leviathan

Pronounced: lih-VIE-uh-thuhn, noun

Notes: I thought I knew the word, but my definition was a bit off

Yesterday’s word

The word stanch means

  • to check or stop the flowing of (such as blood from a wound)
  • to stop or check in its course
  • to make watertight; stop up
First usage

Our word came into English around 1300

Background / Comments

It turns out that “stanch” and “staunch” are not quite as separated as I thought; our word is a verb, and is most often spelled “stanch”, but “staunch” is an acceptable spelling. In the same way, the adjective “staunch” is most often spelled that way, but it is acceptable to spell it “stanch” — no wonder I get the word confused. Both words have a entwined etymology: our word came from the Middle English word stanchen (alt: staunchen), which came from the Old French word estanchier (to close; stop; slake [thirst]), which came, it is thought, from the Vulgar Latin word stanciere.

stanch

Pronounced: stawnch, verb

Notes: I have to confess that I confuse this word with “staunch”, but they are separate words

Yesterday’s word

The word tohobohu is “chaos; confusion”

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1600s

Background / Comments

What a great word to use for chaos! Our word came from Hebrew tohu wa-bhohu, which is made from tohu (formlessness) and bhohu (emptiness).

tohubohu

Pronounced: TOE-hoo-boh-hoo, noun

Notes: A new word to me, but it is useful (it is a thing we encounter)

Yesterday’s word

The word callithump is “a noisy boisterous band or parade”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

Our word is primarily used in America. In the 1800s, there were New Year’s parades by people with noisemakers (as opposed to genuine instruments) — we’re talking pots, pans, cowbells, and so on. This group of people were called “callithumpians” or a “callithumpian band”, and our word came to refer to the sound (noise?) that they made. The American word came from the British dialect word “Gallithumpians” (one can imagine how one could hear the “G” as a “C”) – these were a group who caused a ruckus during Parliamentary elections. It is thought that “Gallithumpians” were trying to make a noise to scare people from voting, as in a British dialect, gally means “to scare; to frighten”, thus gallicrow (scarecrow).

callithump

Pronounced: KAH-luh-thump, noun

Notes: I didn’t know this word, but the definition makes sense

Yesterday’s word

The word stygian means

  • dark or gloomy
  • hellish
  • unbreakable or completely binding (used when talking about oaths)
  • relating to the river Styx
First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

I normally run across this word in the phrase “stygian darkness”, so I thought it meant especially black, which kind of fits the first definition above. I think I knew that our word was related to the river Styx in Greek mythology. Our word came from the Latin word Stygius, which came from the Greek word Stygios, which came from Styx (the hateful). The Styx was a river in the underworld over which souls of the dead were ferried by Charon. The reference information says that vows made by this river were considered to binding that even the Greek gods were afraid to break them. Another Greek myth was that the mother of Achilles dipped him in the river Styx to make him invulnerable; however, she held him by his heel, and it didn’t get dipped in the water, so he had that one vulnerable spot (and thus we get the phrase “Achilles heel” to mean a weakness). A very funny child’s misunderstanding of that story reads: “Achilles mother dipped him in the river Stynx and he became intolerable” – that always makes me laugh.

stygian

Pronounced: stygian, adj

Notes: Again a word I’ve run across, but didn’t properly know the definition, but I do have a related funny short tale.

Yesterday’s word

The word gelid means “extremely cold; icy”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1500s

Background / Comments

I was not aware that this word meant extremely cold; I though it meant “on the colder side”. In fact, it means anything with an extremely cold temperature. It can be used figuratively to mean a person with a “cold” demeanor. Our word came from the Latin word gelidus, which traces back to the noun gelu (frost; cold).

gelid

Pronounced: JEH-luhd, adj

Notes: Not quite what I thought it meant…

Yesterday’s word

A Cerberus is “a powerful, hostile guard”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1300s

Background / Comments

As I recently noted, when I was young, I had an interest in Greek and Roman mythology. I knew about Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guarded the entrance to Hades. I am a bit embarrassed to admit that I misread our word when young, and thus mis-pronounced it (I thought it was spelled “Cerebrus” [switching the “b” and “e”] and thus I pronounced it as “suh-REE-bruss”). I thought this was the correct spelling/pronunciation into my adult years. It wasn’t until I ran across someone who pronounced it correctly that I realized I my error from long ago. Even with that background, I only knew of the mythological background; I didn’t realize it was a word in its own right. Our word came from Latin; it came into Latin from the Greek word Kerberos. There is an expression “to give a sop to Cerberus”, which means to give a bribe to keep a troublesome person quiet. It came from the Greek and Roman practice of putting a slice of cake in the hands of the dead to help pacify Cerberus. Our word can also be spelled “Kerberos”, which computer-related people may recognize as an authentication protocol. Finally, one of the Spanish terms for a goalkeeper (in soccer) is “Cancerbero”.

Cerberus

Pronounced: SIR-burr-us, noun

Notes: Another word for which I know the etymology, but didn’t know the meaning

Yesterday’s word

The word vagary is “an erratic, unpredictable, or extravagant manifestation, action, or notion”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

I am used to coming across our word in the plural, and, from the context, thought it meant “unpredictability”, which turns out to be the commonly-used form and meaning of our word. When our word first showed up, to “make a vagary” meant that you took a wandering journey, or – in a figurative sense – you wandered from the correct path by committing some offense (usually minor). If one spoke or wrote vagaries, one was wandering from the main subject. It is thought that our word came from the Latin word vagari (to wander).

vagary

Pronounced: VAY-guh-ree, noun

Notes: This is another word I have a vague idea of

Yesterday’s word

The word hydra means “a persistent or multifaceted problem that presents a new obstacle when a part of it is solved”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1300s

Background / Comments

When I was in grade school and high school, I was interested in Greek and Roman mythology, so I knew about the monster called Hydra. It was a multi-headed monster that Hercules fought; when he cut off one head, two more grew. However, I did not know that it had come to have the meaning it does. It reminds me of lots of areas of working with software. In the area of compiling code, I remember fixing one compiler error, and then another one (or several others) showed up. In the same way, fixing a bug in the software (a problem in the software) will often cause a problem to show up in another place. There was one co-worker who was (in)famous for turning over fixes that caused new problems; this person was a hydra creation genius! I’m sure there are other professions that can attest to hydras peculiar to their work. Our word comes from the Latin word Hydra, which came from the Greek word Hudra (water snake).

hydra

Pronounced: HI-druh, noun

Notes: I didn’t know the meaning, but I did know the etymology

Yesterday’s word

The word raconteur is “a person who excels in telling anecdotes”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

As I noted, I’ve run across our word in reading; for some reason, instead of meaning a good storyteller, I had the impression that it referred to a person who made a living by unconventional methods (not necessarily illegal, but sometimes borderline, perhaps). So I learned that there is nothing disreputable at all about our word. It came into English from French, and it came to French from the Old French word raconter (to tell). This word came from another Old French word aconter [alt: acompter] (to tell; to count), which came from the Latin word computare (to count). We get “computer”, “account”, and “count” from this Latin word.

raconteur

Pronounced: ra-kahn-TUHR, noun

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

Yesterday’s phrase

The phrase inter alia means “among other things”

First usage

Our phrase came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

I know I’ve spoken the phrase “in other words…”, so (if I can remember), our phrase would be pretty useful. It came from the Latin words inter (among) combined with alius (other).