Palpitate \PAL-pi-teyt\ , verb;
1. To pulsate with unusual rapidity from exertion, emotion, disease, etc.; flutter
2. To cause to pulsate or tremble
According to Etymonline.com:
Palpitate dates from the 1620's and comes from Latin palpitatus, which is the past participle of palpitare ("to throb, to flutter").
*Today's word and the first definition were both taken from Dictionary.com's 'Word of the Day' for Sunday, November 7
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Nacreous
Nacreous \NEY-kree-uhs\ , adjective;
1. Resembling nacre (mother-of-pearl); lustrous; pearly
This word is so boring, I can't believe I'm even bothering to tell you what the etymology dictionary says:
From 1840, it means "resembling nacre" from nacre + -ous.
At least the nacre is slightly more interesting. According to Etymonline.com:
The word nacre dates to the 1590's and comes from Middle French meaning "type of shellfish that yields mother-of-pearl." The word probably entered the Romance language family via Italian from Arabic as naccaro (now nacchera). The Arabic word is nakara, meaning "to hollow out," in reference to the shape of the mollusk shell. The association between nacre and mother-of-pearl started around 1718.
*Today's word and the first definition were both taken from Dictionary.com's 'Word of the Day' for Saturday, November 6
1. Resembling nacre (mother-of-pearl); lustrous; pearly
This word is so boring, I can't believe I'm even bothering to tell you what the etymology dictionary says:
From 1840, it means "resembling nacre" from nacre + -ous.
At least the nacre is slightly more interesting. According to Etymonline.com:
The word nacre dates to the 1590's and comes from Middle French meaning "type of shellfish that yields mother-of-pearl." The word probably entered the Romance language family via Italian from Arabic as naccaro (now nacchera). The Arabic word is nakara, meaning "to hollow out," in reference to the shape of the mollusk shell. The association between nacre and mother-of-pearl started around 1718.
*Today's word and the first definition were both taken from Dictionary.com's 'Word of the Day' for Saturday, November 6
Friday, November 5, 2010
Saccade
Saccade \sa-KAHD\ , noun;
1. The movement of the eye when it makes a sudden change, as in reading
2. The act of checking a horse quickly with a single strong pull of the reins
According to Etymonline.com:
Dating to the mid-18th century, this word comes from French saccade ("a jerk"), which derives from saquer ("to shake, pull"). Saquer is an obscure word that is a dialectal variation on an Old French word, sachier, which is ultimately from Latin saccus, meaning "sack."
*Today's word and the first definition were both taken from Dictionary.com's 'Word of the Day' for Friday, November 5
1. The movement of the eye when it makes a sudden change, as in reading
2. The act of checking a horse quickly with a single strong pull of the reins
According to Etymonline.com:
Dating to the mid-18th century, this word comes from French saccade ("a jerk"), which derives from saquer ("to shake, pull"). Saquer is an obscure word that is a dialectal variation on an Old French word, sachier, which is ultimately from Latin saccus, meaning "sack."
*Today's word and the first definition were both taken from Dictionary.com's 'Word of the Day' for Friday, November 5
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Brumal
Brumal \BROO-muhl\ , adjectve;
1. Of winter
Well, well...how appropriate for this cold and rainy day. This morning was one of those mornings where you are supposed to hit snooze and sleep until noon. Supposed to, of course, doesn't mean you can so here I am, working. Oh well, tomorrow morning is supposed to be the same and I don't have to work, so I'll just look forward to that.
According to Etymonline.com:
Brumal meant "belonging to winter" as far back as the 1510's and comes from Latin brumalis, which derives from bruma, meaning "winter." Bruma is also the source of Brumaire, which is the second month in the calendar of the French Republic and is literally "the foggy month." Their second month does not correspond to ours, in fact we are currently in the month of Brumaire, which runs from our October 22 through November 20. "The foggy month" was coined in 1793 by Fabre d'Eglantine, who took it from French brume ("fog").
