peregrination

Pronounced: per-uh-gruh-NAY-shun, noun

Notes: Another word I think I’ve run across, but I didn’t quite know the meaning

Yesterday’s word

The word levee (are you ready?) means

  • an embankment made to prevent flooding
  • an embankment around a field that is to be irrigated
  • a landing place; a quay
  • a formal reception
First usage

The last definition above is the earliest, coming into English around 1700; the other meanings came into English in the early 1700s (see the Background below)

Background / Comments

The only definition I knew for certain was the first one; the second one, however, makes sense and is a kind of natural progression from the first. Both the third and fourth definitions were completely unknown to me. The last definition, however, has an excuse – it comes from a somewhat different path: It came from the French word levé, a variant of lever (rising from bed) – a noun use of the infinitive, which traces to the verb lever (to rise). From this sense, levee originally referred to a meeting held when a royal arose from bed. The other definitions from the French word levée, which is the past participle of the same verb lever (to raise).

levee

Pronounced: LEV-ee

Notes: I only knew one of the definitions, and one was surprising

Yesterday’s word

The word thimblerig means “to cheat by trickery”

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1800s

Background / Comments

I suspect most of us have heard of “the shell game” — in which a seed is placed under a nutshell and an unsuspecting player is asked to bet on where the seed is. Well, our word is the same game, but played with thimbles instead of nutshells. There is a similar game played with cards that is called “three-card monte”. We still use the -rig part of the word in the sense of deception or dishonesty when we say, for example, “that game is rigged”. Thus, from the name of the game came the more generalized usage that we see in our word. As I noted yesterday, I have a recollection of running across the word somewhere, but I don’t remember where. There was a Nero Wolfe story (Some Buried Caesar by Rex Stout) in which Archie Goodwin (Nero’s assistant) was thrown in jail with a guy who tried to get Archie involved in the shell game, but I don’t recall our word being used there.

thimblerig

Pronounced: THIM-bull-rig, verb

Notes: I’ve run across this word somewhere, but wasn’t sure of the meaning

Yesterday’s word

The word prorogue means

  • to discontinue a session of something (such as a parliament)
  • to defer to to postpone
First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1400s

Background / Comments

Our word came from the French word proroger (to adjourn), which came from the Latin word prorogare (to prolong; to defer), which is made up of pro- (before) and rogare (to ask).

prorogue

Pronounced: pro-ROHG, verb

Notes: Looks like being for a thief

Yesterday’s phrase

The phrase tabula rasa means

  • the mind in its hypothetical primary blank or empty state before receiving outside impressions
  • something existing in its original pristine state
First usage

Our phrase came into English in the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

There is an ancient idea that babies are born with completely blank minds – that state has been known as tabula rasa, which came from a Latin phrase meaning “smooth or erased tablet”. Over time, a more figurative meaning (the second one) came into usage.

tabula rasa

Pronounced: ta-byoo-luh-RAH-zuh, noun

Notes: Not a phrase I recognize

Yesterday’s word

The word deportment is “the manner in which one conducts oneself in public”

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1600s

Background / Comments

As I noted, which I first came across this word, I didn’t really know the definition, but in the meantime between then and entering it, I have learned the word. I properly defined it when I saw it again. But it was a word I didn’t know, so I decided to include it anyway. Our word came from the French word déportement, which came from the Latin word deportare, which is composed of de- (away) and portare (carry).

deportment

Pronounced: dih-PORT-ment, noun

Notes: I didn’t know this word when I first saw it, but I have learned it by now – I’m including it nevertheless

Yesterday’s word

The word debouch means

  • to cause to emerge; discharge
  • to march out into open ground
  • emerge; issue
First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

I think I have run across our word in describing Jonah and the “whale” (really identified merely as a “great fish” in the Bible). Anyway I’m pretty sure I read the Jonah was “debouched” on to land. Our word came from the French word déboucher, composed of dé- (away) and boucher, a verbal form of bouche (mouth) — and this latter word came from the Latin word bucca (cheek; jaw).

debouch

Pronounced: di-BOWCH, verb

Notes: This word I have read, but could not well define

Yesterday’s phrase

The phrase a fortiori means “for an even stronger reason; even more so”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

Our word came from Latin, where is literally means “from the stronger”.

a fortiori

Pronounced: ah-fort-tee-OR-ee (alt: ay-for-shee-OR-eye), adv

Notes: Not a phrase I recognize

Yesterday’s word

The word erne means “eagle; especially a long-winged sea eagle witha short white wedge-shaped tail (Häliaetus albicilla)”

First usage

Our word came into English before 1000

Background / Comments

Our word came from the Middle English word ern/arn, which came from the Old English earn, which is related to the Old High German word arn/arne, which traces back to Greek órnīs (bird). Here are some bird names in Old English — the basic name is still the same over 1,000 years, even if the spelling has changed a bit: earn (erne), crāwe (crow), finc (finch), wrenna (wren), ūle (owl), spearwa (sparrow).

erne

Pronounced: urn, noun

Notes: A nice simple word, but I didn’t know it

Yesterday’s word

The word vouchsafe means

  • (transitive) to grant or give something as if as a favor
  • (intransitive) to condescend
First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1300s

Background / Comments

I think I was lead astray by the first part of our word (“vouch”), so I thought that our word meant something like “to swear to as true” or “to verify”. Our word comes to use from French, which came from the Latin word vocare (to call) combined with salvus (whole; intact).

vouchsafe

Pronounced: vouch-SAFE, verb

Notes: This word doesn’t mean what I thought it meant

Yesterday’s word

The word empyreal means

  • of or relating to the firmament; celestial
  • sublime
First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1400s

Background / Comments

When our word first came into English, it referred to things related to the “empyrean” – the highest heaven or outermost heavenly sphere of ancient and medieval cosmology (it was thought to contain or be composed of fire). In the words of Dante (Divine Comedy) and Milton (Paradise Lost), it was used to refer to their idea of the Christian paradise. These days, it is used in the broader sense of “celestial” or “sublime”. Our word came from the Late Latin word empyreus, a variant of empýrius, which came from the Greek word empyrios (fiery), which is made up of em- (in; within; inside) and pŷr (fire) and -ios (an adjectival suffix).