A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Tue Jan 1 00:03:06 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--nudiustertian X-Bonus: My own experience and development deepen every day my conviction that our moral progress may be measured by the degree in which we sympathize with individual suffering and individual joy. -George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), novelist (1819-1880) This week's theme: "New" words nudiustertian (noo-dee-uhs-TUR-shuhn, nyoo-) adjective Of or relating to the day before yesterday. [From Latin nudius tertius, literally, today is the third day. Earliest documented use: 1647. Also see hesternal (relating to yesterday) https://wordsmith.org/words/hesternal.html and hodiernal (relating to today) https://wordsmith.org/words/hodiernal.html .] "I'd ordered the key on-line for £48 that nudiustertian morning and was not expecting it to arrive until the following week." Benjamin Nolan; Cyclin' the City; Syniq.co.uk; Aug 22, 2012. -------- Date: Wed Jan 2 00:03:04 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--nouveau pauvre X-Bonus: I dreamt that my hair was kempt. Then I dreamt that my true love unkempt it. -Ogden Nash, poet (1902-1971) This week's theme: "New" words nouveau pauvre (NOO-voh POH-vruh) adjective: Recently impoverished. noun: One who is newly impoverished. [From French nouveau (new) + pauvre (poor), patterned after nouveau riche https://wordsmith.org/words/nouveau_riche.html . Earliest documented use: 1877.] "[Hope's] nouveau pauvre mother, Evangeline, has betrothed her daughter to the wealthy Lord Evelyn Oakleigh in a bid to restore the family fortunes." Ben Brantley; A Glimpse of Stocking?; The New York Times; Apr 7, 2011. -------- Date: Thu Jan 3 00:03:06 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pneumonic X-Bonus: To be capable of embarrassment is the beginning of moral consciousness. Honor grows from qualms. -John Leonard, critic (1939-2008) This week's theme: "New" words pneumonic (noo-MON-ik, nyoo-) adjective 1. Of or relating to the lungs. 2. Relating to or affected by pneumonia. [From Greek pneumon (lung). Ultimately from the Indo-European root pleu- (to flow), that is also the source of flow, float, flit, fly, flutter, pulmonary, pneumonia, pluvial https://wordsmith.org/words/pluvial.html , fletcher https://wordsmith.org/words/fletcher.html , and plutocracy https://wordsmith.org/words/plutocracy.html . Earliest documented use: 1668.] "It seems your husband has been walking about with a pneumonic condition that has put a strain on his heart." Edward T. Slavin; The Matriarch; AuthorHouse; 2006. -------- Date: Fri Jan 4 00:03:09 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--nugacity X-Bonus: It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so. -Robert A. Heinlein, science-fiction author (1907-1988) This week's theme: "New" words nugacity (noo-GAS-i-tee, nyoo-) noun Triviality; futility. [From Latin nugax (trifling), from nugari (to trifle). Earliest documented use: 1572.] "For many, the Beachcomber column has been an oasis of nugacity in an otherwise worthy landscape." Beachcomber; The Daily Express (London, UK); Jan 9, 2006. -------- Date: Mon Jan 7 02:03:08 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cogent X-Bonus: And the fox said to the little prince: men have forgotten this truth, but you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. -Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author and aviator (1900-1944) Have you ever opened a dictionary to look up a word, only to find yourself distracted by another word on the page? The definition of that word steers you to yet another, some two hundred pages ahead, and before you know it your fingers are cavorting as if in a random dance on the leaves of the lexicon. This week's words in AWAD were chosen by following precisely that route. You could call it Brownian Motion, Browsing the Web, or Looking Words Up In a Dictionary. cogent (KOH-juhnt) adjective 1. Convincing or believable. 2. Relevant. [From Latin cogere (to drive together), from co- (together) + agere (to drive). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ag- (to drive, draw), which is also the source of such words as act, agent, agitate, litigate, synagogue, and ambassador. Earliest documented use: 1659.] "[Michael Chabon's novel] 'Telegraph Avenue', tries to weave the stories of nearly a dozen different characters into a cogent narrative." Failure of Imagination; The Economist (London, UK); Sep 8, 2012. -------- Date: Tue Jan 8 00:01:06 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--praxis X-Bonus: Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility. -James Thurber, writer and cartoonist (1894-1961) This week's theme: Miscellaneous words praxis (PRAK-sis) noun, plural praxises or praxes 1. Practice, as opposed to the theory. 