veridical

Pronounced: vuh-RIH-dih-kuhl, adj

Notes: It looked to me like it should have something to do with greenness or related to vertical (both of these are wrong)

Yesterday’s word

The word fig, as a verb, means “to dress up”. As a noun, it means

  • dress or array
  • a gesture of contempt
  • something of little value
  • a tree of shrub of the genus “Ficus” (or its fruit)
First usage

The verb, and the first noun definition came into English in the mid-1800s. The other definition are earlier, coming into English in the early 1200s.

Background / Comments.

I had no idea that our word could refer to clothing. I certainly knew about the tree/fruit called a fig — I once lived at a place that had a fig tree in the back yard. Although it didn’t come to mind, I did know that it could refer to something of little value, as in “I don’t give a fig for your opinions”. The gesture of contempt was new to me as well. It’s not clear why the fig was considered so valueless as to be used for such a gesture, or the little worth of something. In any event, the last three meanings above came from the Old French word fige, which came from Provencal word figa, which came from the Latin word fica (fig; ficus).

fig

Pronounced: (well, really! – as it sounds), noun/verb

Notes: I know some of the definitions; some were unknown to me

Yesterday’s word

The word mantic means “of or relating to the faculty of divination; prophetic”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1500s

Background / Comments

As I noted yesterday, when I saw our word, I thought of “manic” and so a completely wrong idea. Our word came from the Greek word mantikos, which came from mantis (prophet). The insect called “praying mantis” comes from the same source, as people thought it looked like a prophet praying. There is a related suffix “-mancy”, which means divination by <prefix word>. Thus, “tasseomancy” is divination by reading tea leaves – there are many other types of divination that end in “-mancy”.

mantic

Pronounced: MAN-tick, adj

Notes: I confused this word with another word

Yesterday’s word

The word birch, as a noun means

  • any of various hardy trees or shrubs of the genus Betula
  • a birch twig or bundle of them

As a verb, it means

  • to beat with (or as if with) a birch
  • to admonish or to punish
First usage

Our word came into English around 700

Background / Comments

As I noted, I know about birch trees, but I did not know that birch could be a verb. It came from the Old English word berc or beorc.

birch

Pronounced: buhrch, noun/verb

Notes: I know the noun, but the verb was new to me

Yesterday’s word

The word primogeniture is

  • the state of being the firstborn of the children of the same parents
  • an exclusive right of inheritance belonging to the eldest son
First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1600s

Background / Comments

I could guess the first meaning by parsing our word. It came from the Late Latin word primogenitura, which is a combination of the Latin word primus (first) and genitura (birth); the latter came from past participle of gignere (to beget). I could see “first” in “primo” and the second part looked like a word for “birth”. As I mentioned yesterday, there is a related word – “ultimogeniture”. It came into English around 250 years after our word, and refers to the last one born (the ultimate one). It is rather uncommon, but it is rather satisfying that our word has a counterpart.

primogeniture

Pronounced: pry-moh-JEH-nuh-chur, noun

Notes: I kind of knew this word; it’s related to a word I’ve never heard of

Yesterday’s word

The word palmary means “of supreme importance; outstanding; praiseworthy”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

Our word came from the Latin word palmarius (deserving or carrying the palm), which comes from palma (palm) – in ancient times, the branches of the palm tree were carried as symbols of victory in ancient times.

palmary

Pronounced: PAL-muh-ree, adj

Notes: Not at all what I thought this word meant

Yesterday’s word

The word jabberwocky is “meaningless speech or writing”

First usage

Our word came into English in the 1900s (first decade of the 1900s)

Background / Comments

Like me, you probably know the poem “Jabberwocky” in Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There (published in 1872). The poem caught the imagination of the public, and our word shortly became a generic term for meaningless speech.

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.