Pronounced: kuh-MOVE, verb

Notes: I could not guess the meaning of this word

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Yesterday’s word

The word ikistics means “the study of human settlements, drawing on such disciplines as city planning, architecture, sociology, etc.”

First usage

The word goes back to the 1960s

Background / Comments

The word was coined by Constantinos A Doxiadis, Greek architect and urban planner. It comes from (naturally) Greek oikistikos (of settlement), which comes from oikizein (to settle), which comes from oikos (house).

Pronounced: ih-KISS-tiks, noun

Notes: Not much to say; not a word I knew

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Yesterday’s word

The word kittel is “a white cotton or linen robe worm by Orthodox Jews on holidays such as Rosh Hashanah and also used as a burial shroud”

First usage

I couldn’t find information about when this word first showed up

Background / Comments

Our word comes from Yiddish and then from Middle High German kietel (cotton or hempen outer garment). Further history is hard to trace, but is seems to go back to the Arabic word qutn (cotton). Cotton can be traced directly from the same word, which is interesting considering that kittels used to be made of cotton. I also find it interesting that the etymology of our word, which is a Jewish garment traces back to both German and Arabic.

Pronounced: KIH-tuhl, noun

Notes: I think I should have known this word; it may be familiar to some readers

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Yesterday’s word

The word booboisie means “ignorant or uncultured people regarded as a class”

First usage

This word goes back to the 1920s

Background / Comments

The word was coined by H. L. Mencken. It is from the word boob (a stupid person) combined with bourgeoisie (the middle class). Bourgeoisie comes from the French word bourgeois, which comes from Latin burgus (fortress or fortified town).

Pronounced: boo-bwa-ZEE, noun

Notes: Hopefully, we don’t have to use this word too often

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Yesterday’s word

The word infrangible means

• not capable of being broken or separated into parts
• not to be infringed or violated

First usage

This word appeared in English in the 1500s

Background / Comments

The word came to English from Middle French, and to Middle French from the Late Latin infrangibilis, which is made of in- (not) and frangere (to break). [As a side note, our word “break” comes from the same ancestor as frangere.] Its first meaning was literal: “impossible to break”, and over time it came to have a metaphorical meaning.

Pronounced: in-FRAN-juh-buhl, adj

Notes: I recognize “in” as a negation, so “not frangible” — whatever that is

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Yesterday’s word

The word adhocracy means

• a flexible, adaptable organization that lacks a formal structure
• an organization characterized by lack of planning, responding to problems as they emerge rather than anticipating and avoiding them

First usage

A relatively recent word; it showed up in the 1960s

Background / Comments

The word was coined by Warren Bennis and Philip Slater in the book The Temporary Society. The source is Latin ad hoc (literally ‘for this’; that is, ‘for a particular purpose only’) and -cracy (rule). The first definition seems more flattering than the second, mostly due to phrase “lack of planning” in the definition. However, there is probably a happy medium – one can do general planning and then handle issues as they occur. Some people/groups seem to spend far too much time and energy trying to cover every possible contingency instead of getting their main task done.

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Rejected words

I have a backlog of words; a few years back, I added mouthfeel because I didn’t know it. However, in the time since then, I’ve seen some cooking shows and have heard the word several times. I thought it was a very recent word, but it actually goes back to the 1950s.

Pronounced: ah-HAWK-ruh-see, noun

Notes: You might get close to the meaning… my reference shows two definitions, one more positive than the other

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Yesterday’s word

The word argot means “an often more or less secret vocabulary and idiom peculiar to a particular group”

First usage

This word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

This word came from France. Similar words are

• jargon; it came from Middle English and meant “twittering of birds” and came there from Anglo-French. It’s usually used for specialized (possibly obscure or pretentious) vocabulary since the 1600s
• lingo; it came from Latin lingua (language) and has been around since the early 1900s. One lawyer used this word to mean “court gibberish” (we call it “legalese”)

Pronounced: AR-guht, noun

Notes: I have a vague memory that I’ve run across this word somewhere, but it didn’t help me with the definition

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Yesterday’s word

The word arctophile is “someone who is very fond of teddy bears or collects them”

First usage

This word showed up in the 1970s

Background / Comments

The word is from Greek. I recognized the -phile (lover) part. The other part is from arctos (bear)… not (as I first thought) “arctic”.

Pronounced: ARK-tuh-file, noun

Notes: I thought that maybe this was someone who liked the cold (but no)

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Yesterday’s word

The word bouquiniste is “a dealer in secondhand books”

First usage

The word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

This word is French, and was created in French in the mid-1700s to describe booksellers alone the river Seine. There was already a French word bouquin (used book) – from the Dutch boeckin (little book) – that described booksellers on the Pont Neuf bridge. They were banned from doing business on the bridge and set up their shops along the river. After this move, they were called bouquinistes. The word made its way into English, and I now have a fancy word for a used book store!

Pronounced: boo-kee-NEEST, noun

Notes: Fancy word for something

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Yesterday’s word

The word pinetum means “an arboretum of coniferous trees (such as pines)”

First usage

The word came into usage in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

Where I grew up, we didn’t have an arboretum, but there was one area in which pine trees grew. My brothers and I enjoyed climbing up high enough in the trees to sway back and forth. The word comes from Latin pinetum (pine grove).

Pronounced: pie-NEE-tuhm, noun

Notes: Your guess may be right

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Yesterday’s word

The word autochthonous means

• indigenous, native
• formed or originating in the place where found

First usage

This word showed up in the late 1700s

Background / Comments

Our word in usually used in scientific and academic writings these days. In ancient Athens, their word for any trueborn Athenian was autochthon; from auto- (self) and chthon (earth).