Pronounced: ap-roh-BAY-shun, noun

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

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Yesterday’s word

The word apologia means “a defense especially of one’s opinions, position, or actions

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1700s

Background / Comments

Our word may look like “apology”, but while the common meaning of apology admits of wrongdoing, our word is more a defense of actions. Our word came from Late Latin, which came from Greek, meaning “a speaking in defense”.

Pronounced: ah-puh-LOH-juh (alt: ah-puh-LOH-jee-uh), noun

Notes: I know a related word

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Yesterday’s word

The word polydipsia means “excessive or abnormal thirst”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

As I said yesterday, I recognized “poly” part of our word. In fact, it comes from the Greek words poly- (much, many) and dipsa (thirst). After seeing the origin, I recalled “dipsomaniac” which is said of someone who craves alcoholic drink.

Pronounced: paw-lee-DIP-see-uh, noun

Notes: I recognized “poly” meaning many or much, but I didn’t know the word

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Yesterday’s word

The word garble means

• to so alter or distort as to create a wrong impression or to change the meaning
• to sift impurities from

First usage

Our word came into English in the early or middle 1400s

Background / Comments

I knew the first definition; the second was new to me. When the word first entered English in Middle English – as garbelen – it meant “to sift”, or more specifically, “to sort out the best”. But by early Modern English (garble), it had added the first meaning above.

Pronounced: GAR-bull, verb

Notes: This word has a second meaning that I didn’t know

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Yesterday’s word

The word homonymous means

• ambiguous
• having the same designation
• of, relating to, or being homonyms

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1600s

Background / Comments

The third definition above is the one I knew. Some background: a homophone describes words of different meanings that sound the same (but may not be spelled the same). Examples: bark (the sound a dog makes or the outside of a tree) and sea & see. A homograph are words of different meanings that are spelled the same (but may not sound the same). Examples: bark (as above) and bass (the fish rhymes with “class”; the singing part rhymes with “ace”. A homonym are words of different meanings that are either pronounced the same or spelled the same (or both). All our examples would be homonyms. Thus, the third (and latest) definition. The first definition was earliest, and originally meant a word with multiple meanings. An example of the second meaning is “Hawaii” – it can refer to the state or to one of the islands in the Hawaiian islands. The word comes from Greek homo- (same) and onyma (name).

Pronounced: ho-MAH-nuh-muhs, adj

Notes: I knew one of the definitions

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Yesterday’s word

The word amerce means “to punish; especially by a fine whose amounts are fixed by a court”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1200s

Background / Comments

Our word started with the Old French phrase a merci (at [one’s] mercy). It then became the Anglo-French word amercier – with the same meaning as our word – and then became the Middle English word amercien, which was later modernized to amerce.

Pronounced: uh-ERS, verb

Notes: It looks like a word I know, but I didn’t know it

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Last word

The word niddering means “a coward”

First usage

Our word came into English around 1600 (it is considered archaic today)

Background / Comments

As I noted, the word looks like a verb. It is a variant of nidering, which came from nithing, which came from Old Norse nidhingr (villian, scoundrel, apostate). Our word came about as misreading of the Norse letter for “th” (both as in thin or then) as an abbreviation for “der”.

Pronounced: NID-uhr-ing, noun

Notes: It looks like it might be a verb, but it isn’t

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Yesterday’s word

The word gregarious means

• tending to associate with others of one’s kind; social
• marked by or indicating a liking for companionship; sociable
• (plants) living or growing in a cluster or a colony

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

The word I was confusing our word with was “garrulous”. Our word came from the Latin word gregarius (belonging to a flock), which came from grex (crowd; flock; herd). Originally, in English, it was used primarily for animals, but over the next hundred years or so, it spread to sociable people.

Pronounced: grih-GER-ee-uhs, adj

Notes: I keep thinking this word means “talkative”, but that’s not right

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Yesterday’s word

The word tammany means “relating to political corruption”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

Originally, Tammany (also Tamanend) was a wise and peaceful Delaware Indian chief; he became known as the patron saint of America. Many clubs and societies were named after him, including Tammany Hall in New York. Tammany Hall became the home of the New York County Democratic Party, and became infamous for political corruption, and thus gave us our word.

Pronounced: TAM-uh-nee, adj

Notes: The word was slightly familiar to me, but I did not know the definition

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Yesterday’s word

The word sclaff means “to scrape the ground instead of hitting the ball cleanly on a golf stroke”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1800s

Background / Comments

Those of you who play golf may know this word; I don’t play golf, so it was unknown to me. There are several words in golf for poor shots: dub, slice, hook, top, pull, push, sky, shank, and sclaff. Our word came from the Scots word sclaff (a slap with palm of the hand). It is theorized that the similarity of the sound may have started the use of the word for hitting the ground instead of the ball. Our word can also be a noun referring to such a stroke.