Pronounced: KUHM-shaw, noun

Notes: Not a word that I recognize

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Yesterday’s word

The word damson is

• a variety of small plum or its fruit
• a dark purple color

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1300s

Background / Comments

I have run across this in either the writing of Agatha Christie or Dorothy Sayers, and I think the latter one, in the phrase “damson wine”. I knew from the context it referred to a homemade wine, but I was thinking it was some kind of a flower, as in “dandelion wine”. Our word came from the Latin word Prunum Damascenum (plum of Damascus); it is not clear if the plum was first cultivated in Damascus, or just introduced into Europe from Syria. Another word that came from Damascus is “damask”.

Pronounced: DAM-zuhn (alt: DAM-suhn), noun

Notes: I have run across this word in stories, but I actually didn’t know what it meant

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Yesterday’s word

The word terreplein is “the level space behind a parapet of a rampart where guns are mounted”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late-1500s

Background / Comments

As I noted, the word sounds familiar, but I cannot place it. It came from Middle French, and to there from the Old Italian word terrapieno, which came from the Medieval Latin phrase terra plenus (filled with earth).

Pronounced: TER-uh-plane, noun

Notes: I think I’ve heard this word, but I cannot recall where or when

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Yesterday’s word

The word factitious means

• artificial
• sham

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

For all that our word looks like it should be related to “fact”, it doesn’t – it came from the Latin word facticius (artificial), which is the past participle of facere (to do).

Pronounced: fak-TISH-us, adj

Notes: I thought that this word may be somehow about facts (but no)

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Yesterday’s word

The word vaticination means

• prediction
• the act of prophesying

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1500s or early 1600s

Background / Comments

Our word came from the Latin word vates (prophet). Our word may not be well known, but it is still a valid word. There are related words that are now obsolete: for example – “vaticinar” (a prophet) and “vaticiny” (prophesy).

Pronounced: vuh-tih-suh-NAY-shun, noun

Notes: Another word I don’t think I’ve run across

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Yesterday’s word

The word proem is “an introduction, preface, or preamble”

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1400s

Background / Comments

Our word came from the Old French word proeme, which came from the Latin word prooemium, which came from the Greek word prooimion, which is made up of pro- (before) and oime (song).

Pronounced: PRO-uhm (alt: PRO-em), noun

Notes: Not a misspelling of “poem”; I’ve never heard of this word

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Yesterday’s word

The word asperse means

• sprinkle – especially with holy water
• to attack with evil reports or false or injurious charges

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1400s

Background / Comments

I am familiar with the noun form, in the phrase “casting aspersions”, in which the noun form of our word has essentially the same meaning as the second definition of our word. However, I did not know that “aspersion” can mean “a sprinkling with water”. Our word came from the Latin verb aspergere (to sprinkle).

Pronounced: uh-SPUHRS, verb

Notes: Yet another word I’ve not run across

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Yesterday’s word

The word secretory means “relating to the release of a substance from a cell, gland, or an organ”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1600s

Background / Comments

Our word came from the Latin word secernere (to distinguish), which came from se- (apart) and cernere (to sift).

Pronounced: si-KREE-tuh-ree, adj

Notes: Looks like “secretary” misspelled, but that’s not it at all

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Yesterday’s word

The word oleaginous means

• resembling or having the properties of oil; or containing or producing oil
• marked by an offensively ingratiating manner or quality

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1400s

Background / Comments

Our word came from Middle French, which came from the Latin word oleagineus (of an olive tree) – the Latin word olea (olive tree) and came from the Greek word elaia (olive). The first definition was the original definition; it was in the 1800s that the second definition came about.

Pronounced: oh-lee-A-juh-nuhs, adj

Notes: You may have a bit of a clue as to the meaning of this word

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Yesterday’s word

The word grogram is “a course fabric of silk, combined with mohair or wool, and often stiffened with gum”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

Our word came from the French word gros grain (large or coarse grain). Oddly enough, there is another English word for a type of fabric — “grosgrain” (a heavy corded ribbon or cloth of silk or rayon”) — that comes from the same source.

Pronounced: GROG-rum, noun

Notes: This word is completely new to me

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Yesterday’s word

The word pooh-bah is

• a person holding many public or private offices
• a person in high position or of great influence

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1800s

Background / Comments

As I noted yesterday, I have heard this word — usually in the phrase “grand pooh-bah”; I deduce from contexts where I’ve seen it that it is a derisive description of someone who thinks he is important. In fact, our word comes from the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Mikado, which contains a character named Pooh-Bah, who was an arrogant, buffoonish bureaucrat. His title was “Lord High Everything Else” – he agrees to accept many important government offices (along with their salaries). He would do anything if the bribe is big enough, and he enjoyed showing off his importance. The Mikado came out if 1885, and it wasn’t long after that when pooh-bah (also Pooh-Bah, Pooh Bah, Poo-Ba, and poobah) started to be used for someone who holds either many offices or a high position usually with great pompousness or self-importance.