corpocracy

Pronounced: kor-POCK-ruh-see, noun

Notes: This word has changed in meaning over time

Yesterday’s word

The word nychthemeron means “a full period of a night and a day; 24 hours”

First usage

Well, this is a first; I cannot find any information about how long this has been a word; I found it defined with background in multiple places, but nothing on how long it’s been around.

Background / Notes

The word day can refer to just the daylight hours (“our porch light is off during the day”), or most of the daylight hours (“it’s been a long day at work”), or a full 24-hour period (“it will take a day to get the part”). There are the more common uses; there is a sense of “day” that refers to an era – something like “it was the day of the workers”. Because of its uncertainty, our word is definitely 24 hours. From the origin, it meant the night period followed by the day period, but it can be used to refer to any 24-hour continuous period of time. As I noted yesterday, a handy word to know if you want to be technical about a 24-hours period. The word comes from the Greek root nykt or nyx (night) combined with the Greek word hemera (day).

nychthemeron

Pronounced: nik-THEH-muh-rahn, noun

Notes: A useful word

Yesterday’s word

The word obdormition is what we call it when a limb goes to sleep (or falls asleep). More formally, it is “numbness in a limb, usually caused by pressure on a nerve”.

First usage

This word came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

Most people have had something “fall asleep” – now we know there is a word for it. Our word comes from Latin obdormire (to fall asleep), which has as its root dormire (to sleep).

obdormition

Pronounced: ob-dor-MISH-uhn, noun

Notes: Nearly all of us have experienced this

Yesterday’s word

The word indagate means “to search into; investigate”

First usage

This word came into English in the early 1600s

Background / Comments

I enjoy reading mystery stories, and Rex Stout (the author of the Nero Wolfe stories). Rex Stout had an extremely high IQ and used quite a vocabulary in his writing, and that’s why I’m surprised that I haven’t run across this word in my reading. It is a rather uncommon word and that may be why Mr Stout didn’t use it. It comes from the Latin verb indagare (to track), which was often used to refer to tracking with hunting dogs.

indagate

Pronounced: IN-duh-gate, verb

Notes: I’m a little surprised that I’ve not heard this word

Yesterday’s word

The word hypercathexis means “excessive concentration of mental energy on something”

First usage

A relatively recent word, coming into English in the 1920s

Background / Comments

I have experienced hypercathexis – sometimes at work, but also dealing with proxy voting; usually because the information about the directors is pretty vague and high-level and it needs a lot of concentration to try to figure out who would be a good person to vote for and who would not. It’s similar when trying to determine whom to vote for, because there is so little information about the more minor offices being sought. In addition, of course, there are work situations that are complex and need this kind of excessive concentration. Our word comes from Greek words: hyper- (over; above) and kathexis (holding) – this word came from katekhein (to hold fast), which came from kata- (an intensifying prefix) and ekhein (to hold)

hypercathexis

Pronounced: high-per-kuh-THEK-sis, noun

Notes: I didn’t know this word, but I love it; I’ve love to find ways to slide this word into conversations

Yesterday’s phrase

The phrase de minimis means “lacking significance or importance; so minor as to merit disregard”.

First usage

This is a late phrase, coming into usage around 1950

Background / Comments

Yesterday, I mentioned the phrase de mortuis, which I’ve run across in Dorothy Sayers books about Lord Peter Wimsey. It is a shortened version of the full phrase de mortuis nil nisi bonum, which is an aphorism of social etiquette. (Apparently, this same saying can also be shortened as nil nisi bonum). If Latin is not your thing, it means “don’t speak ill of the dead” (literally, “of the dead, nothing but good”, with ‘speak’ or ‘say’ implied.) I only bring this up because our phrase reminds me of it. Our phrase came from the legal system, which is full of Latin sayings. In fact, there is a legal doctrine that is much older that starts with our phrase: de minimis non curat lex (the law does not concern itself with trifling matters). This doctrine began to be called the de minimus rule. After a time, it was used (still just in legal situations) on its own with our meaning, and then it began to spill out into the general populace.

de minimis

Pronounced: dee MIH-nuh-muss, adj

Notes: I keep wanting to start the word “day” instead of “dee”. Also, this word makes me think of the phrase “de mortuis” (more about it tomorrow)

Yesterday’s word

The word bavardage means “chattering; gossip”

First usage

The word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

As I noted yesterday, our word reminded me of “badinage”, a word I think I first ran across on the show Babylon 5. Anyway, “badinage” refers to “light playful banter”, so it is not our word. Our word comes from the French word bavarder (to chatter), which came from bavard (talkative), which came from bave (saliva, drivel).

bavardage

Pronounced: bah-vuhr-DAHZ, noun

Notes: There is a similar word – “badinage” – that I thought might be related (but no)

Yesterday’s word

The word caducity means

  • senility
  • the quality of being transitory or perishable
First usage

Our word came into English in the mid- to late-1700s

Background / Comments

Our word came to us from the French word caduc (transitory). This word in turn came from the Latin word caducus (tending to fall), which came from the verb cadere (to fall). We get “chance”, “coincidence”, and “cadaver” from this same root verb. Our word, in a general sense, refers to the transitory nature of something. In a specific sense, it referred to the perishable nature of cognitive abilities, and thus can be used as a synonym or senility. Instead of one meaning coming from the other, both meanings showed up at the same time for this word.

caducity

Pronounced: kuh-DOO-suh-tee, noun

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

Yesterday’s word

The word aciniform means “shaped like a cluster of grapes”

First usage

This word came into English in the late 1700s

Background / Comments

Pretty straightforward… this word came from the Latin word acinus (grape, berry, seed).

aciniform

Pronounced: uh-SIN-uh-form

Notes: I would never have guessed this meaning (but you might if you know Latin)

Yesterday’s word

The word putative means

  • commonly accepted or supposed
  • assumed to exist of to have existed
First usage

This word has been around since the 1400s

Background / Comments

Our word comes from the Latin word putatus, the past participle of the verb putare (to consider; to think). The writeup I have says that our word is often used in legal contexts.

putative

Pronounced: PYOO-tuh-tihv, adj

Notes: I confused this word with punitive

Yesterday’s word

The word crackjaw means, as an adjective, “hard to pronounce”. As a noun, it refers to “a word or phrase that is hard to pronounce”

First Usage

This word has been around since the mid-1800s

Background / Notes

There are many ways to indicate a long word or a rare word. There are inkhorn words; difficult words; stately language; a sesquipedalian; and here we have crackjaw… The idea being that to pronounce such difficult or long words, one would crack one’s jaw. Our word comes from (as you might expect) “crack” together with “jaw”.