jobbery

Pronounced: JOB-uh-ree, noun

Notes: I thought it was something about working

Yesterday’s word

The word polimathy means “learning in many fields; encyclopedic knowledge”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

I know the word polymath, which refers to a person who has learning in many fields. Our word was coined after that one, and refers to the learning, rather than the person. It comes from the Greek word polymathía, which comes from poly- (many; much) and mathēs, a derivative of manthánein (to learn).

polymathy

Pronounced: pul-LIM-uh-thee

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

Yesterday’s word

The word wrick, as a verb, means “to sprain or wrench”. As a noun, it is “a sprain”

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1300s

Background / Comments

I have used this word to refer to a slight pain in an ankle or wrist, but I thought it was spelled rick, not wrick. I also was unaware that it meant an actual sprain. Our word comes from the Middle Low German word wricken (to sprain).

wrick

Pronounced: rick, verb/noun

Notes: I’ve used this word without knowing I was using it

Yesterday’s word

The word solipsistic means “of, or characterized by, solipsism (the theory that only the self exists, or can be proved to exist)”.

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1800s

Background / Comments

Our word comes the combination of the noun solipsism and -istic (a suffix used to create adjectives from nouns). The word solipsism is from sol- (alone; only) combined with the Latin word ipse (self).

solipsistic

Pronounced: sol-ip-SIS-tick, adj

Notes: I have a faint idea that I have run across this word, but I didn’t know the word

Yesterday’s word

The word gnar is “a knot on a tree or in wood”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1200s

Background / Comments

I’ve always called these things “knots”; knar is new to me. It comes from the Middle English word knarre.

knar

Pronounced: narr, noun

Notes: I have never heard of this word, but I know a related word

Yesterday’s word

The word cabotage means

  • navigation or trade along the coast
  • legal restrictions on air transport between points within a country
First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

When I saw our word, I remembered history classes of long ago and remembered one called Cabot; I thought perhaps the word came from him. Researching Cabot shows two men: John Cabot, an Italian navigator in the service of England (Italian name Giovanni Caboto); he discovered the North American mainland in 1497. His son, Sebastian Cabot, was also a navigator and explorer. It made sense, but it was wrong; our word comes from French – a derivative of the word caboter (to sail coastwise), a verb from the Middle French noun cabo, which comes from the Spanish word cabo (headland). Clearly, the first definition is the original definition; I’m not entirely sure how the second definition (the one used in aviation) came into being.

cabotage

Pronounced: CAB-uh-tij (alt: cab-uh-TAHZH), noun

Notes: This word is so similar to “sabotage” that is stops me from making a good guess

Yesterday’s word

The word sepia, as a noun, means

  • a reddish brown color
  • a brown pigment originally made from the cuttlefish ink
  • a drawing made with this pigment
  • a monochrome photograph in this color

As an adjective, it merely means “of a reddish-brown color”

First usage

Our word goes back to the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

From the second definition above, you might have a good guess at the meaning: sepia is Latin for “cuttlefish”; it came from the Greek word sepia, also “cuttlefish”. I’m most used to our word being referred to the photograph treatment that can make them the photos look aged.

sepia

Pronounced: SEE-pee-uh, noun/adj

Notes: Most of us know the meaning of this; I chose this word because of the background

Yesterday’s word

The word renascent means “being reborn; springing again into being; reinvigorated”

First usage

Our word came into English in the early- or mid-1700s

Background / Comments

When I saw the definition of our word, I thought of the noun ‘renaissance’, and wondered/suspected that they might be related. Sure enough, they are: the word ‘renaissance’ came to English from French (and to French from Latin), but our word comes directly from the Latin word renāscent, which is a stem of renāscēns, which is the present participle of renāscī (to be born again), from re- (again) and nāscī (to be born).

renascent

Pronounced: rih-NASS-uhnt (alt: rih-NAY-suhnt), adj

Notes: I didn’t know this word, but I do know a form of it

Yesterday’s word

The word taupe, as a noun, means “a brownish gray, similar to the color of the skin of a mole”. As an adjective, it refers to something of this color.

First usage

Our word came into English in the 1910s

Background / Comments

Our word comes from the French word taupe (mole), which came from the Latin word talpa (mole). On the balance, I think I’d rather not have learned the origin of this word.

taupe

Pronounced: tope, noun/adj

Notes: I know that this word is a color, but I wasn’t sure of the precise definition

Yesterday’s word

The word gaslight means “to cause a person to doubt his sanity through the use of psychological manipulation”

First usage

Our word came into English in the 1950s

Background / Comments

A gaslight (a noun) is just a light that feeds off of gas; they predated electric lights. Our word comes from the 1944 film Gaslight. This is the United States film; a British film was made in 1940. Both of the films came from a 1938 play called “Gas Light” by Patrick Hamilton. In all of these, a man attempts to convince his wife that she in insane by (among other things) secretly causing the gaslights in the house to dim and brighten. He claims that she is imagining it.

gaslight

Pronounced: GAS-light, verb

Notes: I kind of had an idea of this word, but couldn’t give the precise definitely

Yesterday’s word

The word ponceau, as a noun, means “a bright red color”. As an adjective, it means “of bright red color”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1700s

Background / Comments

I didn’t know the meaning of this word, but I have heard it before: in the 1982 film The Scarlet Pimpernel, one of the members of the Committee of Public Safety is named ‘Ponceau’. Our word comes from the Old French word pouncel (poppy); that word is a diminutive of paon (peacock), which comes from the Latin word pavo (peacock). As I understand it, the flower we now call a poppy has a vivid red color that is comparable to the bright colors of a peacock.