Pronounced: ZIE-duh-koh, noun

Notes: Some people may know this word; it is new to me

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Yesterday’s phrase

The phrase Queenborough mayor is “a position involving pomp and show, but not real power or authority”

First usage

Our phrase came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

It is, perhaps, more common to use the word “figurehead” instead of our phrase. Our phrase came from a 1620 play by Thomas Middleton called Hengist, King of Kent, or The Mayor of Quinborough. In the play, Simon the tanner becomes the mayor of Queenborough — by the way, Queenborough is a real town (a small one), located in the UK county of Kent.

Pronounced: QUEEN-buh-row may-uhr, noun

Notes: I have not heard this phrase, but it is a useful one

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Yesterday’s word

The word orchidaceous means

• of, relating to, or resembling the orchids
• showy, ostentatious

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

Our word literally means “belonging to the Orchidaceae” (the name of the orchid family). The first definition was relatively obvious; the other meaning, although it makes sense with hindsight, didn’t spring to mind immediately. An interesting fact about orchids is that there is no such thing as a typical orchid. Orchids may be very tiny flowers to large showy flowers, and this is how the second definition arose. For me, orchids are also tied to the fictional detective Nero Wolfe (in books by Rex Stout) – Nero Wolfe created a greenhouse on the top floor of his New York brownstone and worked with orchids there.

Pronounced: or-kuh-DAY-shus, adj

Notes: This was a borderline word; I correctly knew a definition (you probably can as well), but there is another definition that is not quite as clear

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Yesterday’s phrase

The phrase Kentish Fire is “prolonged cheering”

First usage

Our phrase came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

In 1828-1829, a bill was proposed to remove discrimination against Catholics — called the Catholic Relief Bill. There were meetings held in which the proposed bill was read; in Kent, there was prolonged derisive “cheering” to show opposition to the bill. Not too many years after this, our word came into being.

Pronounced: KEN-tish fire, noun

Notes: I have not heard this phrase

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Yesterday’s word

The word saponaceous means “resembling or having the qualities of soap”

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1700s

Background / Comments

Our word came from the New Latin word saponaceus (soapy), which came from the Latin word sapon, which is a stem of sapo (soap). The original meaning was for soapy things found in nature, such as aloe gel. In the 1800s, our word began to be used to describe people having a slippery, evasive, or elusive characters.

Pronounced: sa-puh-NAY-shuhs

Notes: Neat word, but probably of limited use

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Yesterday’s word

The word autokinesy means “self-propelled or self-directed motion or energy”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1600s

Background / Comments

Our word came from the Greek words auto- (self) and kinein (to move). I recognized the auto- prefix when I saw the word, but I did not recognize the other part when I first saw our word. I should have recognized the second part – the same source as our word “kinetic”.

Pronounced: au-toe-KIN-uh-see, noun

Notes: Another word that is new to me

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Yesterday’s word

The word sprachgefühl means

• the character of a language
• an intuitive sense of what is linguistically appropriate

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1800s

Background / Comments

Our word comes (as you might think) from German – the word Sprache (language; speech) and Gefühl (feeling). Because nouns are capitalized in German, our word is sometimes written capitalized. Our word is relatively rare, making infrequent appearances in English.

Pronounced: SHRPAHK-guh-fuel, noun

Notes: This word is a new one to me

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Yesterday’s word

The word approbation is “approval, praise, commendation, or official sanction”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1300s

Background / Comments

I thought our word meant something like disapproval, but that is clearly wrong: it came from the Latin word approbation, which is made up of ad- (toward) and probatus, which came from probare (to test the goodness of).

Pronounced: ap-roh-BAY-shuhn, noun

Notes: I thought I knew the definition, but I was wrong

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Yesterday’s word

The word demean means “to conduct or behave (oneself) usually in a proper manner”

First usage

Our word came into English in the second half of the 1200s

Background / Comments

I was surprised when I read the definition; I thought demean meant something like “to lower in standing”. It turns out that there are two words spelled demean with different meanings and different origins. Our word came from the Anglo-French verb demener (to conduct), which came from the Latin word minare (to drive). Just for completeness, the other word demean comes from the word mean (spiteful).

Pronounced: dih-MEAN, verb

Notes: I thought I knew this word, but I didn’t (more or less)

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Yesterday’s word

The word vulnerary, as a noun, means “something used for the healing of wounds”. As an adjective, it means “useful in healing of wounds”.

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1500s

Background / Comments

Our word comes from the Latin word vulnus (wound) and -ary (relating to).

Pronounced: VUHL-nuh-rer-ee, noun/adj

Notes: Another word that is new to me

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Yesterday’s word

The word groundling is

• a spectator who stood in the pit of an Elizabethan theater
• a person of unsophisticated taste

First usage

Our word came into English around 1600s

Background / Comments

In Elizabethan times, people who attended plays could (if they could afford it) sit in the upper gallery. The poor people could only afford the penny admission to the pit below, where that had to sit or stand on the bare floor, exposed to the sun or rain. The wealthy patrons in the upper galley would look at the folks in the pit (called the “ground”) with disdain — and thus the term for these people arose: groundling. These days, groundling can refer to the uncouth, but can also refer to any ordinary person; the “average Joe”. Such a usage is usually used in a facetious way).