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.

mysophobia

Pronounced: my-suh-FOE-bee-uh

Notes: Okay; it’s a fear of something, but what?

Yesterday’s word

The word succus means “juice; fluid”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1700s

Background / Comments

As I noted, I didn’t know this word, but I did know (and I suppose most of you know) the word ‘succulent’, which is an adjective of our word, and originally meant “juicy” (it has acquired other meanings). Our word comes from the Latin word succus (juice).

succus

Pronounced: SUCK-uhs, noun

Notes: I didn’t know this word, but I do know a related word

Yesterday’s word

The word clairaudience means “the power to hear sounds said to exist beyond the reach or ordinary experience or capacity (such as hearing the voices of the dead).

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

I suspect that most of us know the word ‘clairvoyance’, which is “seeing things removed in time or space from normal viewing”. Our word is similar, but focuses on hearing instead of seeing. There is also clairsentience. In fact, clairvoyance was first, and then our word came from the combination of clairvoyance with audience (the act of hearing, or attending to, words or sounds). The word clairvoyance is French and literally means “clear seeing” from clair (clear, clearly) and voyance (seeing).

clairaudience

Pronounced: klare-AW-dee-uhns, noun

Notes: You may get partially there, as I did

Yesterday’s word

The word natant means “swimming or floating”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1400s

Background / Comments

I was so sure that this had to do with birth (thinking of “natal”). It comes from Latin word natare (to swim).

natant

Pronounced: NAYT-nt, adj

Notes: I thought I knew the definition, but when I looked it up, I was wrong

Yesterday’s word

The word pabulum means

  • material for intellectual nourishment
  • something that nourishes an animal or plant organism; food; nutrients
First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-to-late 1800s

Background / Comments

I confused our word with “pablum”, which rather means the opposite of our word: it is the brand name (Pablum) of a soft, bland cereal for infants, and the lower-case word came to mean anything simplistic or naive. I suspect that the brand name was taken from our word, which comes from the Latin word pābulum (food; nourishment), which comes from the verb pāscere (to feed) combined with the noun ending -bulum.