usufruct

Pronounced: YOU-zuh-frukt, noun

Notes: We’ve seen this before (kind of)

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Yesterday’s word

The word sinecure is “a position in which one is paid for little or no work”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

When I was in high school (a long time ago), I subscribed to Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (EQMM). Like most collections, there were stories I enjoyed very much, and others I didn’t; I always read every story, but there are some I never went back to. It is still running today, but is now known as Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. It is the longest-running mystery fiction magazine in existence. I bring this up because it was in a story in EQMM that I first ran across our word. As is common with some words, I had an idea of the meaning from the context, but I didn’t bother to look it up. Knowing the correct definition, there are many jobs, both in government areas and in businesses that could be described with our word. It came from the Latin phrase beneficium sine cura – a church position that did not involve caring for the souls of the parishoners: the phrase uses the words sine (without) and cura (care).