longhair

Pronounced: LONG-hair (duh), noun

Notes: I knew one of the definition; some of the others are obvious

Yesterday’s word

The word eristic means “characterized by disputatious and often subtle and specious reasoning”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

Our word can also take the form “eristical”, although this form is less common; possibly obsolete. The word ‘specious’ in the definition above makes our word a negative way to describe someone — it’s one thing to enjoy arguing, but it is another for the argument not to be logical. Our word came from the Greek word eristikos (fond of wrangling), which came from erizein (to wrangle), and eventually traces back to eris (strife).

eristic

Pronounced: ih-RIH-stick, adj

Notes: Good word, but I don’t think I know it

Yesterday’s word

The word tribology is “the study of interacting surfaces in relative motion and associated issues, such as friction, lubrication, and wear”.

First usage

Our word came into English in the 1960s

Background / Comments

Your misunderstanding of this word depends upon how the first syllable is pronounced; before I looked, I thought “trih”, and thought of “tribbles”, which I knew it wasn’t, since tribbles are a work of fiction. If you pronounced it “try”, you could logically think it is the study of tribes. As I understand it, a group of engineers working with lubrication wanted a fancier name for what they did, and one of the editors of the Oxford English Dictionary came up with our word. It came from the Greek word tribos (rubbing), which came from tribein (to rub).

tribology

Pronounced: try-BOL-uh-jee (alt: trih-BOL-uh-jee), noun

Notes: Not the study of tribbles, nor even of tribes

Yesterday’s phrase

The phrase beau geste is

  • a graceful or magnanimous gesture
  • an ingratiating conciliatory gesture
First usage

Our phrase came into English in the early 1900s

Background / Comments

I knew there was a book called Beau Geste, and I knew the general plot, but I didn’t know that it was written by Percival Christopher Wren and published in 1924 — our phrase was in use before the book came out. There were several films made of the story; I think I may have seen one of them. This publicity helped make the phrase popular. It came from French; the phrase literally means “beautiful gesture”.

beau geste

Pronounced: boh-ZHEST, noun

Notes: I know something of this word, but not the definition

Yesterday’s word

The word limpid means

  • clear; transparent
  • easily comprehensible; clear
  • calm; serene
First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1600s

Background / Comments

I have read a phrase something like “she gave him a limpid look”, so I had the idea that the word meant something like ‘innocent’. Our word came from the Latin word limpidus (clear).

limpid

Pronounced: LIM-pid, adj

Notes: I knew some of the meanings, but not all of them

Yesterday’s word

The word adust means “scorched; burned”

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1400s

Background / Comments

Well, I thought our word meant “dusty” or “full of dust”. Our word comes from the Latin word adustus, the past participle of adurere (to set fire to). When the word first came into English, it was a medical term related to the four bodily humors (black bile, blood, phlegm, and yellow file). Our word was used to describe a (supposed) condition of the humors in which they because heated or combusted; specifically “adust black bile” was thought to be the source of melancholy. Hence, another – now archaic – definition of our word was “of a gloomy appearance or disposition”.

adust

Pronounced: uh-DUST, adj

Notes: The meaning is not at all what I thought it was

Yesterday’s word

The word manna is “an unexpected help, benefit, or advantage”

First usage

Our word came into English in the 400s

Background / Comments

Our word comes, as you will no doubt have guessed, from the Hebrew word man (manna). In the Bible, is was the food that God supplied to the Israelites for nearly their entire wilderness wandering. The Bible says that they called it “manna” because they didn’t know what it was. There are several interesting lessons regarding manna, but this isn’t the place for them. I was aware of the Biblical manna, but was unaware that it had acquired separate, modern meaning.

manna

Pronounced: MAN-uh, noun

Notes: I know what this is (originally), but I don’t know the meaning

Yesterday’s word

The word expiate means

  • to extinguish the guilt incurred by
  • to make amends for
First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1500s

Background / Comments

I was reaching back to the roots; I was thinking that our word means “to atone for”, and it turns out that our word came from the Latin word expiare (to atone for). In early English usage, it meant to ward off evil by means of some rite or rites. Alternatively, these rites could be used to cleanse or purify something, and this seems to be the sense we are left with today.

expiate

Pronounced: ECK-spee-ate, verb

Notes: My guess was close to the correct meaning

Yesterday’s word

The word exungulate means “to pare nails, claws, etc”

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1600s

Background / Comments

Great word! How much more fun to say I was exungulating this morning instead of the rather prosaic I trimmed my nails this morning. Word-savvy people probably recognize “ungulate” part of our word. In fact, our word came from the Latin word exungulare (to lose the hoof), from ex- (out) and ungula (claw; nail; hoof; talon).

exungulate

Pronounced: ek-SUNG-uh-late, verb

Notes: Great word! (but not at all what I thought)

Yesterday’s word

The word fustian is

  • a strong cotton and linen fabric
  • high-flown or affected writing or speech, or even anything high-flown of affected in style
First usage

Our word came into English in two phases: the first definition arrived around 1200, but the second one didn’t come about until the 1500s.

Background / Comments

An early documented usage of the second meaning comes from the play Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlow, written in 1592/1593. In Middle English, our word was fustian/fustain/fustein and came from the Old French word fustaigne. It came to Old French from Latin, but there is some disagreement about the origin.

fustian

Pronounced: FUSS-chun, noun

Notes: I think of “fussy” when I see this word, but that’s not the meaning

Yesterday’s word

The word leviathan is “something large and powerful”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1300s

Background / Comments

I thought that our word referred to some kind of sea creature; mainly due to remembered passages from the Bible that indicate it to be a water-based animal. I was not aware of the above meaning. Our word came into English from Latin, and came into Latin from the Hebrew word liwyathan (whale) — so, I knew more about the origin that I thought I did.