convoke

Pronounced: kuhn-VOKE, verb

Notes: Interesting thoughts

Yesterday’s word

The word epigram is “a short witty saying, often in verse”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

I confused our word with “pangram”. A famous Benjamin Franklin epigram is “Little strokes/Fell great oaks”. Our word came from the Latin word epigramma, which came from the Greek word epigramma, which came from epigraphein (to write; inscribe), which is composed of epi- (upon; after) and graphein (to write).

epigram

Pronounced: EP-ih-gram, noun

Notes: I get this word confused with another word

Yesterday’s word

The word prolix means

  • unduly prolonged or drawn out; too long
  • marked by or using an excess of words
First usage

Our word came into English around 1400

Background / Comments

I like having an alternative to “verbose” and “wordy”; in addition, I thought that this would be a great Scrabble word. It seems that our word has the idea of tedious and unreasonable dwelling on details; I’ve had people start telling me about an interesting thought they had and then get hung up on WHEN they had the thought – for example: “Yesterday while eating dinner around 6:30; or was it 6:00? Maybe it was 6:45? Actually, I thought of it first before dinner; not too long before, so probably about 5:45, assuming we had dinner at 6 o’clock, but I’m not sure that was the right time…” (and on on and so on). Our word came from the Latin word prolixus (extended; copious), which is a combination of pro- (forward) and the past participle of liquere (to be fluid) — quite appropriate, as words just seem to pour out of a prolix person.

prolix

Pronounced: PRO-licks, adj

Notes: An interesting word

Yesterday’s word

The word clerihew is “a humorous, pseudo-biographical verse of four lines of uneven length, using the rhyming scheme AABB and with the first line containing the name of the subject”

First usage

Our word came into English in the 1920s

Background / Comments

Our word came from the name of the man who originated this rather dubious art form – Edmund Clerihew Bentley. I expect you would welcome some examples; Mr Bentley’s most famous clerihew was this one:

Sir Christopher Wren
Said “I am going to dine with some men.
If anyone calls
Say I am designing St Paul’s.”

Another one of his:

George the Third
Ought never to have occurred.
One can only wonder
At so grotesque a blunder.

Here’s one by someone else:

Did Decartes
Depart
With the thought
“Therefore I’m not”?

clerihew

Pronounced: KLER-uh-hyoo, noun

Notes: I save off words to use in these posts; this word I ran across nine years ago, and I don’t remember it at all.

Yesterday’s word

The word depredate means

  • to lay waste; plunder; ravage
  • to engage in plunder
First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1600s

Background / Comments

As I noted yesterday, I get our word confused with “deprecate” (I think of it as meaning “belittle”, but it has other meanings). When I read the meaning, it did sound familiar, so I may have run across it. I confess that I don’t really understand the shades of difference in the two meanings: what is the difference between “plundering” something and “engaging in plundering” something?). Our word came from the Latin verb praedari (to plunder). Our word is most commonly used to refer to nature, when a methodical – sort of automatic – destruction of life occurs.

depredate

Pronounced: DEH-pruh-date, verb

Notes: I get this word confused with a similar one

Yesterday’s word

The word tumulus is

  • a mound of earth placed over prehistoric tombs; a barrow
  • a dome-shaped swelling formed in cooling lava
First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1600s

Background / Comments

I have heard “barrow” for many years, but I’ve never heard our word used. It came from the Latin word tumere (to swell). Note that our word only has the vowel ‘u’ (and I think it would make a great Scrabble word).

tumulus

Pronounced: TOO-myuh-luhs (alt: TYOO-myuh-luhs), noun

Notes: I’ve never heard this word, but I do know a synonym

Yesterday’s word

The word phatic means “of, relating to, or being speech used for social or emotive purposes rather than for communicating information”

First usage

Our word came into English in the 1920s

Background / Comments

If you saw “emphatic” in our word, well-spotted, but incorrect. The word “emphatic”, while it looks and even seems to be related, isn’t related at all. Even after reading the definition, I didn’t correctly understand our word — I thought is meant using emotionally-laden words, as in rabble-rousing speech, but it refers to things like “How are you?”, which is just a social greeting, and not a request for information. Our word came from the Greek word phatos, which is a form of the verb phanai (to speak).

phatic

Pronounced: FAH-tick, adj

Notes: Not what I thought, and not related to the word I thought it was

Yesterday’s word

The word poltroon is “an utter coward”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

I keep thinking I first heard this word during an after-school cartoon (maybe Bugs Bunny? Daffy Duck?). But while I was somewhat familiar to me, I couldn’t define it. Our word came from the French word poltron (coward), which came from the Italian word poltrone (lazy person), which came from the Latin word pullus (young animal). One can imagine the association of ideas — young animals don’t work for their food; they are fed by their parents (thus the ‘lazy’ definition in Italian); also, young animals tend to run away when frightened, and thus the ‘coward’ definition in French. One other note: our word has ‘o’ as the only vowel.

poltroon

Pronounced: pol-TROON

Notes: I’ve heard this word, but wasn’t sure of the meaning

Yesterday’s word

The word trenchant means

  • keen; sharp
  • vigorously effective and articulate; caustic
  • sharply perceptive; penetrating
  • clear-cut; distinct
First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1200s or the early 1300s

Background / Comments

I thought that our word meant “dedicated”; I think I confused our word with “trencherman”. Our word came from the Anglo-French verb trencher (to cut), and it thought to have come from the Vulgar Latin word trinicare (to cut in three). A trenchant sword has a keen edge; a trenchant remark cuts deep; a trenchant observation cuts to the heart of the matter.

trenchant

Pronounced: TREN-chuhnt, adj

Notes: Not quite what I thought (but at least I pronounced it correctly)

Yesterday’s word

The word imprimis means “in the first place”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1400s

Background / Comment

For some reason, I thought that our word had to do with books. It is a contraction of the Latin phrase in primis (among the first), which is composed of in (among) and primus (first). Originally, the word introduced the first item in a list. As an oddity, note that this word only contains the vowel ‘i’.

imprimis

Pronounced: im-PRY-miss (alt: im-PREE-miss), adv

Notes: This word wasn’t quite what I thought

Yesterday’s word

The word insouciance is “lighthearted unconcern; nonchalance”

First usage

Our word came into English around 1800

Background / Comments

Our word came from French, where is it a combination of in- (negative) and soucier (to trouble or disturb). The word soucier came from Latin word sollicitus (anxious).