morass to parley with Captain Smollett in Treasure Island), but it didn’t stop there. If you’ve ever tried to disentangle yourself from a sticky situation or walk through a thick, muddy swamp, you know it’s easy to compare those two onerous activities, and by the mid-19th century “morass” was being used figuratively to refer to any murky or confusing predicament.
diluvial
adj : of, relating to, or brought about by a floodOn June 11, 2001, the Houston Chronicle reported that not since 1935 had the city seen “the magnitude of diluvial disaster experienced the last few days in the wake of Tropical Storm Allison.”
DID YOU KNOW?
Late Latin diluvialis, meaning “flood,” was formed from diluere (“to wash away”) and ultimately from lavere (“to wash”). Beginning in the mid-1600s, geologists, archaeologists, fossilists, and the like used the English “diluvial” and its variant “diluvian” to mark a distinct geological turning point associated with the biblical Flood. They also used “antediluvian” and “postdiluvian” to describe the periods before and after the Flood. Not until the 1800s did people start using “diluvial” for floods and flooding in general. In her essay “Forest Life” (1850), American educator and essayist Caroline M. Kirkland, one early user of this sense, wrote: “Much of our soil is said to be diluvial—the wash of the great ocean lakes as they overflowed towards the south.”
mufti
n : civilian clothesLieutenant Jackson was happy to be out of uniform and wearing mufti for the five days that she was home on furlough.
DID YOU KNOW?
In Islamic tradition, a mufti is a professional jurist who interprets Muslim law. On the English stage in the early 19th century, actors portraying muftis generally wore costumes that included a dressing gown and a tasseled smoking cap—apparel that some felt resembled the clothing preferred by the off-duty military officers of the day. The modern sense of “mufti” is thought to have developed from this association of stage costume and civilian clothing.
filial
adj : characteristic of a son or daughterMartha’s acute sense of filial responsibility compelled her to check on her mother whenever a few days went by without contact.
DID YOU KNOW?
“Filial” is descended from filius and filia, the Latin words for “son” and “daughter,” respectively, and in English it has always referred to both sexes. At one time, the word connoted a sense of “owing” on the part of a child, typically found in the phrases “filial respect” and “filial piety.” It can now be used more generally for any emotional or behavioral response of a child to a parent. We should note here that “filial” is not related to “filly” (from Old Norse fylja), meaning “young female horse.”
impuissant
adj : weak, powerlessJonah was a relentless bully who sought to intimidate any and all impuissant students he could find in the schoolyard.
DID YOU KNOW?
Both the adjective “impuissant” and the noun “impuissance” came to English from Anglo-French. They are derived from the prefix in- (meaning “not”) and the noun puissance, which means “power” and is a word in English in its own right. Puissance derives from the verb poer, meaning “to be able” or “to be powerful,” and is ultimately related to the same Latin roots that gave us words such as “power” and “potent.” While both “puissant” and “impuissance” first appeared in English during the 15th century, “impuissant” did not make its first appearance in our language until 1629.
verdigris
n : a green or bluish deposit that forms on copper, brass, or bronze surfaces“In the not-too-great distance is that torch-bearing icon in verdigris, . . . still looking fine after her 1986 restoration. . . .” —ANDY BIRSH, GOURMET, NOVEMBER 11, 1990
DID YOU KNOW?
“Green of Greece”—that’s the literal translation of vert de Grece, the Anglo-French phrase from which the modern word “verdigris” descends. Verdigris (also known as a patina) forms naturally on copper and copper alloys such as brass and bronze when those metals are exposed to air, and since the days of the Renaissance this coating has been associated with the statuary and architecture of ancient Greece. Americans, however, may know it best from the greenish blue copper coating of the Statue of Liberty.
skulk
v 1: to move in a stealthy or furtive manner : sneak *2: to hide or conceal oneself from cowardice or fear or with treacherous intent*We lost track of our dog in the midst of the thunderstorm and finally found her skulking under the bed.
DID YOU KNOW?
