Pronounced: SHAWN-brare, verb

Notes: Ran across this in a Rex Stout book, and didn’t know it, so it showed up here

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Yesterday’s word

The word defile means “to march off in a line”

Background

This word comes from French word défiler, a combination of dé- with filer (to move in a column). This French word is also the source of the noun defile, meaning “narrow passage or gorge”.

For those curious about the more common defile that means “to contaminate”, it is an older word, going back to the 1300s. It also comes from French, but its source is defoiller (“to trample”)

First usage

This word was first used in the early 1700s

Pronounced: dih-FILE (or dih-FIE-uhl), verb

Notes: If you’re thinking that I posted an easy word, this is not the word that means “to contaminate”. Although that word is spelled and pronounced the same, it has a different meaning and a different origin that today’s word. Do you know it?

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Yesterday’s word

The word velutinous means “soft and smooth like velvet”

Background

Short and simple: the word is from the Latin word veluntum (velvet).

First usage

This word came into English in the mid-1800s

Pronounced: vuh-LOO-tuh-nuhs, adj

Notes: A word I could have known (had I studied the language from which it comes), but since I didn’t, I don’t!

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Yesterday’s word

The word zaibatsu is “a powerful and industrial conglomerate of Japan”

Background

The word is Japanese; it is a compound word of zai (wealth or money) and batsu (clique or clan). It referred to large enterprises that sprang up in Japan after the Meiji Restoration of 1868. They expanded rapidly during World War I. Each zaibatsu was typically organized around a single family and controlled interests in multiple areas. During the Allied occupation of Japan after World War II, zaibatsus were dissolved, but the term has survived.

First usage

This world entered English after World War II (the mid- to late 1940s)

Pronounced: zigh-BAHT-soo, noun

Notes: I would think that many people can probably guess where this comes from, even if they don’t know the definition

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Yesterday’s word

The word impignorate means “to pledge, pawn, or mortgage”

Background

The word comes from Latin impignorare (to pledge) from pignus (pledge, pawn, mortgage)

First usage

The word showed up in the mid-1600s

Pronounced: im-PIG-nuh-rate, verb

Notes: Well, my guess was to impersonate a pig (wrong!)

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Yesterday’s word

The word maffick means “to celebrate with boisterous rejoicing and hilarious behavior”

Background

The word maffick is an alteration of Mafeking Night, the British celebration of the lifting of the siege of a British military outpost during the South African War (also called the Boer War – technically, the Second Boer War) at the town of Mafikeng (also spelled Mafeking) on 17 May 1900. The lifting of the siege of Mafikeng was a significant victory for the British because they held out for over 200 days against a superior force (the siege ended when British reinforcements arrived). There was great rejoicing in Britain, and it created our word. It was popular in journalistic circles, but is a relatively uncommon word today.

First usage

This word started to be used in the early 1900s

Pronounced: MA-fick, verb

Notes: I don’t want to give away too much of the origin until tomorrow, but I have run across, in British literature, the term from which this word comes (“Mafeking Night”). In the context of reading, I assumed it was some British holiday that I was unaware of; moreover, I had not run across this word. Given the association, some may be able to guess the meaning.

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Yesterday’s word

The word parley means (as a verb) “to have a discussion, especially with an opposing party”. As a noun, it refers to such a discussion. I thought that it meant a truce for the purpose of having a discussion with an opposing party, so I was close, but not quite right.

Background

People with some foreign language may recognize the roots. It came to English from the French word parler (to talk). The French word came from Latin parabolare (to speak or talk). The Spanish word palabra (word) has the same roots.

First usage

The word came into English in the late 1400s.

Pronounced: PAR-lee, verb or noun

Notes: This is another word I thought I knew until I read the definition

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Yesterday’s word

The word coeval means “of the same age, antiquity, or duration”

Background

This word comes from Latin coaevus (of the same age), which is itself made up of co- (in or to the same degree) and aevum (age or lifetime). As a side note, aevum is also the source of longevity and primeval. Coeval is usually referred to things that have existed together for a long time – for example, the planets in our solar system, or it can refer to things that co-existed a long(ish) time ago: manuscripts can be described as “coeval”.

First usage

This word began to be used around 1600

Pronounced: koh-EE-vuhl, adj

Notes: With the pronunciation, it sounds as if it were somehow evil, but it isn’t.

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Yesterday’s word

The word trombenik means “a lazy or a boastful person”

Background

The word comes from Yiddish tromba (trumpet, horn) [see, I was close with my guess of trombone-RL] combined with -nik, a suffix that denotes a person associated with a particular quality, group, etc… such as a neatnik. Getting back to trombenik, it is the equivalent of the phrase tooting one own’s horn.

First usage

This is a (relatively) more recent word, first showing up in the early 1930s

Pronounced: TROM-buh-nick, noun

Notes: The word is also spelled trombenick. I see ‘trombone’ in this word, and that’s not quite right

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Yesterday’s word

The word Antaean means

• mammoth
• having superhuman strength

Background

The word Antaean comes from Greek mythology. Antaeus was the gigantic and powerful son of Gaea (the earth goddess) and Poseidon (the sea god). Antaeus was a wrestler, and whenever he touched the earth, his strength was renewed. No one ever beat him until Hercules faced him. Hercules discovered the secret of the giant’s strength and defeated him by not letting him touch the ground. I remember reading the story of the battle between Antaeus and Hercules in grade school, during a time I had an interest in Greek mythology, but I had forgotten the name Antaeus, which is why I both knew and did not know this word.

First usage

This word entered English in the 1700s, being used by the English poet William Mason

Pronounced: an-TEE-uhn, adj

Notes: This is a word I both knew and didn’t know. I explain this comment tomorrow.

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Yesterday’s word

The word fiddlesticks (plural) is pretty well known as an interjection meaning “nonsense”. The singular, fiddlestick, also has a meaning you’d expect: “the bow with which the fiddle is played”. However, there is another meaning I didn’t know: “something insignificant”.

Background

Both fiddle and stick come from Old English; fiddle was then “fithele” and stick was “sticca”

First usage

This word showed up in the 1400s