2. Accepted practice or custom. 3. A set of practice exercises. [From Latin praxis, from Greek praxis, from prassein/prattein (to do). Earliest documented use: before 1586.] "His head hung lower than was its praxis." Mark Christopher; Monkeys Can't Swim; AuthorHouse; 2009. "The contradiction between the declared intent and actual praxis causes a clash." Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi; Africa Wo/Man Palava: The Nigerian Novel by Women; The University of Chicago Press; 1996. -------- Date: Wed Jan 9 02:01:05 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--conterminous X-Bonus: Remorse is a violent dyspepsia of the mind. -Ogden Nash, poet (1902-1971) This week's theme: Miscellaneous words conterminous (kuhn-TUHR-muh-nuhs) adjective 1. Having a common boundary. 2. Confined within one common boundary. 3. Having the same scope, in time, meaning, etc. [From Latin con- (with) + terminus (boundary, limit). Earliest documented use: 1631.] "Bob Greene estimates he has performed in all 48 states in the conterminous United States." Steve Stout; Illinois Musician's Father Drove Him to Circus Career; The Carmi Times (Illinois); Jun 5, 2011. -------- Date: Thu Jan 10 00:16:04 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--aurorean X-Bonus: There is something beautiful about all scars of whatever nature. A scar means the hurt is over, the wound is closed and healed, done with. -Harry Crews, novelist and playwright (1935-2012) This week's theme: Miscellaneous words aurorean (o-ROR-ee-uhn, o-ROHR-) adjective Of or belonging to the dawn. [From Latin aurora (dawn, goddess of the dawn). Earliest documented use: 1820.] "The moon shone resplendently above us -- its splendid aureola seemed suffused with stolen aurorean light." Pietros Maneos; The Italian Pleasures of Gabriele Paterkallos; Aesthete Press; 2012. -------- Date: Fri Jan 11 00:01:08 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cenobite X-Bonus: Most people think that shadows follow, precede, or surround beings or objects. The truth is that they also surround words, ideas, desires, deeds, impulses and memories. -Elie Wiesel, writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1928) This week's theme: Miscellaneous words cenobite (SEN-uh-byt, SEEN-) noun A member of a religious order living in a monastic community. (Compare with eremite https://wordsmith.org/words/eremite.html or anchorite https://wordsmith.org/words/anchorite.html .) [From Latin coenobium (monastery), from Greek koinobion (convent), from koinos (common) + bios (life). Earliest documented use: before 1638.] "He knew a fellow cenobite when he saw one. There was no religious meditation involved, but they were both alone in places where they should not have been alone." Elizabeth George; Careless in Red; Harper; 2009. -------- Date: Mon Jan 14 00:01:05 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--sang-froid X-Bonus: There are two kinds of light -- the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures. -James Thurber, writer and cartoonist (1894-1961) Blood may be the best-known fluid in the human body, but it's not the only one. And it's not the largest either (there's about twice as much lymph). There are dozens of fluids in the human body and they all have their purposes in life. Even the lowly cerumen (that's a highfalutin word for earwax) helps to protect the ear from bacteria. This week we'll be exchanging bodily fluids with you, metaphorically speaking. All five words we've picked this week are coined from fluids that make our body work. sangfroid or sang-froid (san*-FRWA) noun [* the first syllable is nasal] Calmness, especially under stress. [From French sang-froid (cold blood). Earliest documented use: 1750.] "We can take a lot more, we the stoic nation with its legendary sang-froid." S. Prasannarajan; Shame el-Sheikh; India Today (New Delhi); Aug 3, 2009. -------- Date: Tue Jan 15 00:01:05 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--lymphatic X-Bonus: There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. -Elie Wiesel, writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1928) This week's theme: Words derived from bodily fluids lymphatic (lim-FAT-ik) adjective 1. Sluggish; lacking energy. 