Here’s one for word-puzzle lovers. Can you name two things that “skulk” has in common with all of these words: booth, brink, cog, flit, give, kid, meek, scab, seem, skull, snub, and wing? Okay, they’re all one-syllable words, but the second link is a lot harder. Every word in the list is of Scandinavian origin and was first recorded in English in the 13th century. As for “skulk,” its closest Scandinavian relative is Norwegian dialect skulka, which means “to lie in wait” or “lurk.”
chrestomathy
n 1: a selection of passages used to help learn a language *2: a volume of selected passages or stories of an author*This chrestomathy of Edgar Allan Poe’s writings contains excerpts from all his major literary works.
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“Provided that nothing like useful knowledge could be gained from them, provided they were all story and no reflection, she had never any objection to books at all.” Jane Austen’s Catherine in Northanger Abbey, whose aversion to learning is pretty well summed up in the preceding passage, would likely object to a chrestomathy that turned out to be a compilation of excerpts from ancient philosophical writings. But that was what the Greeks had in mind when they created “chrestomathy” from their adjective chrēstos, which meant “useful,” and the verb manthanein, meaning “to learn.”
shunpike
n : a side road used to avoid the toll on or the speed and traffic of a superhighwayWhen people request directions to our house, I ask them if they want the turnpike route or the slower shunpike route.
DID YOU KNOW?
America’s love affair with the automobile and the development of a national system of superhighways (along with the occasional desire to seek out paths less traveled) is a story belonging to the 20th century. The word “shunpike,” however, has been describing side roads since the middle of the 19th century, almost half a century before the first Model T rolled out of the factory. In fact, toll roads have actually existed for centuries (the word “turnpike” has meant “tollgate” since at least 1678).
clew
n 1: a ball of thread, yarn, or cord *2: a clue 3a: a lower corner or the after corner of a sail b: a metal loop attached to the lower corner of a sail*“They had followed immediately behind him, thinking his actions might prove a clew to my whereabouts. . . .”—EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS, A PRINCESS OF MARS
DID YOU KNOW?
The “ball of thread” meaning of “clew” (from Middle English clewe) has been with us since before the 12th century. Because balls of thread were used to escape from labyrinths in various mythological stories (such as the story of Theseus in Crete), “clew” and the variant “clue” came to be used for anything that could guide a person through a difficult place. This use led in turn to the meaning “a piece of evidence that leads one toward the solution of a problem.” Today, “clue” is the more common spelling for the “evidence” sense, but you’ll find “clew” in some famous works of literature. “Clew” is also the only choice for the sailing senses.
disinterested
adj 1: not having the mind or feelings engaged *2: free from selfish motive or interest : unbiased*To avoid any conflicts of interest, the company hired disinterested consultants to determine how to reorganize the company most efficiently.
DID YOU KNOW?
“Disinterested” and “uninterested” have a tangled history. “Uninterested” originally meant “impartial,” but this sense fell into disuse during the 18th century. Around the same time, the “disengaged” also disappeared, only to have “uninterested” take it's place. The original sense of “uninterested” is still out of use, but the original (“uninterested”) sense of “disinterested” revived in the early 20th century. The revival has come under frequent attack as an illiteracy and a blurring or loss of a useful distinction. However, a writer may choose to use “disinterested” for emphasis, as in “a supremely disinterested child.” Further, “disinterested” has developed the sense “no longer interested,” which is clearly distinguishable from “uninterested.”
megillah
n, slang : a long involved story or accountMom could never make a long story short—she always had to tell the whole megillah in excruciating detail.
DID YOU KNOW?
Although “megillah” is a slang word in English, it has perfectly respectable Hebrew origins. The word derives from the Yiddish megile, which itself comes from the Hebrew megillāh, meaning “scroll” or “volume.” (Megillāh is most likely to be used in reference to the Book of Esther, which is read aloud at Purim celebrations.) It makes sense, then, that when “megillah” first appeared in English in the mid-20th century, it referred to a story so long (and often also tedious or complicated) that it was reminiscent of the length of the megillāh scrolls. The Hebrew word is serious, but the Yiddish megile can be somewhat playful, and our “megillah” has inherited that lightheartedness.
pasquinade
n *1: a lampoon posted in a public place 2: satirical writing : satire*During the night, a pasquinade mocking the mayor’s tax policy was nailed to the front door of the town hall.
