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A.Word.A.Day--instauration

instauration (in-sto-RAY-shuhn) noun

1. Renewal; renovation; restoration.

2. An act of founding or establishing something.

[From Latin instauration-, from instauratio, from instaurare (to renew). Other words derived from the same root are: store, restore, and stow.]

"Universities are, since their instauration in Bologna, Salerno, or medieval Paris, fragile, although tenacious, beasts." George Steiner; An Academic Comes of Age in 'The Sleepless City'; The Chronicle of Higher Education (Washington); Feb 6, 1998.

"He (Francis Bacon) did not, as it happened, have much success persuading either of his two royal patrons, Elizabeth I or James I, to invest public funds in the `Great Instauration' of knowledge he envisioned." Roger Kimball; Knowing It All; Wall Street Journal (New York); Jul 23, 1998.

It's that time of the year again, the time when we feature odds-and-ends. One-of-a-kind words. Words that are unusual, picturesque, whimsical, esoteric, or intriguing. And like all the creatures in this world, these words serve a purpose (as shown by the accompanying citations). They make our verbal universe richer and more diverse. So here they are. We've coaxed them out of the dictionary -- it's not often that one finds them in the open -- and we hope you'll welcome them in your diction. -Anu garg AT wordsmith.org

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