2. Of or relating to lymph. [From Latin lympha (lymph, water). Formerly it was believed that an excess of lymph in the system resulted in sluggishness. Earliest documented use: 1649.] "The day has been a real lazy one and I have felt lymphatic accordingly." Thomas Worthington King; Journal of a Voyage Around the World; The Ohio State University Press; 2003. -------- Date: Wed Jan 16 00:01:06 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--seminal X-Bonus: In a library we are surrounded by many hundreds of dear friends imprisoned by an enchanter in paper and leathern boxes. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882) This week's theme: Words derived from bodily fluids seminal (SEM-uh-nuhl) adjective 1. Highly original and proving influential on later work. 2. Of or relating to semen or seed. [From Latin semen (seed). Ultimately from the Indo-European root se- (to sow) which also gave us seed, sow, season, seminary, and disseminate. Earliest documented use: 1398.] "It was in 1962 that Rachel Carson published the seminal book of the environmental movement, Silent Spring." What's New at the A.K. Smiley Public Library; Redlands Daily Facts (California); Dec 29, 2012. -------- Date: Thu Jan 17 00:01:03 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--salivate X-Bonus: Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot. -Charlie Chaplin, actor, director, and composer (1889-1977) This week's theme: Words derived from bodily fluids salivate (SAL-uh-vayt) verb intr. 1. To show great relish in anticipation of something desirable. 2. To produce saliva. [From Latin salivare (to salivate). Earliest documented use: 1669.] "The capitalists gathered in Tianjin salivate at the prospect of pushing beyond China's richer coastal provinces and into the hinterland, where hundreds of millions of new consumers would love to buy a fridge and fancy food to put in it." The Summer Davos Blues; The Economist (London, UK); Sep 15, 2012. -------- Date: Fri Jan 18 00:01:08 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--melancholy X-Bonus: Some tortures are physical / And some are mental, / But the one that is both / Is dental. -Ogden Nash, poet (1902-1971) This week's theme: Words derived from bodily fluids melancholy (MEL-uhn-kol-ee) noun: A pensive, gloomy, depressed state. adjective: Having or causing a sad mood. [From the former belief that a gloomy state was the result of the excess of black bile. From Latin melancholia, from Greek melancholia (the condition of having an excess of black bile), from melan- (black) + chole (bile), ultimately from the Indo-European root ghel- (to shine), which is also the source of words such as yellow, gold, glimmer, gloaming, glimpse, glass, arsenic, and cholera. Earliest documented use: before 1375.] Four temperaments in smileys, depicted by the tilt of the eyes and the turn of the mouth: https://wordsmith.org/words/images/melancholic.jpg Top row: phlegmatic, choleric. Bottom row: sanguine, melancholic. [Graphic: Noe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Noe ] "Loss, estrangement, and distance--and a mood finely poised between melancholy and melodrama -- are the collection's keynotes." Life's a beach: New fiction; The Economist (London, UK); Nov 30, 2002. "His sigh and then his laugh, his melancholy and his humour, made people like him, and he knew it." Virginia Woolf; Together and Apart. -------- Date: Mon Jan 21 01:46:05 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--silhouette X-Bonus: In this world, you must be a bit too kind to be kind enough. -Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux, dramatist and novelist (1688-1763) "Proper names that have become improper and uncommonly common" is how the author Willard R. Espy described eponyms, and that is the theme for this week's words in AWAD: words coined from people's names. In our quest for eponyms, we are going to Europe this time, to France, Italy, England, Greece, and Spain. And we'll meet a finance minister, a seducer, a military officer, a philosopher's wife, and a womanizer. All aboard! silhouette (sil-oo-ET) noun: The outline of someone or something, filled in with a solid color. verb tr.: To show in a silhouette. [After French finance minister Etienne de Silhouette (1709-1767). It's unclear how Silhouette's name became associated with this art form. Perhaps it was alluding to his austerity measures during the Seven Years' War, as a silhouette was a cheap way to making a portrait instead of a painting. It's also said that he was fond of hanging these kinds of portraits in his office. Earliest documented use: 1798.