DID YOU KNOW?
In 1501, an ancient marble statue was unearthed in Rome and erected near the Piazza Navona. The statue depicted a male torso and was christened “Pasquino” by the Romans, perhaps after a local tailor. In those days, the citizens of Rome expressed their criticism of political and religious leaders by means of anonymous lampoons, and the Pasquino statue became a prime location for such postings. The lampoons, which still appear to this day, became known in English as “pasquinades” (from the Italian pasquinata). The term has since expanded in usage to refer to any kind of satirical writing.
mien
n *1: air or bearing especially as expressive of attitude or personality : demeanor 2: appearance, aspect*She possessed the cool mien of an aristocrat, which discouraged many who otherwise would have approached her.
DID YOU KNOW?
Like its synonyms “bearing” and “demeanor,” “mien” refers to an outward manifestation of personality or attitude. “Bearing” is the most general, usually implying characteristic posture (“a woman of regal bearing”). But “demeanor,” suggesting attitude expressed through outward behavior in the presence of others (“the manager’s professional demeanor”), is closer to “mien” from an etymological standpoint. “Mien” arose through the shortening and alteration of the verb “demean,” which is also the root of “demeanor.” In this case, “demean” means “to conduct or behave (oneself) usually in a proper manner” (the other “demean,” which means “to degrade,” is a distinct word).
superficies
n 1: a surface of a body or a region of space *2: the external aspects or appearance of a thing*Despite major changes in the superficies of our lives, we can still identify with many of the human dilemmas faced by our ancestors.
DID YOU KNOW?
Sixteenth-century English-speakers plucked “superficies” right from Latin, which had combined super (“on top”) and facies (“face” or “aspect”) to form a word meaning “surface.” Incidentally, our word “surface” came to us around 1600 by way of Middle French, where sur- (from super) was combined with face (“face,” from facies). One tricky thing to keep in mind about “superficies” is that it can be singular or plural. (There is no “superficie” or “superficy.”)
florescence
n : a state or period of flourishingThe control of artificial water reservoirs by Maya rulers may have played a role in both the florescence and the collapse of their civilization.
DID YOU KNOW?
The flowering of botany as a science in the 18th century produced a crop of English words that came about as adaptations of Latin words. Botanists picked “florescence” as a showy word to refer to the blooming of a flower, a good choice given that the term grew out of the New Latin florescentia, meaning “blossoming.” (“New Latin” refers to the form of Latin still used by scientists to name and classify organisms.) Florescentia is related to the verb florēre (“to blossom or flourish”) and rooted in the Latin noun flos, meaning “flower.” Less literal types appreciated the word, too, and applied it to anything that seemed to be thriving or flourishing.
bower
n 1: an attractive dwelling or retreat 2: a lady’s private apartment in a medieval hall *3: a shelter of entwined boughs or vines*Seated on a bench in the bower, Maura waited patiently for Alan to join her.
DID YOU KNOW?
“Bower” derives from Old English būr, meaning “dwelling,” and was originally used of attractive homes or retreats, especially rustic cottages. In the Middle Ages, “bower” came to refer to a lady’s private apartment within a medieval castle or hall. Today’s “arbor” sense combines the pastoral beauty of a rustic retreat with the privacy of a personal hideaway. Although its tranquil modern meaning belies it, “bower” is distantly related to the far more roughshod “bowery,” used as the name of a once-sleazy district in New York City. “Bowery” derives from a Dutch term (for a dwelling or farm) that shares a common ancestor with the parents of “bower.”
lacuna
n *1: a blank space or a missing part : gap 2: a small cavity, pit, or discontinuity in an anatomical structure*Because Uncle Gordon was still overseas, there was a glaring lacuna in our most recent family photo.
