This week’s theme
Words related to mail

This week’s words
snail mail
greenmail
postal
mailed fist
graymail

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(MAYLD fist)

MEANING:

noun: A threat or show of force to maintain control.

ETYMOLOGY:

Translation of German gepanzerte Faust (mailed fist), from Panzer (armor) + Faust (fist). The word mail here is an armor made of interlinked rings, as in chain mail, from Old French maile (loop). Earliest documented use: 1897.]

NOTES:

On Dec 16, 1897, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany sent his brother, Prince Henry, to take action in China with the instructions “fahre darein mit gepanzerter Faust ...” No, the emperor wasn’t telling his little brother to read Goethe’s literary work Faust, which explores themes of power and ambition. Faust here is, literally, a fist (nouns are capitalized in German), emphasizing a direct approach using military strength.

USAGE:

“[Field Marshal John French] always felt conflicted over Ireland and vacillated between the mailed fist and the hand of friendship towards the Irish.”
Ronan McGreevy; An Irishman’s Diary; Irish Times (Dublin); May 8, 2018.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: