zoanthropy

Pronounced: zoh-AN-thruh-pee, noun

Notes: The subject of many jokes

Yesterday’s word

The word clement mean “mild; gentle; lenient”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1400s

Background / Comments

Our word comes from the Latin word clemens (gentle; mild). The opposite word ‘inclement’ (normally used with weather) is much better known.

Rejected Word

I considered the word inkhorn (adj); while I enjoy this word, I was aware of it. This word started out as a noun; in the 1300s, an inkhorn was used to hold ink for quills or pens. Writing has been associated with scholarship back in the times when not everybody could read or write. Anyway, the adjective came about because it was associated with scholarly words (long words). It began to acquire a someone negative meaning; usually describing words used to show off knowledge or that are pedantic.

clement

Pronounced: KLEM-uhnt, adj

Notes: You may know this word

Yesterday’s word

The word commensal, as an adjective, means “eating together at the same table”. As a noun, it means “a table companion”

Note: This word also has a meaning in ecology: as an adjective, it means “organisms that live with, on, or in one another, without injury to either”. As a noun, it means an organism living this way.

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid- to late 1300s

Background / Comments

Our word came from Middle English, and in to Middle English from the Latin word commēnsālis, composed of com- (together) and mēnsālis (of, or pertaining to a table).

commensal

Pronounced: kuh-MEN-sull, adj/noun

Notes: I should have been able to get close to this definition (but I didn’t)

Yesterday’s word

The word peccable means “imperfect; flawed; capable of sinning”

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1600s

Background / Comments

The more familiar word is ‘impeccable’ (without sin; perfect). I didn’t know that the opposite was a word, which is why I used it, even though you could guess the meaning if you thought of ‘impeccable’. Our word comes from the Latin word peccare (to err or sin). We get the word peccadillo from the the same source.

peccable

Pronounced: PECK-uh-bull, adj

Notes: If you don’t know this word, you can probably figure it out (I didn’t know this word existed)

Yesterday’s word

The word tenebrific means “producing darkness”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

Our word is a potentially useful word; I’ve never run across it. It comes from the Latin word tenebrae (darkness).

tenebrific

Pronounced: tenebrific, adj

Notes: I saw nothing at all familiar in this word to give me a clue to its meaning

Yesterday’s word

The word licit means “legal or legitimate”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1400s

Background / Comments

As I noted yesterday, I assume most people realized that our word is the positive side of ‘illicit’ – but I didn’t know that the word licit existed. It’s odd that illicit should be so common and licit so rarely used. Our word comes from the Latin word licere (to be allowed).

licit

Pronounced: LISS-it, adj

Notes: You probably know this definition, but I didn’t know this word existed

Yesterday’s word

The word sodality means

  • fellowship; comradeship
  • an association or society
First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1500s

Background / Comments

As I mentioned, I just see “soda” in this word. If I don’t pay close attention, I can almost see “solidarity”, which is a bit closer in meaning. Our word comes from the Latin word sodālitās (companionship), which traces to sodālis (companion).

sodality

Pronounced: so-DALL-ih-tee (alt: suh-DALL-ih-tee), noun

Notes: It looks like it should have something to do with soda

Yesterday’s word

The word refect means “to refresh with food or drink”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1400s

Background / Comments

Another useful word to drop into conversation. It comes from the Latin word reficere (to renew or restore), from re- (back) and facere (to make).

refect

Pronounced: rih-FEKT, verb

Notes: This just looks like a misspelling of “reflect” to me

Yesterday’s word

The word mackle, as a noun, means “a blured mark in printing as from a double stroke or impression”. As a verb, it means “to make or print a blurred mark (as from a double impression in printing)”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1500s

Background / Comments

I’ve certainly run across a mackle in printed material; I expect you have as well. Our word had earlier variants: macle and makle, which came from the even earlier word macule, but these have all meant the same thing. The original word macule came from the Latin word macula (spot; blemish).

mackle

Pronounced: MACK-uhl, verb/noun

Notes: I think many of us have experience with this word, but we may not know that there was a word for this action/thing

Yesterday’s word

The word angor means “extreme anguish or mental distress”

First usage

Our word is relatively old; it came into English in the mid-1400s

Background / Comments

The idea is that one is in so much anguish (or so angry) that one felt chocked… that’s the idea behind the root of our word. It comes from the Latin noun angor (strangling; suffocation), which comes from the verb angere (to squeeze).

Rejected word

The verb burke was a very close choice. I knew the word from the Lord Peter Wimsey story Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers, in which it is used in the phrase burke a fact. It is clear from the context that is means “to suppress”. The actual definitions are “to suppress quietly or indirectly” or “bypass; avoid”, which was close enough to decide I knew the word. However, I did not know that this origin of burke comes from the infamous William Burke (of Burke and Hare fame). In short, Burke & Hare lived in the 1820s, and killed people, selling the bodies for anatomical research, since the laws at the time limited what bodies could be so used, causing a shortage. Burke was executed by hanging, as the crowd shouted “Burke him!”, and the word entered the language; first referred to death by strangulation or suffocation, and later for any cover-up.

angor

Pronounced: ANG-guhr, noun

Notes: No, this is not ‘anger’ misspelled

Yesterday’s word

The word mysophobia means “an excessive fear of dirt or filth”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1800s

Background / Comments

Everyone probably recognizes the -phobia (fear) suffix. The first part comes from the Greek word mýsos (pollution; defilement).

Rejected word

I decided not to use niveous (snowy; resembling snow). I remember from long-ago Spanish class the word nieve (snow), so I had this definition right.