hyphenate

Pronounced: HI-fuh-nate, noun

Notes: Not a word I’ve run across

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Yesterday’s word

The word scapegoat, as a noun, is “one blamed for another’s wrongdoing”. As a verb, it means “to blame someone for another’s wrongdoing”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

I had heard of a scapegoat most of my life. The usage as a verb is new to me. I didn’t realize that the word came from the Bible: in Leviticus 16, a ceremony is described in which two goats are chosen; one is randomly selected as a sacrifice, and the other was released after having the sins of the people figuratively put on it. The released one went far away from the camp – thus, it “escaped” the came and was called a scapegoat in English Bibles. The original scapegoat merely carried the sins of the people far away, but the word was used to mean to blame one’s wrongdoing upon another. Christians believe that this ceremony foreshadowed Jesus Christ, who did both roles – died for the sins of the people, and living, carried them far away.