codswallop

Pronounced: KODZ-wall-up, noun

Notes: This is a word that knew, but I liked the origin story

Yesterday’s word

The word anon means

  • in a short time; soon; immediately
  • at another time
First usage

Very old; the word dates back to before 1000.

Background / Comments

I learned this word as a freshman in high school, where Romeo and Juliet was taught in English class. I don’t have the Act or Scene, but there is a point in which character calls to another (I think Juliet to a nurse or governess or vice versa) and the response is “I come anon”. I understood this to mean “right away”; I was not fully aware of the second meaning above. Our word comes from the Middle English word anon or anoon, which came from Old English on āne (in one course; straightaway).

anon

Pronounced: uh-NON, adv

Notes: This is not short for anonymous…

Yesterday’s word

The word copacetic means “excellent; satisfactory; OK”

First usage

Our word goes back to the 1910s

Background / Comments

For some reason, I thought our word was Italian, but apparently, there are multiple theories about the origin: some say it comes from Black English; others say Louisiana French. Some say Italian, Yiddish, and Hebrew. It appears that there is no convincing evidence for any of these theories. I’ve heard our word in phrases like “Everything’s copacetic.”, so I thought it meant quiet or untroubled. Thus, I was close to the true meaning, but not exactly right.

copacetic

Pronounced: koh-puh-SEH-tick, adj

Notes: Also copasetic. I kind of know this word (it was marginal)

Yesterday’s word

The word estivate means

  • to spend the summer, as at a specific place of in a certain activity
  • (in zoology) to spend a hot, dry season in an inactive, dormant state, as certain reptiles, snails, and insects.
First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

I assume the zoological definition was first, and it became more generalized to the first listed definition. I actually have not heard it used for the first definition above; I’ve heard it used as a contrast to ‘hibernate’. Our word comes from the Latin word aestīvātus, which is the part participle of aestīvāre (to reside during the summer).

estivate

Pronounced: ESS-tuh-vate, verb

Notes: I didn’t originally know this word, but I think I’ve run across it multiple times, so it was marginal, but I added it

Yesterday’s word

The word Struwwelpeter is “a personStruwwelpeter with long, think, disheveled hair” (think of the famous picture of Einstein with his hair all wild)

First usage

Our word came into English in the first decade of the 1900s

Background / Comments

You may have noticed that the word is capitalized; that should have been a clue that our word in German in origin (it’s my understanding that in German, nouns are always capitalized). It is named after a fictional person in the book Der Struwwelpeter (Shockheaded Peter), written by Heinrich Hoffman and published in 1845.

Struwwelpeter

Pronounced: STROO-uhl-pea-tuhr, noun

Notes: Even if you don’t know the definition, I’m sure you can guess at the origin of this word

Yesterday’s word

The word gallinipper is “any of various insects that sting or bite, especially a large southern US mosquito”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1600s

Background / Comments

Our word is tagged “informal”, which is what makes it a bit of a cheat. I think we have these large mosquitos here, but I’ve never heard the term. The origin is unclear — but the second part “nipper” refers to something that nips.

gallinipper

Pronounced: GAL-uh-nip-er, noun

Notes: I’ve not run across this word… it may be a bit of a cheat

Yesterday’s word

The word Mrs. Grundy refers to “an extremely conventional or priggish person”

First usage

This word came into English in the early 1800s

Background / Comments

As I said, I think I’ve run across the word, but I didn’t know the meaning. It comes from a character (Mrs Grundy) in the play Speed the Plough, written in 1798 by Thomas Morton. Oddly, Mrs Grundy never appears on stage, but a character who does is constantly worrying about what Mrs Grundy would say. It must have been pretty popular to find its way into the language within 15 years.

Mrs Grundy

Pronounced: MISS-iz GRUND-ee, noun

Notes: I think I’ve run across this word, but I didn’t know the meaning

Yesterday’s word

The word epithalamion is “a song or poem in honor of a bride and bridegroom”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1500s

Background / Comments

This word always reminds me of where I first encountered it: in the novel Busman’s Honeymoon, by Dorothy Sayers – her last novel featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. If you don’t know about the novels, they are detective stories set between World War I and World War II. She wrote only eleven novels featuring him, and four of these have to do with his relationship with Harriet Vane; he encounters her in Strong Poison, where she is on trial for murder. He falls in love with her, but she just wants to be left alone. They investigate a murder together in Have His Carcase, and she still refuses to marry him. In Gaudy Night, Harriet is involved in her college, which is suffering from very unpleasant anonymous letters; she eventually turns to Peter Wimsey for help. Along the way, she does a lot of soul-searching and agrees to marry Peter at the end of the novel. Busman’s Honeymoon continues just after that one and covers their marriage and the start of their married life. Anyway, our word is used as a chapter title, I believe, along with the similar word prothalamion. Our word is pretty much a transliteration of the Greek word epithalámios (nuptial).

epithalamion

Pronounced: ep-uh-thuh-LAY-mee-on (alt: ep-uh-thuh-LAT-mee-uhn), noun

Notes: I have run across this word in reading

Yesterday’s word

The word bovarism is “a romanticized, unrealistic view of oneself”

First usage

This word came into English in the first decade of the 1900s

Background / Comments

People with a well-read background might see bits of “Bovary” in the word, and that is correct; the word came the character Emma Bovary in the book Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, published in 1857. I have heard of the book, but I’ve not read it. I’m not sure that everyone doesn’t have, in some way, an unrealistic view of himself. In the Terry Brooks first work The Sword of Shannara, he elaborates on this idea that we all have a somewhat idealized vision of ourselves: he writes of our “carefully nurtured illusions” and that the reality of our existence does has “no soft dreams colored its view of life, no wishful fantasies clothed the harshness of its self-shaped choices, no self-conceived visions of hope softened the rawness of its judgments”. He mentioned “the vision of self” that always sustains us; the “limited image of the person” we have “always believed” our self to be. I had to look up those quotes, but I’ve not forgotten that interesting concept.

bovarism

Pronounced: BOH-vuh-riz-em, noun

Notes: Well-read people might know this one (I guess I’m not well-read enough; I didn’t)

Yesterday’s word

The word garboil means “confusion”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

This is another word that comes from a poorer-quality vocabulary. I almost didn’t use it because it is tagged as “archaic”, which I don’t think is fair… there are LOTS of archaic words in English, but I don’t expect things that advertise as “vocabulary words” to include words that are archaic or obsolete. I do like the word, but they should have chosen something else. Our word comes from the Middle French word garbouil, and into Middle French from the Old Italian word garbuglio. Source material indicates that the trail ends there.

garboil

Pronounced: GAR-boil, noun

Notes: I almost didn’t use this word; it’s not one I would encourage people to learn (more tomorrow)

Yesterday’s word

The word schmatte refers to

  • a rag
  • an old, ragged article of clothing
  • Any garment
First usage

This word came into English in the 1970s

Background / Comments

Another word that came to us from the Yiddish word schmatte, which came from the Polish word szmata (rag). I assume that definition #1 is the original; since we call old clothes “rags”, that brought about definition #2. I assume definition #3 was just a broadening of the #2 definition. Likewise, I assume that the alternate spelling (shmatte) came about to more closely represent the pronunciation.