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/silhouette_large.jpg Artist: Karl Johnson http://www.cutarts.com "It's just a silhouette. Many of us have met shadows of people and not the people." Nompumelelo Precious Dlamini; Memoirs of Love Lessons; Red Lead Press; 2011. -------- Date: Tue Jan 22 01:29:17 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--casanova X-Bonus: I frequently tramped eight or ten miles through the deepest snow to keep an appointment with a beech-tree, or a yellow birch, or an old acquaintance among the pines. -Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862) This week's theme: Eponyms Casanova (kas-uh-NO-vuh, kaz-) noun A man notorious for his many love affairs; a seducer. [After Giacomo Casanova (1725-1798), Italian adventurer, known for womanizing, whose memoirs describe his promiscuous affairs. Earliest documented use: 1888.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/casanova_large.jpg Art: Francesco Casanova (Giacomo's younger brother) (1727-1803) "I'm not a Casanova. I have too much respect for women and relationships to have frivolous affairs." Aakanksha Naval-Shetye; I Don't Like the Casanova Tag: John Abraham; Daily News and Analysis (Mumbai, India); Sep 22, 2011. -------- Date: Wed Jan 23 00:09:03 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--xanthippe X-Bonus: Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the human heart can hold. -Zelda Fitzgerald, novelist (1900-1948) This week's theme: Eponyms Xanthippe or Xantippe (zan-THIP-ee, -TIP-) noun A nagging, ill-tempered woman. [After Xanthippe, wife of Socrates (c. 5 century BCE) who has been portrayed as a nagging, quarrelsome woman. The name Xanthippe is from xanthos (yellow) + hippos (horse). Also see xanthodontous https://wordsmith.org/words/xanthodontous.html . Earliest documented use: 1691.] NOTES: Socrates is said to have advised, "By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher." It's not known what Socrates thought would happen if the roles were reversed. Also, there's the question of which came first: philosophizing or being ill-tempered. Would being married to a philosopher turn a woman into a shrew? Xanthippe pouring water over Socrates. He's supposed to have replied: After thunder comes rain. https://wordsmith.org/words/images/xanthippe_large.jpg Art: Reyer Jacobsz van Blommendael (1628-1675) "Mistress Foster is a grasping shrew, a Xanthippe, who bosses her husband about." Jean Howard; Theater of a City: The Places of London Comedy; University of Pennsylvania Press; 2009. -------- Date: Thu Jan 24 00:01:06 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--shrapnel X-Bonus: If you wish to make an apple pie truly from scratch, you must first invent the universe. -Carl Sagan, astronomer and writer (1934-1996) This week's theme: Eponyms shrapnel (SHRAP-nel) noun Fragments of an exploded bomb, shell, mine, etc. [After Henry Shrapnel (1761-1842), English army officer. He invented an artillery shell containing metal balls, which exploded in the air near the target. Earliest documented use: 1806.] Henry Shrapnel https://wordsmith.org/words/images/shrapnel_large.jpg Art: F Arrowsmith, 1817 "It's true that Hagel harbors a healthy skepticism about deploying American troops. That's because he also harbors shrapnel in his chest from Vietnam and appreciates the human costs when Pentagon officials move pins on maps." Nicholas D. Kristof; In Defense of Hagel for Defense; The New York Times; Jan 9, 2013. -------- Date: Fri Jan 25 00:01:11 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Don Juan X-Bonus: In order that people may be happy in their work, these three things are needed: they must be fit for it; they must not do too much of it; and they must have a sense of success in it. -John Ruskin, author, art critic, and social reformer (1819-1900) This week's theme: Eponyms Don Juan (don wahn) noun An obsessive womanizer. [After Don Juan, a legendary 14th century Spanish nobleman, who devoted his life to seducing women. The story of Don Juan has been portrayed by many including Moliere, Mozart, Byron, and Shaw. Earliest documented use: 1848.] "Oscar had always been a Don Juan ... but now that we were nearly 50, there was something desperate about his mania for conquests." Leif Davidsen; Lime's Photograph; Vintage Books; 2002. -------- Date: Mon Jan 28 00:01:03 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--overmorrow X-Bonus: The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it. -Jean