While I'm certainly no expert, I did study French for a long time, so I was surprised to see this French month that I've never heard of. Turns out, there's a good reason for that: it was only used for 12 years from 1793-1805 and in Paris for 18 days in 1871. The French Republican Calendar (also called the French Revolutionary Calendar) was part of a larger effort by revolutionaries to wipe out various aspects of the ancien régime, or Old Rule. Among the changes was a new social and legal system, a new system of weights and measures, and the new calendar. Some of the changes were more successful than others; the new system for weights and measures ultimately became the modern metric system, but the calendar was killed by Napoleon in 1806.
*Today's word and the first definition were both taken from Dictionary.com's 'Word of the Day' for Thursday, November 4
1. Of winter
Well, well...how appropriate for this cold and rainy day. This morning was one of those mornings where you are supposed to hit snooze and sleep until noon. Supposed to, of course, doesn't mean you can so here I am, working. Oh well, tomorrow morning is supposed to be the same and I don't have to work, so I'll just look forward to that.
According to Etymonline.com:
Brumal meant "belonging to winter" as far back as the 1510's and comes from Latin brumalis, which derives from bruma, meaning "winter." Bruma is also the source of Brumaire, which is the second month in the calendar of the French Republic and is literally "the foggy month." Their second month does not correspond to ours, in fact we are currently in the month of Brumaire, which runs from our October 22 through November 20. "The foggy month" was coined in 1793 by Fabre d'Eglantine, who took it from French brume ("fog").
While I'm certainly no expert, I did study French for a long time, so I was surprised to see this French month that I've never heard of. Turns out, there's a good reason for that: it was only used for 12 years from 1793-1805 and in Paris for 18 days in 1871. The French Republican Calendar (also called the French Revolutionary Calendar) was part of a larger effort by revolutionaries to wipe out various aspects of the ancien régime, or Old Rule. Among the changes was a new social and legal system, a new system of weights and measures, and the new calendar. Some of the changes were more successful than others; the new system for weights and measures ultimately became the modern metric system, but the calendar was killed by Napoleon in 1806.
*Today's word and the first definition were both taken from Dictionary.com's 'Word of the Day' for Thursday, November 4
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Hyperbolic
Hyperbolic \hahy-per-BOL-ik\ , adjective;
1. Using hyperbole; exaggertaing
2. Of or pertaining to a hyperbola
According to Etymonline.com:
This word dates back to the 1640's and comes from the Greek hyperbolikos ("extravagant") which derives from hyperbole. Hyperbole literally means "a throwing beyond," but it really conveys a sense of "extravagance." Geometric hyperbolic began around the 1670's.
*Today's word and the first definition were both taken from Dictionary.com's 'Word of the Day' for Wednesday, November 3
1. Using hyperbole; exaggertaing
2. Of or pertaining to a hyperbola
According to Etymonline.com:
This word dates back to the 1640's and comes from the Greek hyperbolikos ("extravagant") which derives from hyperbole. Hyperbole literally means "a throwing beyond," but it really conveys a sense of "extravagance." Geometric hyperbolic began around the 1670's.
*Today's word and the first definition were both taken from Dictionary.com's 'Word of the Day' for Wednesday, November 3
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Thwart
Thwart \THWAWRT\ , verb;
1. To oppose successfully; prevent from accomplishing a purpose
adjective;
1. Passing or lying crosswise or across; transverse
I love words with kooky spellings like this. I mean, it makes perfect sense within our spelling rules, but it looks cool anyway. It would be even better (not to mention a fantastic Scrabble® word) if it was spelled like the pronunciation guide!
As is to be expected, a word with this kind of spelling definitely comes from the Germanic branch of the Proto-Indo-European tree. According to Etymonline.com:
The word dates to the 12th century and comes from Old Norse þvert ("across"), which was originally the neuter of thverr (an adjective meaning "transverse, across"). Thverr is a cognate with Old English þweorh ("transverse, perverse, angry, cross"), both coming from Proto-Germanic *thwerkhaz. The Proto-Germanic word was altered from *therkh-, probably because of influences by *thwer- ("to turn"). The original Proto-Indo-European word was *twork- or *twerk-, meaning "twist." The verb definition dates from the mid-13th century.
The letter þ is called a thorn and is a letter that was in several Old and Middle languages in the Germanic family. In English, it eventually gave way to the 'th' digraph. It could either be the 'th' in that (voiced) or this (voiceless). Either way, it's a dental fricative (for those who took a phonetics class in college).
