Pronounced: KOG-nize, verb
Notes: I could recognize (heh) the root of this word, but could not properly define it
Yesterday’s word
The word scission means
- a division or split in a group of union; schism
- an action or process of cutting, dividing, or splitting; the state of being cut, divided or split
First usage
Our word came into English in the mid-1400s
Background / Comments
As I noted yesterday, I am familiar with the word ‘schism’ (from the first definition), but I was unfamiliar with our word. It came into English from Middle French, which came from the Late Latin word scissiōn, which is a stem of scissiō (a cutting), which traces to the verb scindere (to cut; to split). Our word may look like it is related to scissors, but it is not. The Middle English word for scissors was cisours (alt: sisoures), which came from the Middle French word cisoires, which comes from the Latin word caedere (to cut). In the 1500s, the “sc” spelling of “scissors” arose; it is thought because people thought the source of the word came from scindere (the source of our word).
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 