Pronounced: ROH-muhn HOL-ih-day, noun
Notes: Not what I thought it meant
Yesterday’s phrase
The phrase viva voce means “by word of mouth; orally”
First usage
Our phrase came into English in the mid-1500s
Background / Comments
Our phrase came from the Medieval Latin phrase viva voce, which literally means “with the living voice”. I’ve just read the book Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers and our phrase is used of the oral examinations at Oxford University. I only know the word from this book, so I thought it may not be well known.
