Pronounced: in-TES-tuhn, adj

Notes: Yes, we know the noun meaning… but do you know what the adjective means? (I didn’t)

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Yesterday’s word

The word paragnosis means “knowledge that cannot be obtained by normal means”

Background / Comments

I knew both parts of this word, but I still didn’t have the meaning; the word comes from para- (beyond) and gnosis (knowledge). We have the words “paranormal” (beyond normal) and “agnostic” (not knowing). I’m not really sure what qualifies as paragnosis; it sounds like it means things that one knows without ever having been taught them.

First usage

A later word; it showed up in the 1930s

Pronounced: par-uh-GNOH-sis, noun

Notes: I like this word! I’m not entirely sure under which circumstances I’d use it

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Yesterday’s word

The word propaedeutic is “preparatory study or instruction”.

Background / Comments

The root for today’s word is the Greek word paideuein (to teach); this root and the “paedeu” part of todays’ word make me think of Star Wars “padawan”. The other part of today’s word is pro- (before). Although the word is normally used in scholarly circles, someone who take college “prep” courses in high school could be said to be taking propaedeutics. Also, when I attended college, some students had to take pre-English or pre-algebra classes; these were propaedeutics as well.

First usage

The word showed up in the late 1700s

Pronounced: proh-pih-DUE-tit, noun

Notes: I think I see bits of other words in here (Sorry this was late in getting posted-RL).

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Yesterday’s word

The word pathophobia is “fear of disease”

Background / Comments

It’s Greek all the way: patho- (suffering, disease) with -phobia (fear). I figured this one out because I knew pathology (the study of diseases).

First used

This word first showed up in the late middle 1800s

Pronounced: path-uh-FOE-bee-uh, noun

Notes: So many of the phobia words are oddball that I wasn’t sure… maybe a fear of losing one’s way (path?) – it’s not that. My vocabulary must be improving since the time I added this word to the list… I figured it out this time, but apparently, I didn’t know it. Maybe you do?

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Yesterday’s word

The word wushu (also wu shu) is “Chinese martial arts”

Background / Comments

No surprise; this word comes from Chinese (specifically, the Beijing dialect). It is a combination of wǔ (military or martial) and shù (art). It was originally the same thing as “kung fu”, but the meanings have diverged a bit: kung fu is more focused on hand-to-hand combat, but modern wushu emphasizes aesthetics and performance. One well-known form of wushu is “tai chi”.

First usage

This word showed up the in 1970s

Pronounced: woo-shoo

Notes: Where I found this word shows both syllables accented, which seems pointless (it’s the same as neither being accented). I immediately thought of something (I’ll talk about it tomorrow), but wasn’t sure of the meaning.

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Yesterday’s word

The word oldspeak means “normal English usage, as opposed to propagandist, euphemistic, or obfuscatory language”.

Background / Comments

I thought of newspeak, but didn’t realize how close I was; this word, just like newspeak, comes from George Orwell’s book 1984.

First usage

The book 1984 was published in 1949, which is, naturally, the first usage.

Pronounced: (as you think: “old” and “speak”)

Notes: I haven’t heard this word, but I have heard a similar word

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Yesterday’s word

The word acephalous means

• lacking a head or having the head reduced
• lacking a governing head or chief

Background / Comments

As I noted, I should have thought a bit more about this word: I think I first saw “ace” and “phalous” and didn’t have a clue, but had I tried “a” and “cephalous”, I could have been closer. In the beginning of the Sherlock Holmes story The Hound of the Bakervilles, the new client (James Mortimer) describes Mr Holmes’ skull as dolichocephalic. Somewhere else, I’ve heard other words that describe the shape of a skull, all with ‘cephalic’ as part of them. Thus, I should have been able to guess something along the lines of ‘not’ from the “a”, and ‘having a head’ from the “cephalous”. This turns out to be the case as the word comes from Medieval Latin meaning “headless”. It meant clerics not under a bishop or lines of verse with the first part missing or abbreviated. The Latin comes from Greek a- (not) and kephalē (head).

First usage

This word showed up in the mid-1700s.

Pronounced: ay-SEH-fuh-lush, adj

Notes: (The initial syllable is a long “a”). This is a word I should have been able to figure out, and I was annoyed with myself for not doing so.

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Yesterday’s word

The word assize refers to “a session of court or a verdict or an inquiry made at such a session”

Background / Comments

The word comes from Old French asseoir (to seat), which came from Latin assidere (to sit). As I noted yesterday, in my reading of Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes), Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, and others), and Dorothy Sayers (Lord Peter Wimsey), I’ve run across the phrase “referred to the Assizes”. Parliament abolished the Assizes in 1972; prior to that (as I understand it), the Assizes were a kind of traveling court in England and Wales that heard the most serious cases, typically referred to them by local county courts called “quarter sessions”. Minor offenses were dealt with by the local justice of the peace (a “magistrate’s court”).

First usage

This goes way back to the late 1200s.

Pronounced: uh-SIZE, noun

Notes: From my reading, I see this word capitalized and pluralized (Assizes), but I only had a general idea of the meaning. Research into this word provided good insight (more tomorrow)

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Yesterday’s word

A toxophilite is “a person fond of or expert at archery”

Background / Comments

This word is a bit rare these days; it comes from two Greek words: toxon (referring to both a bow and arrow) and philos (loving). If you thought that this word might be someone who enjoyed poison, you are very clever at seeing the part of a word – give yourself a pat on the back! The word toxic comes from Latin toxicum (poison), but the Latin word originally meant “poison for arrows” and derives from the first part of today’s word.

First usage

This word came into English in the late 1700s.

Pronounced: tahk-SAH-fuh-lite, noun

Notes: I know of at least one recent high-school graduate who should know this word… do you?

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Yesterday’s word

An unperson is “a person regarded as nonexistent”

Background / Comments

This comes from George Orwell’s book “1984”; he coined this word as a noun. A much more common synonym is nonperson.

First usage

Although the verb form goes way back to the mid-1600s (meaning “to depersonalize”), it was first used as a noun in 1949.

Pronounced: UHN-puhr-suhn, noun

Notes: I thought that this word was a verb; nonetheless, I was close to the meaning (however, I did not know the background)

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Yesterday’s word

The word manqué means “short of or frustrated in the fulfillment of one’s aspirations or talents”

Background / Comments

This word is usually used post-positively (that is, after the noun it is modifying): thus, a poet manqué, or (to hit closer to home), a software lead manqué. The word came directly from French, but ultimately from the Latin manco (having either hand crippled). Somewhere along the way, it picked up a bias against left-handed people: the Italian word mancino means “left-handed; dishonest”. There is a sprinkling of English words that show a bias against left-handed people: besides our word, sinister with its origin of “on the left hand” and awkward with its origin of “left-handed; turned the wrong way” are some other examples.

First usage

This word showed up in the early 1800s