DID YOU KNOW?
Exploring the etymology of “lacuna” involves taking a backward leap into lacus, the Latin word for “lake.” Latin-speakers modified lacus into lacuna and used that noun to mean “pit,” “cleft,” or “pool.” English-speakers borrowed the term in the 17th century. Another English descendant of lacuna is “lagoon,” a word for a shallow body of water, which came to us by way of Italian and French.
distend
v 1: to extend *2: to enlarge from internal pressure : swell 3: to become expanded*“Boy, am I stuffed,” said Bill as he undid the top button of his trousers to lessen the pressure on his distended stomach.
DID YOU KNOW?
The history of the word “distend” stretches back to the Latin verb tendere, a root whose kin have done much to expand our language. To find evidence of this expansion, look to words that include “tend” or “tent”; many have tendere, which means “to stretch, extend, or spread,” in their family tree. Perhaps the simplest example is “tent,” which names a shelter made from a piece of material stretched over a frame. You’ll also find the influence of tendere in “extend,” “tendon,” “contend,” “portend,” and “tendency.”
objet trouvé
n : a found natural or discarded object (as a piece of driftwood or an old bathtub) held to have aesthetic valueMadison’s office is decorated with many objets trouvés collected during her travels, including seashells and driftwood.
DID YOU KNOW?
“Objet trouvé” comes from French, where it literally means “found object.” The term entered 20th-century English when surrealists and other modern artists challenged the traditional view that true art must be a product of human handiwork and argued that a natural object could be a work of art if a person recognized its aesthetic merit. In its strictest sense, “objet trouvé” refers to naturally formed objects whose beauty is the result of natural forces, but the term is often extended to found objects such as toilets, wrecked cars, and scrap metal that are displayed as art.
apposite
adj : highly pertinent or appropriate : aptTo end her speech, the valedictorian shared an apposite quote by her favorite poet.
DID YOU KNOW?
“Apposite” and “opposite” sound so much alike that you’d expect them to have a common ancestor—and they do. Adding the prefix ad- to the Latin verb ponere (“to put or place”) created apponere (“to place near”), and that branch of the ponere family tree led to “apposite.” To get the adjective “opposite,” the prefix ob- was added to ponere to create opponere (“to place against or opposite”). Other ponere offspring include “compound,” “dispose,” and “posture.”
MacGuffin
n : an object, event, or character in a story that serves to keep the plot in motion despite lacking intrinsic importanceThe missing document is a MacGuffin that sends two spies racing around the world, but the real story centers on tension between them.
DID YOU KNOW?
The first person to use “MacGuffin” as a word for a plot device was Alfred Hitchcock, who borrowed it from an old shaggy-dog story in which some passengers on a train interrogate a man carrying a large, strange-looking package. The man says the package contains a “MacGuffin,” which is used to catch tigers in the Scottish Highlands. When the group protests that there are no tigers in the Highlands, he replies, “Well, then, this must not be a MacGuffin.” Hitchcock apparently appreciated the effect of the mysterious package and recognized that an audience would continue to follow a story even if the initial interest-grabber turned out to be irrelevant.
pulchritude
n : physical comeliness : beauty In the magazine’s pictorial essay on Hollywood stardom and pulchritude, no one was more photogenic than Marilyn Monroe.
DID YOU KNOW?
“Pulchritude” has been decorating our language since the 1400s. It’s a descendant of the Latin pulcher, which means “beautiful” and which also gave us “pulchritudinous,” meaning “attractive” or “beautiful.” The verb “pulchrify” (a synonym of “beautify”), the noun “pulchritudeness” (same meaning as “pulchritude”), and the adjective “pulchrous” (meaning “fair or beautiful”) were other “pulcher” offspring, but those terms proved that, at least in some linguistic cases, beauty is fleeting.
gasconade
n : bravado or exaggerated boastingFor all his gasconade, Bill couldn’t manage to finish the job either correctly or on time.
DID YOU KNOW?
