deke

Pronounced: DEEK, verb

Notes: Not a word I’ve heard of

Yesterday’s word

The word livelong means “whole” or “entire”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1400s

Background / Comments

One might think the word refers to someone who lives a long time. However, as a child, I heard the song I’ve Been Working on the Railroad, which includes the line “… all the livelong day”. From the context, it is clear that it means “entire” or “whole”. Our word came from the Old English words loef (dear – used as an intensifier) and lang (long).

livelong

Pronounced: LIHV-long, adj

Notes: This is one of those words that you either know or don’t know

Yesterday’s word

The word brachiate means “to progress by swinging from hold to hold by the arms”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

I am not sure if Tarzan, swinging from vine to vine counts as an example of our word – technically, what he does fits the description. The example given is of the gibbon, which swings from branch to branch with his arms. Other ape types, such as chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans have bodies that are too heavy to propel that way, except for short distances. Our word comes from the Latin word bracchium (arm).

brachiate

Pronounced: BRAY-key-ate, verb

Notes: I didn’t know this word, but after seeing the definition, I can understand it

Yesterday’s word

The word bespoke means

  • custom-made
  • relating to custom-made products
First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1700s

Background / Comments

I didn’t know our word when I first saw it, but then I started watching a UK show that uses our word. It happened often enough that I know the word now. I don’t think I’ve heard it used in the US, so it may be more common in the UK. It is a shortening of bespoken, which is the past participle of bespeak (to speak for; to arrange), which came from the Old English word besprecan (to speak about).

bespoke

Pronounced: bih-SPOKE, adj

Notes: When I first ran across this word, I didn’t know it, but now I know it

Yesterday’s word

The word petard means

  • a case containing an explosive to break down a door or gate or breach a wall
  • a firework that explodes with a loud report
First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1500s

Background / Comments

I know the word from the strategy game “Age of Empires II”; in that game, a petard is a unit that carries explosives to be used against structures. Our word is also well-known from the phrase “hoist with one’s own petard” (meaning victimized or hurt by one’s own scheme). This phrase made me think of some kind of pulley arrangement raising something in which the person raising the thing gets caught in the mechanism. However, that is wrong; the phrase came from Shakespeare’s play Hamlet (“For ’tis sport to have the enginer/ Hoist with his own petar”). Hamlet uses this phrase to refers to an engineer that sets an explosive device, and inadvertently blows himself up into the air. Our word came from the Middle French word peter (to break wind), which traced back to the Latin verb pēdere (to break wind).

petard

Pronounced: puh-TAR(d), noun

Notes: I don’t think this word is well known; I happen to know it

Yesterday’s word

The word accidence means

  • the fundamentals of any subject
  • the branch of grammar dealing with inflections of words
  • a book of fundamentals of a subject
First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1400s

Background / Comments

I thought that our word was related to an accident. Our word came from the Latin word accidentia, which came from accidere (to happen), which is composed of ad- (toward) and cadere (to fall).

accidence

Pronounced: ACK-sih-dense, noun

Notes: Not at all what I thought it was

Yesterday’s word

The word revanche means “revenge; especially a policy (usually political) designed to recover lost territory or status”

First usage

Our word appeared in English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

I have never heard this word for revenge. It came from the Middle French word revenchier (to revenge); it got its specific political application after the Franco-German War (1870-1871), which France lost the Alsace-Lorraine territory to Germany. France got the territory back after World War I, and then it changed hands a couple of times during World War II. It is pretty rare to run across revanche; it is more likely to find the related word revanchism (referring to a government’s policy of revanche) or revanchist (a follower of such a policy).

revanche

Pronounced: ruh-VAH(n)sh, noun

Notes: A new word to me

Yesterday’s word

The word maunder means

  • to talk aimlessly
  • to walk aimlessly
First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1600s

Background / Comments

I try to guess the meaning of a word when I see it. When I saw our word, I first thought it meant “to wander around without purpose”, and then I thought to myself that I was thinking of “meander”, so I then thought it meant “to talk without any purpose or point”. So, I was surprised when I found out that both of my thoughts were correct. It turns out that the origin is uncertain. I cannot help but wonder if it is somehow related to “meander” — perhaps it was a mishearing of the word?

maunder

Pronounced: MON-duhr, verb

Notes: I had an interesting experience when I saw this word

Yesterday’s word

The word anneal means

  • to make (something, like glass or steel) less brittle by heating and then cooling
  • strengthen; toughen
First usage

An old word; it came into usage in English before 1000

Background / Comments

Our word has an interesting history; it was associated with the an early discovery — fire. It came from the Old English word onœlan, which came from the root āl (fire). Originally, the word simply meant “to set on fire”. That meaning is obsolete. These days, our word is often found in DNA research.

anneal

Pronounced: uh-NEEL, verb

Notes: I confused this word with another word

Yesterday’s word

The word fardel is

  • a bundle
  • a burden
First usage

Our word came into English around 1300

Background / Comments

I don’t remember hearing our word, but if I can remember it, maybe I’ll use it to refer to a bundle. Our word came from the Old French word fardel, which is a diminutive of farde (package; burden), which came from from the Arabic word farda (piece; pack).

fardel

Pronounced: FAR-dl, noun

Notes: An interesting word to know – it’s new to me

Yesterday’s word

The word hummock is

  • a rounded knoll or hillock
  • a ridge of ice
  • a fertile area in the southern United States (especially Florida)
First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

As you can see, the definition has nothing to do with a hammock, so how is one “right” who thinks of “hammock”? It turns out that “hammock” is an alternate form of our word, but it not related at all to the swinging bed made of canvas that we call a “hammock” (that comes from the Spanish word hamaca, which came from Taino (a language spoken by the original inhabitants of the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas). Getting back to our word, the exact etymology is unclear, but it is related to the Middle Low German word hummel (small height).