Pronounced: SKYOO-uh-morf, noun

Notes: This is probably a good word to learn – if for no other reason that words that contain “e-u-o” are probably pretty rare.

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Yesterday’s phrase

The phrase au courant means

• up-to-date; fully informed
• fashionable

First usage

This word came into English in the mid-1700s

Background / Comments

I knew the “up-to-date” meaning; I know I’ve come across the word in reading, but I’m not sure if it was in a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes) story, or a Hercule Poirot (Agatha Christie) story – it may have even been some other story. However, the fashionable meaning was new to me; thus it has been included. The word, as you might guess, is from the French phrase au courant (literally “in the current”, meaning “knowledgeable” or “up-to-date”). Presumably, the “fashionable” definition was an outgrowth of the ‘up-to-date’ meaning.

Pronounced: oh koo-RAN, adj

Notes: Although I could not pronounce this correctly, I was pretty close on the definition

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Yesterday’s word

The word mordacious means “sharp, caustic, or biting in style and tone”

First usage

This word came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

Well, I (incorrectly) saw the ‘mord’ beginning of our word and thought that is was related to ‘morte’ (death), but that’s not so. It has a more straightforward meaning; the word comes from the Latin word mordāci, which is a stem of mordāx (given to biting).

Pronounced: more-DAY-shus, adj

Notes: I couldn’t define this word, but I think I recognize some of the sub-parts of it

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Yesterday’s word

The word pierian means “relating to learning or poetry”

First usage

This word came into English in the late 1500s

Background / Comments

A nice, simple, straightforward definition. I could find uses in the learning part of the meaning. It comes from a region in Greece called Pieria. In Greek mythology, Pieria had a spring that would inspire anyone who drank from it (the spring was sacred to the Muses). There is a oft-misquoted line from Alexander Pope: a little knowledge is a dangerous thing; in fact, the correct quote is: a little learning is a dang’rous thing. What does that have to do with our word? The next line is “Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring” — apparently, his advice was to either avoid a subject or learn it well (deeply). It is an interesting idea, but I’m not sure I entirely agree.

Pronounced: pie-EER-ee-uhn, adj

Notes: Another word I may find useful, but I didn’t know

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Yesterday’s word

The word isolato means “a person spiritually or mentally isolated and out of step with their times or community”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

Well! I thought about the plural of this word and thought that it looked Italian, which means that the plural should be isolati (just as the proper plural of concerto is concerti, not concertos). Thinking about concerto/concerti; that is, Italian plurals, reminds of a music course I own in which the teacher points out that graffiti is the plural form; a singular one is a graffito. Anyway, our word is Italian, but at least one dictionary entry says that the plural is isolatoes, but I like isolati better, and there probably is some dictionary that will give this as the plural. As I said, the word does come to us from Italian, but came into there from the Latin word insulātus (which has the root meaning of ‘island’). It happens to be one word I remember from a high-school Latin book; I was fascinated by our word insulation, in which a wire is surrounded by the material, much in the same way water surrounds an island.

Pronounced: ete-suh-LAY-toe, noun

Notes: Although I’d not run across this word, you may be able to get close to the meaning (as I did)

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Yesterday’s word

The word dalmatic refers to “a loose, wide-sleeved outer garment worn by some monarchs at their coronations and by deacons, bishops, etc in some churches”

First usage

This word came into English in the early 1400s

Background / Comments

I thought the word might be related to color-blindness or possibly dogs, but both were far from the mark. The word came from the Old French word dalmatique, which came from the Latin phrase dalmatica vestis (Dalmatian garment). It was called this because these garments were originally made of Dalmatian wool. You may or may not know that Dalmatia was the name of an ancient region along the Adriatic coast (now Croatia). The dogs known as Dalmatians come from this location, so my dog guess, while wrong, wasn’t quite as terribly wrong.

Pronounced: dal-MAT-ick, noun

Notes: My guess at the meaning was far off the mark

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Yesterday’s word

The word battology is “a tiring repetition of words, either spoken or written”

First usage

This word goes back to around 1600

Background / Comments

I’ve definitely met people whose conversation was battology — just a repetition of the same stories without end. I heard one man tell the same store three times within a few minutes. Our word comes from Greek battología, which is báttos (stammerer) combined with -logia.

Pronounced: buh-TAHL-uh-jee, noun

Notes: A neat word to know; it has uses

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Yesterday’s word

The word showboat means, as a verb, “to seek attention by showy, flamboyant behavior; to show off”. As a noun, it is “one who seeks attention in such a way; a show-off”

First usage

This word came into usage in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

This came from riverboats; they had an onboard theater and troupes of actors… they would stop at towns along the river to offer entertainment. As I noted, this was a borderline word; I knew the verb meaning (“to show off”), but I was unaware of the noun meaning.

Pronounced: SHOW-boat, verb/noun

Notes: This was a borderline word. I was pretty close to the meaning

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Yesterday’s word

The word wuther means “the manner of wind blowing fiercely”

First usage

This word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

I got this word confused with “druther” or “druthers”. Our word is more commonly found in the UK and comes from a variant of Scots whither, which comes from Middle English (Scots) word quhediren, which may have comes from Old Norse hvitha (squall of wind).

Pronounced: WUHTH-er, verb

Notes: I confused this word with another word

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Yesterday’s word

The word gaslight means “to manipulate psychologically”

First usage

This word came into use in the 1960s

Background / Comments

I assume most people know this word, and may be surprised that I didn’t know it. I know that the word comes from the classic movie Gaslight (made in 1940 and remade in 1944). I knew that our word came from there, but (never having seen the movie), I wasn’t sure what was meant by it. I had the idea that it meant trying to trick someone or deceive them.

Pronounced: GAS-light, verb

Notes: I’ve run across this word in reading, and had a sense of the word, but wasn’t quite right (you probably know this word)

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Yesterday’s phrase

The phrase de profundis means “out of the depths of sorrow or despair”

First usage

I could not find information about when this phrase started being used; it seems to go way back

Background / Comments

This is a Latin phrase, and is the beginning of Psalm 130 in the Latin Bible. As I noted, I attempted to parse the word. I knew that de means “out; from”. I thought that profundis was related to profound, and thus perhaps “deep”.