A.Word.A.Day -- syllogistic

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A.Word.A.Day--syllogistic

This week's theme: Words derived from Indo-European roots

syllogistic (sil-uh-JIS-tik)

adjective:
1. Of or relating to syllogism (a form of deductive reasoning consisting of a major and a minor premise and a conclusion).
2. Subtle or specious.

noun:
1. Deductive reasoning.
2. A subtle or specious piece of reasoning.

[Via Middle English, French, and Latin from Greek syllogizesthai (to syllogize). Ultimately from the Indo-European root leg- (to collect, speak) that is also the source of other words such as lexicon, lesson, lecture, legible, legal, and select.]

"To suggest that all this means, ipso facto, the media are politically biased in their news coverage is syllogistic reasoning at its worst."
David Shaw; The More Pernicious Bias is Less Substance, More Fluff; Los Angeles Times; Jan 19, 2003.

See more usage examples of syllogistic in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

X-Bonus

I tried to find Him on the Christian cross, but He was not there; I went to the temple of the Hindus and to the old pagodas, but I could not find a trace of Him anywhere. I searched on the mountains and in the valleys, but neither in the heights nor in the depths was I able to find Him. I went to the Kaaba in Mecca, but He was not there either. I questioned the scholars and philosophers, but He was beyond their understanding. I then looked into my heart, and it was there where He dwelled that I saw Him; He was nowhere else to be found. -Jalaluddin Rumi, poet and mystic (1207-1273)

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