Pronounced: nos-tuh-MAY-nee-uh (alt: nos-tuh-MAIN-yuh), noun

Notes: Another new word to me, but not what it is

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Yesterday’s word

The word tromometer is “an instrument for detecting or measuring faint tremors caused by an earthquake”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1800s

Background / Comments

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)

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Yesterday’s word

The word panivorous means “subsisting on bread; bread-eating”

First usage

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

Background / Comments

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

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Yesterday’s word

The word factious means “divisive; seditious; related to or arising from faction”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

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?

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Yesterday’s word

The word exiguous means “scanty; meager; small; slender”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

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).

Rejected word

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

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Yesterday’s word

The word argle-bargle means

• a vigorous discussion or noisy dispute
• nonsense

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

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

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Yesterday’s word

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”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1600s

Background / Comments

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

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Yesterday’s word

The word tussie-mussie is “a small bouquet of flowers”; it is also known a a posy or a nosegay.

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1400s

Background / Comments

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

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Yesterday’s word

The word wisenheimer means “a wiseacre or smart aleck”

First usage

Our word came into English in the 1910s

Background / Comments

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.

Pronounced: WHY-zuhn-hi-mer, noun

Notes: I think I have heard this word, but it’s been many years since I’ve run across it

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Yesterday’s word

The word hugger-mugger means, as a noun “confusion or secret”. As verb, it means “to keep secret or act in a secretive manner”. As an adjective, it means “confused or secret”. As an adverb, it means “secretly or confusingly”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

The board game “hugger-mugger” has been described as a cross between Trivia Pursuit and a word game; there is a secret word that one has to answer questions to get a chance to guess the mystery word. I have the game, but I didn’t realize that the title referred to the secret word. The origin of our word is not known for sure, but some believe it is a reduplication of the Middle English word mokeren (to hoard or conceal). In case you’re wondering, ‘reduplication’ refers to the doubling of a specific syllable or sound.

Pronounced: HUG-uhr MUG-uhr, noun/adj/verb/adv

Notes: I own a game called “hugger-mugger”, but I did not know the meaning of the word

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Yesterday’s word

The word rejectamenta means “things or matter rejected as useless or worthless”

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1800s

Background / Comments

Our word reminds me of a line from the Sherlock Holmes story – The Blue Carbuncle that runs “I can hardly see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are going to be to me.” (Until I looked it up, I couldn’t remember the exact phrase, but it’s still pretty close in sound). Our word comes from the New Latin word rējectāmenta (things thrown back); it is the plural of rējectāmentum. These nouns comes from the verb rējectāre (repeated rejection) from rējicere (to reject).