vermeil

Pronounced: VURR-mil (alt: VURR-mile), adj/noun

Notes: This word is one I often get wrong

Yesterday’s word

The word horripilation means “goose flesh; goose bumps; a bristling of the hair on the skin from cold or fear”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

I could see parts of the word “horror” and “pilation” (which I thought was related to hair) in this word, but didn’t realize it referred to “goose bumps”. Apparently, this phenomenon is also known as “gooseflesh”, which I’ve run across in UK books (but it doesn’t seem to be limited to British English usage). Our word comes from the Latin word horripilātiōn, which is a stem of horripilātiō. This is related to the verb horripilāre (to become bristly), which has root parts of horrēre (to bristle with fear) and pilus (hair).

horripilation

Pronounced: haw-rip-uh-LAY-shun (alt: hoe-rip-uh-LAY-shun)

Notes: Though I didn’t know the right definition, I did recognize parts of this word

Yesterday’s word

The word teal, as an adjective, means “of greenish blue color”. As a noun, it means

  • any of the various species of small dabbling ducks
  • greenish blue color
First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1300s

Background / Comments

I had our word backward; I knew that there was a type of duck called a “teal”, and I thought it was so named because of the teal colors upon it. However, the fact is that the color was named after the patches on the duck. Our word came from the Middle English word tele.

teal

Pronounced: teel, noun/adj

Notes: You probably know this word, but I found the background interesting

Yesterday’s word

The word stertor means “a heavy snoring sound”

First usage

Our word came into English around 1800

Background / Comments

I thought that that there was a word that referred to a loud voice that might be another form of this word, but I was incorrect: I was thinking of sentorian, which is not related to our word at all. Our word comes from the Latin word stertere (to snore).

stertor

Pronounced: STUR-ter, noun

Notes: I think I know a form of this word

Yesterday’s word

The word marrowsky is a synonym of ‘spoonerism’, which you may know. In case you don’t, it refers to the transposition of the initial sounds of words (usually the initial sounds, but no always). For example, saying “Is the bean dizzy?” instead of “Is the dean busy?”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

I’ve never heard of our word, but I am familiar with ‘spoonerism’. The origin of our word is not known, but it is thought to be the name of a Polish count who did this.

marrowsky

Pronounced: MUH-rau-ski, noun

Notes: I’ve not run across this word, but you probably know its synonym

Yesterday’s word

The word abrade means “to scrape off or to wear off or down by scraping or rubbing”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid- to late 1600s

Background / Comments

I think I’ve run across this word – it certainly has a good, useful meaning. Once again, we look to Latin; our word comes from the Latin word abrādere (to scrape away from), which comes from ab- (away from) and rādere (to scrape).

abrade

Pronounced: uh-BRADE, verb

Notes: This word sounds like one I should know

Yesterday’s word

The word nullifidian means, as a noun, “an atheist; a person who has no religious faith or belief in God (or any gods)” As an adjective, it means “having no faith or belief”

First usage

Our word goes way back to the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

I said that you may be able to work out the meaning; if you saw “null” (or possibly “nullify”) and the root “fidi” (faith). In fact, that is the origin of our word: it’s from the Latin words nullus (no) and fides (faith). A nullifidian seems to me to be a rather sad thing. I’m reminded of a quote from the first season of the TV series Babylon 5: …I am both terrified and reassured to know that there are still wonders in the Universe — that we have not yet explained everything.

nullifidian

Pronounced: null-uh-FID-ee-uhn, noun/adj

Notes: You might be able to work this one out

Yesterday’s word

The word procellous means “stormy, as on the sea”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

Our word comes to us from Latin; specifically, the word procellōsus (stormy), which came from procella (a storm) with the adjective-making suffix -ōsus (-ous in English). I’m just a little surprised that I haven’t run across this word or any part of it.

procellous

Pronounced: pro-SELL-us, adj

Notes: I don’t think I’ve run across this word

Yesterday’s word

The word mithridatism means “the developing of immunity to a poison by gradually increasing the dose”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

Our word is named after King Mithridates VI (king of Pontus, an area now in Turkey). He reigned from 120 BC to 63 BC. His father was poisoned, so (little wonder) he wanted to develop an immunity to poison. It is said that he succeeded by ingesting gradually increasing amounts. King Mithridates VI was defeated by Pompey; ironically (as it was said), he was afraid of being captured alive and attempted to commit suicide by taking poison — but due to his built-up immunity, it didn’t work… so he gave his sword to a servant and had the servant kill him with the sword. If you haven’t figured it out, I ran across our word when researching the entry for tachyphylaxis.

mithridatism

Pronounced: MITH-rih-day-tiz-um, noun

Notes: I ran across this word while researching a recent word, and thought the background was interesting (and it gave me a laugh)

Yesterday’s word

The word boscage is “a mass of trees or shrubs”

First usage

Our word came into English in the second half of the 1300s

Background / Comments

Our word came from the Middle English boskage, which came from the Middle French word boscage.

boscage

Pronounced: BAHS-kij, noun

Notes: Not a cage for your boss…

Yesterday’s word

The word tachyphylaxis means “successively decreased response to a drug or a toxin over time”

First usage

Our word came into English in the 1910s

Background / Comments

As an avid reader of detective/crime/mystery stories, one of the good plots involves tachyphylaxis – the criminal will take gradually increasing amounts of some poison (arsenic, usually), and thus build up an immunity to what would be fatal dose to another person. He then shares a poisonous meal with the victim, who dies. If the source of poison is not known, the criminal can be fine and can say that it couldn’t have been in the meal, since he shared the meal and is fine. If the source of the poison is known, he can pretend to be ill himself, but he recovers. Our word comes from a combination of Greek words: tachy- (swift) and phylaxis (protection). People who take long-term prescriptions may run across the other side of the meaning: to get the same effect, they either need to take higher doses, or they need to change medicine.