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Jan 25, 2021
This week’s themeIt’s raining cats & dogs This week’s words cynegetic caterwaul dogged canicular fat cat 
Photo: Tim Mowrer Previous week’s theme Words to describe people 
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu GargA dog has no more to do with someone dogmatic than a cat has to do with someone who acts as a catalyst. A caterpillar has connections to both a cat and a dog. The English caterpillar is, literally speaking, a hairy cat. French for a caterpillar, chenille,* on the other paw, is from chien (dog). That’s language for you. Appearances can be deceiving. Try not to apply logic to human languages. Gives me a headache, when I think about them. Now computer languages, those are easy. Well, it’s raining cats and dogs this week (do not step into a poodle). All of the words have something to do with animals, of the canine and feline persuasions. Sometimes it’s obvious, other times not so much -- you may have to pay more attention to the etymology. *It’s the same chenille that is borrowed into English for the woolly fabric. In French, it describes both the fabric and the caterpillar. cynegetic
PRONUNCIATION:
(si-nuh-JET-ik)
MEANING:
adjective: Relating to the chase or hunting.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek kunagos (hunter), from kuon (dog) + igetis (leader).
Earliest documented use: 1716.
USAGE:
“It’s his cynegetic knowledge that becomes the instrument of his
initiation into Minne’s hunt.” Marcelle Thiébaux; The Stag of Love; Cornell University Press; 2014. “In a rich footnote, Chamayou notes the privileged place dogs of war are often afforded in cynegetic politics.” Benjamin Meiches; Non-Human Humanitarians; Review of International Studies (London, UK); Jan 2019. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is
a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person. -William
Somerset Maugham, writer (25 Jan 1874-1965)
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