cathexis

Pronounced: kuh-THEK-suhs, noun

Notes: I confused this word with another word

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Yesterday’s word

The word Hamlet means

• an apprehensive, indecisive person
• (lowercase) a small villiage (but see the Comments below)

First usage

The first definition came into English in the 1900s (1900-1910); the second definition came into English in the mid-1300s

Background / Comments

I knew the origin of the first definition (after the main character in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet), but I didn’t think of an indecisive person. There is an expression Hamlet without the Prince, which refers to an event taking place without its main character. In a reversal for the second definition, I knew what it meant, but not the origin: it came from the Old French word hamelet, which is a diminutive of hamel (village), which itself is a diminutive of ham (village). Note that in British English, hamlet has a more traditional, specific meaning – but variously described as “a settlement that does not have both a church and a pub”; or “a settlement that does not have a church”; or “a settlement that does not have both a church and a meeting place, such as a town hall or pub”. The next size up (a village) must have both of these.