borborygmus

Pronounced: bawr-buh-RIG-muss, noun

Notes: Really? There’s a word for that?

Yesterday’s word

The word hortatory means “strongly urging”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1500s

Background / Comments

As I noted, I’ve run across our word. I’ve read or heard the phrases “hortatory preaching” and “hortatory exhortation” (the latter being an intensification of words with similar meanings). I as thinking of loud speech or intense speech, so I was pretty close in the meaning. However, I don’t think the term is well known, so I included it here. It came from the Latin word hortari (to urge).

hortatory

Pronounced: HORE-tuh-tore-ee, adj

Notes: I pretty much knew this word, but I don’t think it is generally known

Yesterday’s word

The word bandersnatch is “a wildly grotesque or bizarre individual”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

As I noted, I recognized the word as coming from the poem Jabberwocky in the book Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll (real name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson). The word came to refer to any strange or suspicious character.

bandersnatch

Pronounced: BAN-duh-snatch, noun

Notes: The word was familiar to me (and may be to you), but not the definition

Yesterday’s word

The word magnifico is “a person of high rank or position”

First usage

Our word appeared in English in the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

As I noted, our word looks related to “magnificent”… and there’s a reason for that: Our word came from the Italian word magnifico (magnificent) which came from the Latin word magnus (great). Our word was originally an honorary title applied to Venetian nobleman. The word looked familiar to me because it is the name of a character in the Isaac Asimov novel Foundation and Empire (the second book in the “Foundation” series).

magnifico

Pronounced: mag-NIF-ih-koh, noun

Notes: You may be able to guess the meaning

Yesterday’s word

The word apparatchik is “a blindly devoted official, follower, or member of an organization (such as a corporation or political party)”

First usage

Our word came into English in the 1940s

Background / Comments

As I noted yesterday, if you think that our word looks Russian… you are right – in that language, an apparatchik is a member of an apparat (party machine) — and thus a cog in the system of the Communist Party. The term is not considered a flattering one. In current usage, the Communist aspect has been dropped, and the word is used as a criticism of someone who mindlessly follows orders in an organization or bureaucracy.

apparatchik

Pronounced: ah-puh-RAH(T)-chik, noun

Notes: If you think this looks Russian, then… come back tomorrow and read about it

Yesterday’s word

The word mossback is “a very old-fashioned person or one holding extremely conservative views”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

You have heard the saying “a rolling stone gathers no moss”? Our word came from the idea that someone was so old and/or slow to change that moss could grow on his back. Note that some animals do, in fact, have a moss-like growth on them (some turtles). To clarify the definition: many Americans these days think of “extremely conservative” as meaning someone who hold extreme right-wing values, but that isn’t correct, and not what the phrase means in the above definition. Strictly speaking, a conservative is one who wants to preserve conditions or institutions the way they are.

mossback

Pronounced: MOSS-back, noun

Notes: I was pretty close to the meaning – you may know the word

Yesterday’s word

The word flaneur is “an idle man-about-town”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

I thought that I had read a book in which our word was used as the name of a character, but it is a pretty dim memory, and I cannot recall what book it may have been — in addition, I may have the wrong name. Our word came from the French word flâneur (idler). The female equivalent to our word is “flaneuse”

flaneur

Pronounced: flah-NUHR, noun

Notes: This word looks familiar, but I don’t recognize it

Yesterday’s word

The word puce, as a noun, is “a dark red or brown purple color”. As an adjective, it means “of this color”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1700s

Background / Comments

Like most people, I knew that this was a kind of color, but I didn’t actually know what color. My most vivid memory of this word is from Monsters, Inc where they use color-coded folders for certain departments (puce is one of the colors). What I didn’t know that our word is traced to an animal: it came from the French word puce (flea), which came from the Latin word pulex (flea).

puce

Pronounced: pyoos, noun/adj

Notes: I know that I’ve heard this word, but I could not properly define it

Yesterday’s word

The word philoprogenitive means

  • tending to produce offspring; prolific
  • of, relating to, or characterized by love of offspring
First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

Our word comes from two different languages – the prefix philo- came from the Greek word phílos (loving; dear) and the the second part from the Latin word progenitus (begot; begotten). People who read bumps on the head (it was considered to be an actual science in the 1800s) identified a philoprogenitive bump that was thought to be the seat of a parent’s instinctual love for his or her children.

philoprogenitive

Pronounced: fih-luh-pro-JEH-nuh-tihv, adj

Notes: Quite a word, but I didn’t know it

Yesterday’s word

The word canaille means “the common people; the masses; riffraff”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1600s

Background / Comments

I am pretty sure that I have run across our word somewhere, but I cannot recall it to mind. Our word came from the French word canaille (villain; rabble), which came from the Italian word canaglia (pack of dogs; rabble), which came from cane (dog), which came from the Latin word canis (dog).

canaille

Pronounced: kuh-NAIL (alt: kuh-NAH-yuh), noun

Notes: I didn’t know this word, but I think I’ve seen some related word in some reading

Yesterday’s word

The word sequacious means “intellectually servile”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

Our word is rather insulting; it is akin to saying that someone “does not think for himself”. Our word came from the Latin word sequac- or sequax (inclined to follow). Originally, sequacious meant “inclined to follow; subservient”, but this meaning is archaic. Over time, the meaning of our word narrowed to the idea of someone who blindly adopts ideas without much thought.