Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day
Words that I do not know
Pronounced: PAB-yuh-luhm, noun
Notes: Not at all what I thought
The word happenchance means, as a noun, “a chance occurrence”. As an adjective, it means “resulting from chance”
Our word came into English in the mid-1800s
I’ve never run across this word; I do now the word happenstance; our word is an alteration of that word; a blend of happening and circumstance.
Pronounced: (not providing: it’s just “happen + chance”), noun/adj
Notes: You probably know what this means, but I didn’t know it was a word
The word nostomania is “an irresistible compulsion to return home; intense homesickness”
Our word came into English in the mid-1800s
I don’t really know what is meant by “intense”: so strong that one cannot function? I was pretty homesick when I went off to college on my own; I just don’t know if that qualifies as nostomania or not. Our word comes from the Greek word nóstos (a return home) combined with -mania (an extreme and possible transient enthusiasm).
Pronounced: nos-tuh-MAY-nee-uh (alt: nos-tuh-MAIN-yuh), noun
Notes: Another new word to me, but not what it is
The word tromometer is “an instrument for detecting or measuring faint tremors caused by an earthquake”
Our word came into English in the late 1800s
The first thing I thought when I saw the definition was I thought that’s what a seismograph does. However, a seismograph is actually something that records (thus the “graph” part of it) seismic waves; such a device is called a “seismometer”. Incidentally, seismic waves are vibrations caused by a sudden release of energy in the Earth’s crust (not just earthquakes, but explosions can cause seismic waves) that travel within the Earth (also called “body waves”) or along the Earth’s surface (also called “surface waves”). So much for that, but what’s the difference between a seismometer and a tromometer? I’m not sure; there wasn’t much about tromometers, and Wikipedia entry for seismometer did not mention a tromometer. Thus, going by the definition, a tromometer seems dedicated to detecting faint tremors. Our word comes the Greek word tromos (trembling) – but so does the sieismometer, which comes from the Greek word seismós (a shaking or a quake).
Pronounced: troh-MOM-ih-turr, noun
Notes: I was puzzled when I read the definition (more tomorrow)
The word panivorous means “subsisting on bread; bread-eating”
Our word came into English in the early-to-mid 1800s
As I noted yesterday, I was too smart for my own good yesterday: I saw “pan” and remembered “all”, and I thought it referred to someone who would eat anything (or was so hungry he would eat anything); possibly a synonym for ‘omnivorous’. Our word comes from the Latins words pānis (bread) and vorus (devouring). (I think that ‘pan’ means ‘all’ in Greek). I’m glad the Bible uses straightfoward language: could you imagine Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God reading Man shall not be panivorous, but…
Pronounced: pa-NIV-er-uhs, adj
Notes: This is one of those times when too much knowledge threw me off
The word factious means “divisive; seditious; related to or arising from faction”
Our word came into English in the mid-1500s
I had been thinking more “argumentative” than “divisive”; thus, my meaning was a bit off. Our word comes from the French word factieux (seditious) and the Latin word factiosus (partisan), which came from facere (to do).
Pronounced: FAK-shus, adj
Notes: I was close to the meaning, but not quite, so I’ve added it. Maybe you know it?
The word exiguous means “scanty; meager; small; slender”
Our word came into English in the mid-1600s
For some reason, I thought our word meant “hard; difficult” instead of what is does mean. Our word comes from the Latin word exiguus (scanty in measure or number; small), which comes from exigere (to drive out; measure; exact).
I decided not to use the word viva voce (vie-vuh VOE-see or vie-vuh VOE-chay) because I happened to know the meaning from the book Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers.
Pronounced: ig-ZIG-you-us (alt: ik-SIG-you-us), adj
Notes: I was quite mistaken as to this word’s meaning
The word argle-bargle means
Our word came into English in the mid-1800s
I wonder if this word has mutated further; I have heard people use the phrase “argie-bargie” with exactly the same meaning – however, I have not run across our word. The word argle is an alteration of “argue” and then reduplication occurred, resulting in our argle-bargle.
Pronounced: ARR-gull BAR-gull, noun
Notes: I didn’t know this word, but I happen to know a similar one
The word tutoyer means “to address someone, especially in French, using the familiar forms of the pronoun “you” instead of the more formal forms; to address familiarly”
Our word came into English in the late 1600s
We did not use our word in Spanish class, but our teachers did attempt to teach us the proper usage between the familiar “you” and the more formal “you”. It took a little while for the concept to get through to us students. French (and probably other languages) have the same concept, but there is our French-oriented word for this idea. Specifically, our word comes from the French words tu and toi (the familiar singular forms of “you”).
Pronounced: too-twah-YEA, verb
Notes: I didn’t know the word… but I did encounter the meaning when I took Spanish
The word tussie-mussie is “a small bouquet of flowers”; it is also known a a posy or a nosegay.
Our word came into English in the mid-1400s
I am familiar with the terms ‘posy’ and ‘nosegay’, but I don’t think I’ve ever run across our word. It is thought that our word originated as a reduplication of tussy (a small bunch of flowers).
Pronounced: TUSS-ee-MUSS-ee, noun
Notes: I know some of the synonyms of this word, but not this word
The word wisenheimer means “a wiseacre or smart aleck”
Our word came into English in the 1910s
As I mentioned, I think I heard this word a long time ago, but I haven’t heard it in recent years. A variant spelling is wiseheimer. The word is an Americanism, from wise and (en)heimer, which comes from surnames that end thusly.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day