Pronounced: SLEEV-luhs (alt: SLEEV-lis), adj

Notes: Besides the obvious, this had a meaning I didn’t know

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Yesterday’s word

The word caravansary means

• an inn surrounding a court in eastern countries where caravans rest
• hotel; inn

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1500s

Background / Comments

Our word came from the Middle East, where in ancient times, quadrangular inns allowed caravans of camels to stay in the central court, which was often large enough to hold 300-400 camels. Such inns were called caravansaries, which comes from caravan and the Persian word sarāī (place; inn). A synonym is the word serai. Our word may also be spelled caravanserai.

Pronounced: ker-uh-VAN(T)-suh-ree, noun

Notes: A new word to me

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Yesterday’s word

The word hackle, as a verb, means “to comb flax, hemp, or other fibers with a hackle”. As a noun, it means:

• hairs or feathers on the neck or back of some animals that stand up when the animal is agitated
• temper; anger
• a comb for dressing fiber

First usage

Our word came into English around 900

Background / Comments

I knew the first two noun definitions, but the third definition (and the related verb definition) was new to me. The origin is a little uncertain: It may be a variant of heckle, which came from the Middle English hechelen (to comb flax) or it may come from the Old English hacele (coat; cloak).

Pronounced: HACK-uhl, noun/verb

Notes: I didn’t know one of the noun meanings, nor did I know the verb meaning

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Yesterday’s word

The word saccade means “a small rapid jerky movement of the eye especially as it jumps from fixation on one point to another (as in reading)”

First usage

Well, our word with the above definition came into English in the 1930s, but the word has been in English since the early 1700s (see Comments below)

Background / Comments

Our word came from the French word saccade (twitch, jerk); when it came into English in the early 1700s, it was used in horseback riding meaning a quick check using the reins. In France in the late 1800s, a French eye doctor used our word for the short jumps that a reader’s eyes make, but this meaning did not come into English until the 1930s.

Pronounced: sa-KAHD, noun

Notes: Totally known word to me

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Yesterday’s word

The word bivouac, as a noun, means “a temporary encampment in the open air, usually without tents or cover”. As a verb, it means “to take shelter temporarily for the night”.

First usage

The noun came into English in the early 1700s; the verb came into English around a hundred years later in the early 1800s.

Background / Comments

I had not been aware of the importance of “temporary” in the definitions above. Our word came from the French word bivouac, which came from the Swiss German beiwacht (supplementary night watch), which is made up of bei- (beside) and Wacht (watch).

Pronounced: BI-vuh-ack (alt: BIV-wak, BIV-oo-ack), noun/verb

Notes: I was a little off on the meaning

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Yesterday’s word

The word quash means “to nullify, especially by judicial action”

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1300s

Background / Comments

I had thought that word meant something like “squash”. In doing research, I found that I wasn’t quite as off as I thought: there are two verbs quash with different backgrounds. The one defined here is a legal term that came from the Anglo-French word casser (to annul), which traces back to the Latin word cassus (void). The other quash, which I thought of, means “to suppress or extinguish summarily and completely” and came from the Middle English word quashen (to smash). It traces back to the Latin word quatere (to shake).

Pronounced: kwash, verb

Notes: To my surprise, this didn’t mean what I thought it meant

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Yesterday’s phrase

The phrase Scarborough warning means “a very short notice or no notice”

First usage

Our phrase came into English in the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

Our phrase is named after the UK coastal town of Scarborough, although it is not clear how it became associated with the concept of our phrase. One theory is that it may be related to summary punishment for robbers.

Pronounced: SKAR-buh-ruh war-ning

Notes: A phrase I didn’t know

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Yesterday’s word

The word per contra means

• on the contrary; by way of contrast
• as an offset

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

Our word comes from Italian, where it means “by the opposite side of the ledger”. A Franciscan friar and mathematician named Luca Pacioli (a friend of Leonardo da Vinci) is called “the father of accounting” because he first published a detailed description of bookkeeping practices – and are still used today. Part of his teaching was to enter debits and credits in different columns. Our word was used to to describe the balancing entry (entries) on the other side of the ledger.

Pronounced: purr-KAHN-truh, adv

Notes: I didn’t know this word, but you may be able to guess the meaning

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Yesterday’s word

The word mensch means “a decent, upright, honorable person”

First usage

Our word came into English in the 1910s

Background / Comments

Our word is a Yiddish word; it comes from mentsh (man, human being), which came from Middle High German mensch, which came from Old High German mennisco. The plural is either menschen or (as usual) mensches.

Pronounced: mench (alt: mensh), noun

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

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Yesterday’s word

The word semelparous means “reproducing or breeding only once in a lifetime”

First usage

Our word came into English in the 1950s

Background / Comments

Our word comes the Latin parts semel (once) and parere (to give birth to). The same suffix also gave us the older (1600s) words “multiparous” (producing more than one at birth), “oviparous” (producing eggs that develop outside the mother), and “viviparous” (producing living young [as opposed to eggs] from within the body).

Pronounced: seh-MEL-puh-ruhs, adj

Notes: A completely new word to me

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Yesterday’s word

The word approbation means “approval, commendation, or official sanction”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1300s

Background / Comments

Our word looks like “approval” and so is the meaning, so it’s easy to remember. It came from the Latin word approbation, which is made up of ad- (toward) and probatus, which comes from probare (to test the goodness of).