Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day
Words that I do not know
Pronounced: CORE-uh-skate, verb
Notes: I happened to run across this word in reading
The word peripeteia is “a sudden or unexpected change of fortune (especially in a literary work)
Our word came into English in the late 1500s
I was thinking that this word had something about walking around, but I was quite far along. Our word came from the Greek word peripiptein (to change suddenly), which comes from peri- (near; around) and piptein (to fall).
Pronounced: per-uh-puh-TEE-uh (alt: per-uh-puh-TIE-uh), noun
Notes: Also spelled “peripetia”. It wasn’t what I thought
The word sequester means
Our word came into English in the mid- to late 1300s
I started reading the Perry Mason stories in my late teens, and the idea of a jury being sequestered was familiar to me. However, the second definition was quite unknown to me. Our word came from the Latin word sequestrare (to hand over to a trustee), which traces back to secus (beside; otherwise).
Pronounced: sih-KWEH-stir, verb
Notes: I knew one meaning well, but the other one I didn’t know
The word exordium is “the beginning or introductory part of anything, but especially of a discourse, treatise, etc
Our word came into English in the mid-1500s
I am pretty sure I have written an exordium or so: I just didn’t know that there was a word for it. Our word came from the Latin words ex- (out; from) and ordiri (to begin).
Pronounced: ig-ZOR-dee-uhm (alt 1: eg-ZOR-dee-uym; alt 2: ik-SOR-dee-uhm), noun
Notes: Another new word to me
The word atoll is “a coral island consisting of a reef surrounded by a lagoon”
Our word came into English in the early 1600s
I have heard of the nuclear test site, the Bikini Atoll, but I didn’t know the actual definition. Our word traces to the Maldives (a group of over 1,000 coral islands in the Indian Ocean). Many islands are atolls, and our word can be traced to the Dhivehi (the official language of the Maldives) word for that kind of island. It is said that the average height of an atoll is about six feet.
Pronounced: A-tawl
Notes: I had a general idea of the meaning, but I didn’t know the specific meaning
The word recrudescence is “a renewed activity after a period of dormancy”
Our word came into English in the mid-1600s
The background of our word is interesting: it came from the Latin word recrudescere (to become raw again), which is made up of re- (again) and crudescere (to get worse), which is based upon crudus (raw). I find this last bit interesting because it is clearly the source of “crude” as in “crude oil”. I keep wanting to put the emphasis on the second syllable and pronounce the first syllable with a short “e” sound.
Pronounced: ree-kroo-DES-uhns, noun
Notes: Not only did I not know this word, I had the pronunciation wrong as well
The word hyphenate is “a person who performs more than one function” — such as a producer-director in filmmaking.
Our word came into English in the 1970s (but see the comments)
As a verb meaning “to hyphen”, our word has been around since the mid-1800s. However, it started life as a noun in the early 1900s to refer to US citizens who would identify their recent foreign nationality as Irish-American or German-American. (As a side note, both Republican and Democratic Presidents of the time were opposed to this practice., including Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson — the latter stating A man who thinks himself as belonging to a particular national group in America has not yet become an American. ) As noted above, the current meaning came about decades later to describe multiple roles in some related industry. I consider myself a hyphenate in the software industry, being a developer-tester-integrator (as well as some other roles).
Pronounced: HI-fuh-nate, noun
Notes: Not a word I’ve run across
The word scapegoat, as a noun, is “one blamed for another’s wrongdoing”. As a verb, it means “to blame someone for another’s wrongdoing”
Our word came into English in the mid-1500s
I had heard of a scapegoat most of my life. The usage as a verb is new to me. I didn’t realize that the word came from the Bible: in Leviticus 16, a ceremony is described in which two goats are chosen; one is randomly selected as a sacrifice, and the other was released after having the sins of the people figuratively put on it. The released one went far away from the camp – thus, it “escaped” the came and was called a scapegoat in English Bibles. The original scapegoat merely carried the sins of the people far away, but the word was used to mean to blame one’s wrongdoing upon another. Christians believe that this ceremony foreshadowed Jesus Christ, who did both roles – died for the sins of the people, and living, carried them far away.
Pronounced: SCAPE-goat, noun/verb
Notes: I knew the noun, but not the verb
The word sansculotte is
Our word came into English in the early 1800s
In my mind, there was a vague association of our word with the French Revolution: as you can see by the first definition above, that was a correct association. Here’s the background: at the time of the French Revolution, aristocratic men who wanted to be at the height of fashion word knee breeches (culottes in French). Non-aristocrats could not afford culottes; instead, they wore pantaloons (long trousers). [As a side notes, this word is the origin of the American word “pants” that describe trousers]. When the poorer classes started the Revolution, they called themselves soldats sans culottes (soldiers without culottes). A short while later, the word sansculotte became both a French and an English word. The second meaning is a more generalized usage of the original meaning.
Pronounced: sanz-koo-LAHT, noun
Notes: This word has an interesting history
The phrase via dolorosa is “a distressing journey or experience”
Our phrase came into English in the late 1800s
The original via dolorosa is the name given to the route that Jesus Christ took to Calvary. It does not come from the Bible, but is a Latin expression – via dolorosa (painful path) from via (path) and dolor (pain).
Pronounced: VIE-uh dol-uh-ROE-suh (alt: VEE-uh dol-uh-ROE-suh), noun
Notes: You may this word, or at least its origin
The word camarilla is “a group of unofficial often secret and scheming advisors; cabal
Our word came into English in the mid-1800s
Our word came from the Spanish word camarilla (little room); it is a diminutive form of cámara (room), which came from the Latin Latin camera (room). Political plotters are assume to meet in small rooms, and thus the usage.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day