jabberwocky

Pronounced: JA-buhr-wah-kee, noun

Notes: I know bits of the poem, but I wasn’t sure of the meaning; you might know it

Yesterday’s phrase

The phrase sleeping beauty is “someone or something that lies dormant for a long time”

First usage

Our phrase came into English in the mid-1700s

Background / Comments

Our phrase came from the fairy tale about Sleeping Beauty (I’m not going to give the plot here). It has a special meaning in the world of finance: it refers to an asset that is an attractive target for takeover, but that has not yet been approached by someone.

sleeping beauty

Pronounced: (as it sounds), noun

Notes: I know the story of Sleeping Beauty, but I didn’t know it was a word

Yesterday’s word

The word wyvern is “a mythical animal usually represented as a two-legged winged creature resembling a dragon”

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1600s

Background / Comments

The creature called a wyvern looks a bit like a dragon, except that dragons have four legs, and a wyvern has two legs. Our word came from the Latin word vipera (viper) — and that is why many depictions of wyverns have them with the tail of a viper. Originally, our word referred to a huge serpent rather than dragon-like creature.

wyvern

Pronounced: WHY-vuhrn, noun

Notes: I recognized the word, but could not properly define it

Yesterday’s word

The word Goldilocks means “just right; a happy medium; optimum; not at either extreme”

First usage

Our word came into English in the 1940s

Background / Comments

As you might express, our word comes from the fairy tale Goldilocks and the Three Bears. If you remember, she visits a bear’s house and tries the chairs, beds, and porridge belonging to the Papa Bear, the Mama Bear, and the Baby Bear. She discovered that the chair, bed, and porridge belonging to Baby Bear was “just right”. The story was first published in the mid-1800s. Our word is used in astronomy: the “Goldilocks zone” is the area of space whose distance from the local star is “just right” for a planet to support life. (Goldilocks is not limited to astronomy; one could have, for example, a Goldilocks bat or racket: neither to light to be ineffective nor too heavy to use well).

Goldilocks

Pronounced: GOL-dee-locks, adj

Notes: I had no idea that this was an actual word – do you know the meaning?

Yesterday’s word

The word aghast means “struck with terror, amazement, or horror; shocked and upset”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1200s

Background / Comments

If you are aghast, you might look like you’ve just seen a ghost, and that is related to our word’s origin. Our word came from Middle English verb gasten (to frighten), which came from the Middle English noun gast (ghost). From this word also descended the verb gast (to scare). Although gast is now obsolete, it can be found in the Shakespeare play King Lear.

aghast

Pronounced: uh-GAST, adj

Notes: You probably know this word, but I wanted to share its background

Yesterday’s word

The word concupiscence is “strong desire; lust”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1300s

Background / Comments

Our word came from the Latin word concupiscere (to desire ardently), which is made up of con- (an intensifier prefix) and cupere (to desire). Our word is used in the KJV of the Bible; it is neither archaic or obsolete; it is just a word that isn’t in common use.

concupiscence

Pronounced: kon-KYOO-pih-suhns, noun

Notes: This word I am familiar with, but could not precisely define it – I don’t think it’s well known

Yesterday’s word

The word greenmail is “the practice of buying enough of a company’s stock to threaten a hostile takeover and then reselling it to the company at an above-market price”

First usage

Our word came into English in the 1980s

Background / Comments

I don’t spend a lot of time reading about corporate takeovers or even would-be takeovers, or else I may have known our word. The “green” part of our word goes back to 1862 when the US government began to use green ink to print paper money — it wasn’t long until “green” referred to money. The “mail” part is much older; it goes back to the late 1000s where is meant “payment” or “rent”. It survives in the 1500s word “blackmail” – a payment that Scottish border chiefs extracted in exchange for immunity from pillage.

greenmail

Pronounced: GREEN-male, noun

Notes: Not a word I knew (again)

Yesterday’s word

The word disquisition is “a formal discussion on a subject; discourse; dissertation”

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1600s

Background / Comments

Our word looked a bit to me like “inquisition”, but it came from the Latin word disquiere (to investigate), which is made of up dis- (an intensifier prefix) and quaerere (to see or ask).

disquisition

Pronounced: dis-kwuh-ZISH-uhn, noun

Notes: Not a word I knew

Yesterday’s word

The word inchoate means “being only partly in existence or operation; incipient – especially imperfectly formed or formulated; formless; incoherent”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

I thought that our word ended in “ate”, not “uht” – but it turns out that the British pronunciation does end with “ate”. I also thought that the “ch” sounded like the “ch” in “chum” instead of a “k” sound. Our word came the Latin word inchoare (to start work on; literally “to hitch up”), which is made from in- (pertaining to) and cohum (the part of a yoke to which the beam of a plow is fitted). Hooking this up is the first step in plowing a field; thus, our word has the concept of the beginning of an idea, or the early stages of a plan.

inchoate

Pronounced: in-KOH-uht, adj

Notes: Not only did I not know the meaning, I wasn’t pronouncing it properly

Yesterday’s word

The word stridor means “a harsh, grating or creaking sound”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

Our word is often used for the harsh vibrating sound that occurs when breathing with an airway obstruction. Our word came from the Latin word stridere (to make a harsh sound).

stridor

Pronounced: STRY-duhr, noun

Notes: Another word I’ve never run across (but I do know another word that descends from the same source)

Yesterday’s word

The word inimical means

  • being adverse often by reason of hostility or malevolence
  • hostile or unfriendly
First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

Our word came from the Latin word inimicus, which is a combination of in- (not) and amicus (friend). In current English, we don’t use our word to describe people; it is used to describe forces, concepts, or situations that are in some way harmful or hostile.