Scarborough warning

Pronounced: SKAR-buh-ruh war-ning

Notes: A phrase I didn’t know

Yesterday’s word

The word per contra means

  • on the contrary; by way of contrast
  • as an offset
First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

Our word comes from Italian, where it means “by the opposite side of the ledger”. A Franciscan friar and mathematician named Luca Pacioli (a friend of Leonardo da Vinci) is called “the father of accounting” because he first published a detailed description of bookkeeping practices – and are still used today. Part of his teaching was to enter debits and credits in different columns. Our word was used to to describe the balancing entry (entries) on the other side of the ledger.

per contra

Pronounced: purr-KAHN-truh, adv

Notes: I didn’t know this word, but you may be able to guess the meaning

Yesterday’s word

The word mensch means “a decent, upright, honorable person”

First usage

Our word came into English in the 1910s

Background / Comments

Our word is a Yiddish word; it comes from mentsh (man, human being), which came from Middle High German mensch, which came from Old High German mennisco. The plural is either menschen or (as usual) mensches.

mensch

Pronounced: mench (alt: mensh), noun

Notes: I’ve run across this word in reading, but wasn’t sure of the meaning

Yesterday’s word

The word semelparous means “reproducing or breeding only once in a lifetime”

First usage

Our word came into English in the 1950s

Background / Comments

Our word comes the Latin parts semel (once) and parere (to give birth to). The same suffix also gave us the older (1600s) words “multiparous” (producing more than one at birth), “oviparous” (producing eggs that develop outside the mother), and “viviparous” (producing living young [as opposed to eggs] from within the body).

semelparous

Pronounced: seh-MEL-puh-ruhs, adj

Notes: A completely new word to me

Yesterday’s word

The word approbation means “approval, commendation, or official sanction”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1300s

Background / Comments

Our word looks like “approval” and so is the meaning, so it’s easy to remember. It came from the Latin word approbation, which is made up of ad- (toward) and probatus, which comes from probare (to test the goodness of).

approbation

Pronounced: ap-roh-BAY-shun, noun

Notes: I think I’ve run across this word, but I didn’t know the meaning

Yesterday’s word

The word apologia means “a defense especially of one’s opinions, position, or actions

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1700s

Background / Comments

Our word may look like “apology”, but while the common meaning of apology admits of wrongdoing, our word is more a defense of actions. Our word came from Late Latin, which came from Greek, meaning “a speaking in defense”.

apologia

Pronounced: ah-puh-LOH-juh (alt: ah-puh-LOH-jee-uh), noun

Notes: I know a related word

Yesterday’s word

The word polydipsia means “excessive or abnormal thirst”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

As I said yesterday, I recognized “poly” part of our word. In fact, it comes from the Greek words poly- (much, many) and dipsa (thirst). After seeing the origin, I recalled “dipsomaniac” which is said of someone who craves alcoholic drink.

polydipsia

Pronounced: paw-lee-DIP-see-uh, noun

Notes: I recognized “poly” meaning many or much, but I didn’t know the word

Yesterday’s word

The word garble means

  • to so alter or distort as to create a wrong impression or to change the meaning
  • to sift impurities from
First usage

Our word came into English in the early or middle 1400s

Background / Comments

I knew the first definition; the second was new to me. When the word first entered English in Middle English – as garbelen – it meant “to sift”, or more specifically, “to sort out the best”. But by early Modern English (garble), it had added the first meaning above.

garble

Pronounced: GAR-bull, verb

Notes: This word has a second meaning that I didn’t know

Yesterday’s word

The word homonymous means

  • ambiguous
  • having the same designation
  • of, relating to, or being homonyms
First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1600s

Background / Comments

The third definition above is the one I knew. Some background: a homophone describes words of different meanings that sound the same (but may not be spelled the same). Examples: bark (the sound a dog makes or the outside of a tree) and sea & see. A homograph are words of different meanings that are spelled the same (but may not sound the same). Examples: bark (as above) and bass (the fish rhymes with “class”; the singing part rhymes with “ace”. A homonym are words of different meanings that are either pronounced the same or spelled the same (or both). All our examples would be homonyms. Thus, the third (and latest) definition. The first definition was earliest, and originally meant a word with multiple meanings. An example of the second meaning is “Hawaii” – it can refer to the state or to one of the islands in the Hawaiian islands. The word comes from Greek homo- (same) and onyma (name).

homonymous

Pronounced: ho-MAH-nuh-muhs, adj

Notes: I knew one of the definitions

Yesterday’s word

The word amerce means “to punish; especially by a fine whose amounts are fixed by a court”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1200s

Background / Comments

Our word started with the Old French phrase a merci (at [one’s] mercy). It then became the Anglo-French word amercier – with the same meaning as our word – and then became the Middle English word amercien, which was later modernized to amerce.

amerce

Pronounced: uh-ERS, verb

Notes: It looks like a word I know, but I didn’t know it

Last word

The word niddering means “a coward”

First usage

Our word came into English around 1600 (it is considered archaic today)

Background / Comments

As I noted, the word looks like a verb. It is a variant of nidering, which came from nithing, which came from Old Norse nidhingr (villian, scoundrel, apostate). Our word came about as misreading of the Norse letter for “th” (both as in thin or then) as an abbreviation for “der”.