sectile

Pronounced: SEK-till, adj

Notes: Another useful word, but I was unaware of it

Yesterday’s word

The word parergon means

  • an accessory, embellishment, or byproduct of a main work
  • subsidiary work undertaken in addition to one’s main employment
First usage

Our word goes back a long way to the early 1600s

Background / Comments

In the software world, sometimes software engineers, wanting to be helpful, would create useful tools. This is a good example of a parergon. The drawback to this practice is that these hastily-written tools would get added to the official repertoire of software and have to be maintained as well. Our word comes from the Greek words para- (beside) and ergon (work).

parergon

Notes: I didn’t know this word, but it is useful

Pronounced: pa-RUHR-gahn, noun

Yesterday’s word

The word boondoggle means

  • work of little or no value done to keep or look busy
  • a “make work” project, often based on favoritism
First usage

This word came into English in the 1930s

Background / Comments

It is known that this is an Americanism, but the exact origin is unclear: something that is a “boon” is a favor that is sought or a benefit.

boondoggle

Pronounced: BOON-dog-uhl (alt: BOON-daw-guhl), noun

Notes: While I’ve heard this word used, I wasn’t sure of the precise definition

Yesterday’s word

The word spread-eagle means, as a noun, “an emblematic representation of an eagle with outspread wings”. As a verb, it means

  • to position someone with arms and legs stretched out
  • to assume the form of a spread eagle
  • to be boastful of bombastic in a display of nationalistic pride

As an adjective, it means

  • lying with arms and legs stretched out
  • boastful or bombastic in a display of nationalistic pride
First usage

The word came into English in the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

It is clear that the image of an eagle with its wings spread out was became spread-eagle (in the various forms). The coat of arms of the United States of America has a spread-eagle. The boastful meaning is less clear; presumably, since the spread-eagle was a popular emblem used in heraldry, boastful or bombastic people associated certain countries using the emblem came to be called by this term.

spread-eagle

Pronounced: [like it looks], noun/verb/adj

Notes: I knew some of the definitions, but not all of them, so it’s here

Yesterday’s word

The word Parnassian means

  • of, or related to, poetry
  • related to Mount Parnassus
First usage

This word came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

Parnassus (Mount Parnassus) is a mountains range in central Greek. Our word comes from the Latin word for it: Parnassius. I’m not sure how the word came to refer to poetry.

Parnassian

Pronounced: par-NAS-ee-uhn, adj

Notes: This word has an interesting meaning

Yesterday’s word

The word blackbird, besides the noun meaning a bird with black plumage, means (as a noun) “an indentured laborer or slave kidnapped from the South Pacific”. As a verb, it means “to engage in slave trade” or “to kidnap a person to work as an indentured laborer or slave”

First usage

Our word goes back to the mid-1300s for the bird-related definition; the other definitions came into usage in the mid-1800s.

Background / Comments

The meaning related to birds just came from birds that were black, and thus “black bird” became “blackbird”. Apparently, the indentured laborer or slave meaning arose because the term blackbird was used for someone from the South Pacific islands. In the second half of the 1800s, these people were kidnapped to work in Peru, Australia, Fiji, and other places, and thus those meanings arose. I didn’t know any of this background, so I though I’d pass it along.

blackbird

Pronounced: just like it looks, noun/verb

Notes: I think most of us know the bird called a blackbird, but there is another definition as a noun. In addition, did you know that this word was a verb?

Yesterday’s word

The word tumescent means “pompous and pretentious, especially in one’s speech; filled with ideas; teeming”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1800s.

Background / Comments

I don’t like the first part of the definition; pompous and pretentious are good things to ignore, but “filled with ideas” and “teeming” seem quite positive. In fact, some dictionaries have the negative and positive aspects as separate definitions. As you might guess, our word comes from Latin – specifically from the word tumēscent, a stem of tumēscēns, the present participle of tumēscere (to begin to swell)

tumescent

Pronounced: too-MESS-uhnt (alt: tyoo-MESS-uhnt), adj

Notes: An interesting, useful word

Yesterday’s phrase

The phrase chicken hawk not only refers to various hawks that are believed to prey upon chickens, but also is “a person who favors military action, yet has avoided military service”

First usage

Our phrase came into being the the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

I have heard of a chicken hawk from the Foghorn Leghorn cartoons; there were some of these cartoons (I don’t know how many) in which Foghorn was matched with a much smaller chicken hawk. I though the term referred to a specific species, but apparently not. The other definition was completely unknown to me. It comes from two slang words put together: chicken (someone who is a coward) and hawk (someone who pursues an aggressive policy). The hawk slang is usually heard in American political history when Congress was divided into “hawks” (those for war) and “doves” (those against the war).

chicken hawk

Pronounced: CHIK-en hawk, noun

Notes: There is a second meaning of which I was unaware, so I added this word

Yesterday’s word

The word oneiric means “of, or related to, dreams”

First usage

This word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

There is a similar word that has to do with wine, but I cannot recall it just now. Our word comes from the Greek word óneiros (dream).

oneiric

Pronounced: oh-NIGH-rik, adj

Notes: I thought this was perhaps about wine, but no

Yesterday’s word

The word dastard is “a malicious, sneaking coward”

First usage

This word came into English in the mid-1400s

Background / Comments

Like me, you are probably more familiar with the adjective “dastardly”; I don’t think I’ve ever run across the noun form, and I didn’t know it existed. The background is uncertain.

dastard

Pronounced: DAS-tuhrd, noun

Notes: Today’s entry may be easy; I’m adding it because I didn’t know this word existed

Yesterday’s word

The word dithyramb means

  • wildly enthusiastic speech or writing, often irregular or unconventional in form
  • an ancient choral chant or song that is excited and wild
First usage

This word came into English in late 1500s or early 1600s

Background / Comments

I am not sure at what point an enthusiastic speech or writing becomes “wildly enthusiastic” and thus qualifies to be called a dithyramb. I also don’t know when some pattern becomes “irregular”. Our word came to us from the Latin word dīthyrambus, which came from the Greek word dīthýrambos. Its original meaning was the second one, used in Greek plays; in time, the wild nature of those Greek chants/songs was generalized into the first definition.