ahimsa

Pronounced: uh-HIM-sah, noun

Notes: Like so many words here, this is another word that I didn’t know (and I couldn’t even guess at what it might mean)

Yesterday’s word

The word hyperborean, as a noun, means “an inhabitant of the extreme north”. As an adjective, it means “relating to the extreme north” or “very cold”. So, I guess one could say that Santa Claus is a hyperborean.

First usage

This word came into English in the early 1600s

Background / Comments

I had thought that our word may have to do with trees, thinking of arboreal, I guess. But the word comes from Greek mythology, which is a little strange, since, as a youth, I was interested in that subject. Anyway, the Hyperboreans were people who lived in perpetual sunshine beyond the reaches of the north wind. The word is comprised of hyper- (beyond) and Boreas (the god of the north wind).

hyperborean

Pronounced: high-purr-BORE-ee-uhn, noun/adj

Notes: Trees; I was thinking something related to trees (but I was wrong)

Yesterday’s word

The word festinate means “hasty”

First usage

As far as we can tell (see below), this goes back to the late 1500s or early 1600s

Background / Comments

This word first appeared in Shakespeare’s King Lear. The first known performance was in 1606. The word comes from the Latin word festinatus (make haste).

festinate

Pronounced: FESS-tuh-nate, adj

Notes: Another interesting word that I didn’t know

Yesterday’s word

The word gerent means “a ruler or manager”

First usage

The word came into English in the late 1500s

Background / Comments

Our word comes from the Latin word gerent, which is the present participle of gerere (to manage). As I noted yesterday, I’m not sure why this word for ‘manager’ isn’t more widely used.

gerent

Pronounced: JIR-ent, noun

Notes: A good word to know; I’m not sure why it’s not used more (I didn’t know it)

Yesterday’s word

The word propinquity means

  • nearness of blood; kinship
  • nearness in place of time; proximity
First usage

Our word goes back to the 1300s

Background / Comments

An interesting background: the Latin root of our word is prope (near). From this root, two similar words came into being propinquus (near, akin) — the ancestor of our word — and proximus (nearest) — the source of the English word “proximity”. In an odd reversal of meaning, “propinquity” gives a stronger sense of closeness that “proximity”. The word proximity also carries with it the idea of being in the vicinity of something. However, these subtle distinctions in English are often overlooked, and the words are commonly used interchangeably. Our word is the older word; the word proximity is roughly a hundred years younger.

propinquity

Pronounced: pruh-PING-kwuh-tee, noun

Notes: This word always throws me off, because I incorrectly see the word “iniquity” and think that this word has to do with wickedness

Yesterday’s word

The word benthos is “organisms that live at the bottom of a body of water”

First usage

This word came into English in the late 1800s

Background / Comments

This word has a straightforward origin: it is from the Greek word benthos (depth of the sea).

benthos

Pronounced: BEN-thoss, noun

Notes: Not a word I know, or could even guess at

Yesterday’s word

The word moue is “a little grimace; pout”

First usage

This word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

Our word comes from the Anglo-French word mouwe and has a distant relationship to a Middle Dutch word for a protruding lip. (It is not related to the word mouth, which comes from the Old English word mūth.) However, there is another word for pout (mow, pronounced to rhyme with “no” or “now”) that comes from the same source as our word. The word mow is much older, going back to the 1300s.

moue

Pronounced: moo, noun

Notes: As is common here, this is another word I don’t know

Yesterday’s word

The word molochize means “to sacrifice”

First usage

This word goes back to the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

Bible knowledge has lessened in recent decades; congratulations if you recognized the Canaanite god “Moloch” from the Bible. In order to be successful, parents would sacrifice a child to Moloch. The usual sacrifice was a male child, but some parents, hoping or thinking that Moloch couldn’t tell the difference, would sacrifice a female child. Thus, the name “Moloch” was turned into a verb by adding “-ize”, and the meaning was broadened to merely mean “sacrifice”.

molochize

Pronounced: MOL-uh-kize, verb

Notes: I was close to the meaning, but not fully correct

Yesterday’s word

The word chawbacon means “bumpkin; hick”

First usage

This word came into English in the 1500s

Background / Comments

I readily recognized chaw (an alteration of “chew”) and bacon, but I did not know what the combination word meant. Bacon was a staple in some (many?) rural people’s diets in time past, so this word was created to refer to (supposedly uncultured) country folk. The word isn’t used much these days, especially as consuming bacon is not limited to rural folk.

chawbacon

Pronounced: CHAW-bay-kuhn, noun

Notes: I can see the two words that make up the word, but that didn’t help with the meaning

Yesterday’s word

The word hooverize means “to be sparing in the use of something, especially food”

First usage

(see the Background) This word came into usage during World War I

Background / Comments

The word was named for Herbert Hoover – before he was President, he was the head of the US Food Administration during World War I. He encouraged citizens to eat less and thus save food for soldiers. The verb hoover (to vacuum or, metaphorically, to devour or consume) is named after the Hoover brand of vacuum cleaner – the brand name came from William Hoover, and American industrialist.

hooverize

Pronounced: HOO-vuh-rize, verb

Notes: I thought this word was an alternate form of “to hoover”, but it is not

Yesterday’s word

The word daedal means

  • skillful, artistic; intricate
  • adorned with many things
First usage

Our word goes back to the 1500s

Background / Comments

You may know (as I did) the Greek myth of Daedalus; he fashioned wings of feathers and wax to escape from the island of Crete along with his son, Icarus. Icarus flew too close to the sun, the wax melted, and he fell to his death. He designed a labyrinth for King Minos, and it was this artistic word that gave him his name. Daedalus (from the Greek daidalos) is Latin for “skillfully wrought”. From Latin we have our English word. The word Daedalian (alt: Daedalean) is a synonym of our word.