The citizens of Gascony in southwestern France have proverbially been regarded as prone to bragging. Their reputation has been immortalized in such swashbuckling literary works as Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers and Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac. Linguistically, the legend survives in the word “gascon,” meaning “braggart,” as well as “gasconade” itself.
xenial
adj : of, relating to, or constituting hospitality or relations between host and guestOn the occasion of the big cricket meet, xenial goodwill overrode past hostilities between the two competing nations.
DID YOU KNOW?
On May 28, 1998, 13-year-old Alex Carter of Charleston, West Virginia, stepped to the microphone at the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee. If he spelled “xenial” correctly, he would advance to the nationally televised finals. According to his hometown newspaper, Alex didn’t recognize the word, so he asked what language it came from. “It was Greek,” Alex said later, “so I figured it would be ‘xe’ instead of ‘ze.’” The rest of us can just remember that “xenial” derives from xenios, which in turn comes from xenos, meaning “guest” or “stranger.”
apex
n 1a: the uppermost point : vertex b: the narrowed or pointed end : tip *2: the highest or culminating point*The apex of Dad’s athletic career was his team’s victory in the Goodwill Games.
DID YOU KNOW?
When you make it to the top, either literally or figuratively, you’ve reached the apex, but take care when you use this word or any of its closest synonyms. “Apex” refers to the point where all ascending lines converge (“the apex of Dutch culture”), while “summit” suggests the topmost level available (“the summit of the Victorian social scene”). A “pinnacle” is often a dizzying and insecure height (“the pinnacle of worldly success”), but “acme” carries the sense of reaching a level of quality representing perfection (“a statue that was once deemed the acme of beauty”).
desideratum
n : something desired as essential“The other desideratum is a pitcher with good control—far rarer, even at the major-league level, than one might suppose.”—ROGER ANGELL, THE NEW YORKER, MARCH 12, 1984
DID YOU KNOW?
“Desire” and its lesser-known cousins all trace their roots to the ancient Latin sider-, which meant “heavenly body.” Desiderare, meaning “to long for,” was Frenchified as desirer in an Anglo-French branch of the family, which brought forth English “desire,” “desirous,” and “desirable” in the 13th and 14th centuries. But many years later, in the 17th century, English acquired “desideration” (longing), “desiderate” (to wish for), and finally “desideratum,” all of which can lay claim to a pure Latin ancestry from desiderare.
ambivalent
adj : simultaneously holding contradictory attitudes or feelings (as attraction and repulsion) toward someone or somethingThere is much public opposition to human cloning, and many scientists remain ambivalent about its potential benefits
DID YOU KNOW?
The words “ambivalent” and “ambivalence” entered English through the International Scientific Vocabulary during the early 20th century. The prefix “ambi-” means “both,” and the “-valent” and “-valence” parts ultimately derive from the Latin verb valere, meaning “to be strong.” Not surprisingly, an ambivalent person is someone who has strong feelings on more than one side of a question or issue.
evanescent
adj : tending to vanish like vaporShe glanced at Benjamin across the candlelit table, and for one evanescent moment everything was perfect.
DID YOU KNOW?
The fragile, airy quality of things evanescent reflects the etymology of today’s word. “Evanescent” derives from a form of the Latin verb evanescere, which means “to evaporate” or “to vanish.” Given the similarity in definition, you might expect “evaporate” to come from a similar root, but it actually grew out of the Latin verb evaporare, which arose from vapor, meaning “steam.”
vicissitude
n : a change or succession; especially : an often unfavorable event or situation that occurs by chanceSmart investors make sure they can withstand the vicissitudes of the stock market.
DID YOU KNOW?
“Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better,” wrote British theologian Richard Hooker in the 16th century. That observation may shed some light on “vicissitude,” a word that can refer simply to change itself or specifically to hardship or difficulty brought about by change. To survive “the vicissitudes of life” is thus to survive life’s ups and downs, with special emphasis on the downs. “Vicissitude” is a descendant of the Latin noun vicis, meaning “change” or “alteration,” and it has been a part of the English language since the 16th century.