Paul Richter, writer (1763-1825) In a forwarded email I came across an article with the title: 14 wonderful words with no English equivalent. The article lists words from various languages and their meanings, for example: Rhwe (Tsonga, South Africa) : to sleep on the floor without a mat, while drunk and naked. I have a problem with articles like this, listing unusual words in other languages. They are almost always wrong. It's not efficient for a language to have a specific word for such a highly specialized concept as "to sleep on the floor without a mat, while drunk and nak*d". You mean there's a separate word in that language for "to sleep on the floor WITH a mat, while drunk and nak*d"? I don't speak the Tsonga language mentioned in the article, but I'm certain that the meaning given is not the right one. I believe this is what happens: a writer of such articles comes across a word and takes the whole context as the meaning of the word. Imagine this writer coming across the sentence: "Jane was not expecting a promotion but when she learned that she had been appointed to the VP position, she was chuffed." Now our writer goes on to write a breathless article: Did you know English has a word "chuffed" https://wordsmith.org/words/chuffed.html which is used to describe someone who is delighted to receive something unexpected. Were that writer especially ambitious, perhaps the definition given would have been: chuffed: a word in English to describe someone who is delighted to receive an unexpected promotion. All this is not to say that there aren't words in other languages we don't have in English. As an example, many languages have specific words to describe even remote relations. Hindi has a specific word to describe one's son's or daughter's father-in-law (samdhi) and a word for his wife (samdhin). Even English has words that we believe do not exist because they are not well-known. This week we'll bring you five such words from the attic of the English language. overmorrow (oh-vuhr-MOR-oh) noun: The day after tomorrow. adjective: Of or relating to the day after tomorrow. [From over (above) + morrow (tomorrow), from Old English morgen (morning). Earliest documented use: 1535. Also see hesternal (relating to yesterday) https://wordsmith.org/words/hesternal.html and hodiernal (relating to today) https://wordsmith.org/words/hodiernal.html .] "We can go not overmorrow, but on Thursday." The Parliamentary Debates; H.M. Stationery Office; 1925. -------- Date: Tue Jan 29 00:01:05 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--filipendulous X-Bonus: Mistakes are part of the dues that one pays for a full life. -Sophia Loren, actress (b. 1934) This week's theme: There's a word for it filipendulous (fi-li-PEN-juh-luhs, -PEN-dyoo-) adjective: Hanging by a thread. [From Latin filum (thread) + pendere (to hang). Ultimately from the Indo-European root (s)pen- (to draw, to spin), which is also the source of pendulum, spider, pound, pansy, pendant, ponder, appendix, penthouse, depend, and spontaneous. Earliest documented use: 1864.] "A group of filipendulous constructions that evoke Brobdingnagian hornets' nests." The New Yorker; Sep 25, 1989. -------- Date: Wed Jan 30 00:01:03 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--paresthesia X-Bonus: Cheerfulness and contentment are great beautifiers and are famous preservers of youthful looks. -Charles Dickens, novelist (1812-1870) This week's theme: There's a word for it paresthesia or paraesthesia (par-uhs-THEE-zhuh, -zhee-) noun: A sensation of pricking, tingling, burning, etc. on the skin. [From Greek para- (at, beyond) + aisthesis (sensation or perception). Ultimately from the Indo-European root au- (to perceive) that also gave us audio, audience, audit, auditorium, anesthesia, aesthetic, anesthetic, and obey. Earliest documented use: 1848.] "Cronk muttered to himself, wiggling his right foot in an effort to relieve the paresthesia." Bruce Banta; A Dead Man's Chest; Xlibris; 2011. -------- Date: Thu Jan 31 00:01:04 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--armscye X-Bonus: I shall live badly if I do not write, and I shall write badly if I do not live. -Francoise Sagan, playwright and novelist (1935-2004) This week's theme: There's a word for it armscye or armseye (AHRM-sy, -zy) noun: An opening in a garment for attaching a sleeve; an armhole. [From arm, from Old English earm + scye (armhole), from Scottish, reanalyzed as arm's eye.] "The sleeve is not attached around the entire armseye." Susan Khalje; Bridal Couture; 1997.