If you are feeling a bit lost in this Proto-Indo-European, Germanic family, etc. terminology, read the Eke post from October 26.
*Today's word and the first definition were both taken from Dictionary.com's 'Word of the Day' for Tuesday, November 2, 2010
1. To oppose successfully; prevent from accomplishing a purpose
adjective;
1. Passing or lying crosswise or across; transverse
I love words with kooky spellings like this. I mean, it makes perfect sense within our spelling rules, but it looks cool anyway. It would be even better (not to mention a fantastic Scrabble® word) if it was spelled like the pronunciation guide!
As is to be expected, a word with this kind of spelling definitely comes from the Germanic branch of the Proto-Indo-European tree. According to Etymonline.com:
The word dates to the 12th century and comes from Old Norse þvert ("across"), which was originally the neuter of thverr (an adjective meaning "transverse, across"). Thverr is a cognate with Old English þweorh ("transverse, perverse, angry, cross"), both coming from Proto-Germanic *thwerkhaz. The Proto-Germanic word was altered from *therkh-, probably because of influences by *thwer- ("to turn"). The original Proto-Indo-European word was *twork- or *twerk-, meaning "twist." The verb definition dates from the mid-13th century.
The letter þ is called a thorn and is a letter that was in several Old and Middle languages in the Germanic family. In English, it eventually gave way to the 'th' digraph. It could either be the 'th' in that (voiced) or this (voiceless). Either way, it's a dental fricative (for those who took a phonetics class in college).
If you are feeling a bit lost in this Proto-Indo-European, Germanic family, etc. terminology, read the Eke post from October 26.
*Today's word and the first definition were both taken from Dictionary.com's 'Word of the Day' for Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
Enceinte
Enceinte \en-SEYNT\ , adjective;
1. Pregnant; with child
noun;
1. A wall or enclosure, as of a fortified place
According to Etymonline.com:
Enceinte used to be spelled insente and dates to the 1600's. It comes from 12th century French enceinte ("pregnant"), which came from Late Latin incinta ("ungirt"). Incinta is a combination of Latin in- (a privative prefix) + cincta (the feminine of cinctus and the past participle of cingere, meaning "to grind"). The modern form of this word is from the 18th century and is possibly a reborrowing from French.
This use of 'reborrowing' is incorrect. In linguistics, if a word is adopted from a foreign language, phonologically adjusted to the new language, and then the new form is adopted by the original foreign language, it is 'reborrowed'. For clarification, here's an example: the Old French word tenez was adopted (and adapted) into English as tennis, which was adopted into Modern French as le tennis. The word came from French, went through an English filter, and re-entered the French language. Since enceinte originally entered the English language from French influences, it could not be 'reborrowed' in the linguistic sense. What I think they meant was that this word was adopted once as "pregnant" and then, after the French definition had shifted into the current noun version, it was adopted a second, separate, time.
*Today's word and the first definition were both taken from Dictionary.com's 'Word of the Day' for Monday, November 1, 2010
1. Pregnant; with child
noun;
1. A wall or enclosure, as of a fortified place
According to Etymonline.com:
Enceinte used to be spelled insente and dates to the 1600's. It comes from 12th century French enceinte ("pregnant"), which came from Late Latin incinta ("ungirt"). Incinta is a combination of Latin in- (a privative prefix) + cincta (the feminine of cinctus and the past participle of cingere, meaning "to grind"). The modern form of this word is from the 18th century and is possibly a reborrowing from French.
This use of 'reborrowing' is incorrect. In linguistics, if a word is adopted from a foreign language, phonologically adjusted to the new language, and then the new form is adopted by the original foreign language, it is 'reborrowed'. For clarification, here's an example: the Old French word tenez was adopted (and adapted) into English as tennis, which was adopted into Modern French as le tennis. The word came from French, went through an English filter, and re-entered the French language. Since enceinte originally entered the English language from French influences, it could not be 'reborrowed' in the linguistic sense. What I think they meant was that this word was adopted once as "pregnant" and then, after the French definition had shifted into the current noun version, it was adopted a second, separate, time.
*Today's word and the first definition were both taken from Dictionary.com's 'Word of the Day' for Monday, November 1, 2010
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