Pronounced: grahn gee-NYOL, noun/adj

Notes: This is new to me (the word Grand is pronounced nasally)

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Yesterday’s word

The lamia is a female demon; vampire

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid- to late 1300s

Background / Comments

Our word came from Greek mythology; Lamia was a queen of Libya – one of Zeus’s many loves. Hera (Zeus’s wife) killed the children from the Zeus/Lamia union, and then Lamia in grief/retaliation killed every child she could. The legend grew to be of a fiend that devoured young men and sucked the blood of children.

Pronounced: LAY-me-uh, noun

Notes: I didn’t know there was a word for this

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Yesterday’s word

The word misericord means

• compassion, pity, or mercy
• something to provide support to a standing person
• a place where rules are relaxed
• a dagger used to deliver the death stroke to a seriously wounded person

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1200s

Background / Comments

So… nothing to do with misers. Our word came from the Old French word misericord, which came from the Latin word misericordia (pity or mercy), which is made up of misereri (to pity) and cor (heart).

Pronounced: mih-ZER-ih-kord (alt: muh-ZER-ih-kord), noun

Notes: I saw “miser” and thought our word was related to a miser (boy, was I wrong!)

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Yesterday’s word

The word anchorite means “a person who lives in seclusion usually for religious reasons”

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1400s

Background / Comments

Our word came from the late Middle English words anchorite, anachorite, and ancorite, which is a conflation of the Middle English word ancre and the Old French word anacorite. It also may be related to the Late Latin anachorita, which came from the late Greek anachoretes.

Pronounced: ANG-kuh-rite, noun

Notes: another new word for me

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Yesterday’s phrase

The phrase mouse potato is “someone who lives a sedentary life, spending much of his free time playing computer games, surfing the net, streaming videos, etc”

First usage

Our phrase came into English in the 1990s

Background / Comments

Our phrase came from “couch potato”, with “mouse” referring to the mouse on the computer, on which they spend most of their free time.

Pronounced: MAUS-puh-tay-toe

Notes: I have not heard this phrase, but I should have guessed the meaning

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Yesterday’s word

The word erumpent means “bursting forth”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

When our word first came into English, it had scientific meaning related to fungi – “tending to burst through the surface of the growing medium or of a host’s tissue so as to form a projecting mass”. Some began to use it as a synonym of “eruptive” with the meaning above. The word came from the Latin word rumpere (to burst forth).

Pronounced: ih-RUHM-punt, adj

Notes: A brand new word to me

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Yesterday’s word

The word plight, as a noun, means

• an unfortunate situation
• a pledge
• a fold, wrinkle, braid, etc (also spelled plait or pleat)

As a verb, it means

• to become engaged to marry
• to promise
• to fold, wrinkle, braid, etc

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-400s

Background / Comments

I was most familiar with noun meaning #1. I have heard of the second noun definition, and the first two verb definitions. The third definition of both was new to me. Both noun and verb definitions 1 & 2 came from the Old English word pliht (danger). The third definitions above came from the Anglo-Norman word plit (fold, wrinkle, condition), which came from the Latin word plicare (to fold)

Pronounced: playet (rhymes with “flight”), noun/verb

Notes: I know some of the meanings; some are new to me

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Yesterday’s word

The word récauffé means

• rehash
• a warmed-over dish of food

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1800s

Background / Comments

When our word first entered English, it meant, in a figurative sense, something past its prime or a rehash of something. But then the idea of using our word for leftovers caught on (using a French word sounds so much better than “leftovers”), and the second definition came about. Our word is the past participle of the French verb réchauffer (to reheat). I like having a nice alternate to “leftovers”.

Pronounced: ray-shoh-FAY, noun

Notes: Another great alternative to a common word

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Yesterday’s word

The word quotennial means “yearly”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1800s

Background / Comments

A nice alternative to drop into conversation instead of “annual”. Our word came from the Latin words quot (how many) and annus (year).

Pronounced: kwo-TEN-ee-uhl, adj

Notes: Another neat word for a commonly used term

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Yesterday’s word

The word belie means

• to give a false impression of; to present an appearance not in agreement with
• to show to be false or wrong; to run counter to – contradict
• disguise

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 500s (but see Comments)

Background / Comments

When our word first appeared, it meant “to deceive by lying”. Around 600 years later, its usage was more of “to tell lies about”, like the word slander today. The meaning softened from outright lying to misrepresentation. About 400 years later (the early 1600s) it meant “to disguise or to conceal”. These days, it means to give an impression that does not line up with the facts instead of an intentional untruth. Our word came from the Middle English belyen, which came from the Old English beleogan.

Pronounced: bih-LIE, verb

Notes: I knew some, but not all, definitions

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Yesterday’s word

The word sleeveless means

• unprofitable; futile; unreasonable; irrelevant
• without sleeves

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-900s

Background / Comments

Obviously, I knew the second definition, but how did the first definition come about? Back in medieval times, a lady would give her (detachable) sleeve (also called a “maunch” or “manche”) to a knight as a symbol of love and he would wear it as he went about on adventures. A knight without such a token – sleeveless – was futile or the other meanings of the first definition. Our word came from sleeve, which came from the Old English sliefe and less, from the Old English laes (less).