Pronounced: stur-nyuh-TAY-shun, noun
Notes: I think this is a word I keep learning and forgetting; I seem to remember running across it previously. Perhaps posting it here will help me remember it in future.
Yesterday’s word
The word clarigation is “a demand for restitution for some wrong, as a precursor to declaring war”
First usage
Our word came into English in the mid-1400s
Background / Comments
Our word comes from the Latin word clarigare (to make clear), which came from clarus (clear). Apparently, in ancient Roman times, a clarigation was a solemn and ceremonial (“clear”) recital of injuries or grievances at another peoples’ hands. It was usually accompanied by a demand for satisfaction — without which, they would go to war. This may be similar to the English phrase “sabre-rattling”.
Rejected word
The word cacophony came up; I’m a little proud that I correctly parsed this word; I remembered the Greek words kakos (bad) and phōnē (sound) – thus, literally, “bad sound” : a harsh, discordant sound.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 