Pronounced: poe-CHEESE-moh, noun

Notes: I have not run across this word

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Yesterday’s phrase

The phrase dead hand means

• an inalienable possession of property by a church or corporation
• the oppressive influence of the past

First usage

Our phrase came into English in the 1300s

Background / Comments

Our phrase came from the Middle English phrase dede hond, which is a translation of the Old French word mortemain. In fact, a synonym of our phrase is the word “mortmain”. Our phrase (and the word “mortmain”) are used in law to describe property that is left to a church or company in perpetuity.

Pronounced: [as it looks], noun

Notes: Not the meaning I thought

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Yesterday’s word

The word kenning is “a figurative, usually compound, expression used to describe something. As an example, the use of “whale road” to mean an ocean.

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1300s

Background / Comments

Our word comes from the Old Norse word kenna (to know). Kennings were used quite a bit in poetry written in Old Norse and Old English.

Pronounced: KEN-ing, noun

Notes: This word is not what I thought it was

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Yesterday’s word

The word withy means

• willow; especially one whose pliable twigs are used for furniture or basketry
• a flexible slender twig or branch

First usage

Our word came into English before the year 1000

Background / Comments

In read the definition of our word, I learned a new word – that word is “osier”, and it refers to a certain type of willow, used for wickerwork. Our word came from the Old English word wīthig, which came from the Old Norse word vīthir, which came from Old High German wīda, which comes from Greek ītéa (willow), which comes from the Latin word vītis (vine).

Pronounced: WIH-thee, noun

Notes: Another word I’ve never run across

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Yesterday’s word

The capriole means

• a playful leap; caper
• a leap made by a trained horse involving a backward kick of the hind legs at the top of the leap

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1500s

Background / Comments

Our word came either from the Middle French word capriole (caper) or the Italian word capriola (leap). They came from the Latin word capreolus (goat), which is a diminutive of caper (goat).

Pronounced: CAP-ree-ol, noun

Notes: I did not know this word

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Yesterday’s word

The word contumely is “harsh language or treatment arising from haughtiness and contempt”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1300s

Background / Comments

If you know Shakespeare well, you may have known our word. It occurs in the famous “To be or not to be” speech of Hamlet. It also occurs in the Canterbury Tales (The Parson’s Tale). Our word was at first spelled contumelie; it came from Middle French, which came from the Latin word contumelia.

Pronounced: kahn-TOO-muh-lee, noun

Notes: I have run across this word (or a close relative), but I couldn’t properly define it

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Yesterday’s word

The word winkle means, as a noun, “a periwinkle, any of various mollusks with a spiral shell”. As a verb, it means “to extract with difficulty”.

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1500s

Background / Comments

As I noted yesterday, I have run across our word as a verb, but the noun was not known. In a similar vein, the background of the noun is not known. The verb comes from the process of extracting a periwinkle from its shell with a pin for eating its meat.

Pronounced: WING-kuhl, noun/verb

Notes: I knew the verb meaning, but not the noun

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Yesterday’s word

The word presage means

• to give an omen or warning of; foreshadow
• foretell; predict
• to make or utter a prediction

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid- to late 1300s

Background / Comments

Our word – the verb presage – was predated by a noun presage (omen). Our word comes from the Latin prefix prae- and the adjective sagus (prophetic).

Pronounced: PREH-sij, verb

Notes: Another word I don’t recall having seen (and my guess was way off)

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Yesterday’s word

The word pullulate means

• to sprout or breed
• to swarm or teem
• to increase rapidly

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1600s

Background / Comments

Our word came from the Latin word pullulare (to sprout), which came from pullulus, which is a diminutive of pullus (chicken; young animal), which came from pullus (young animal).

Pronounced: PULL-yuh-late, verb

Notes: A new word for me

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Yesterday’s word

The word fructuous means “fruitful”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid- to late 1300s

Background / Comments

I had the meaning wrong because when I saw our word, I saw a similarity to the word “fractious”; had I thought of the word “fructose”, I would have been on the proper track to the right definition. Our word came from the Latin word fructus (fruit; enjoyment; use). The word fructose does comes from this root, as does usufruct (the right to use or enjoy something).

Pronounced: FREK-chuh-wuhs, adj

Notes: I didn’t get this word right; you may know it

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Yesterday’s word

The word magpie means

• any of various birds, typically having a long tail and black-and-white plumage (also used of other birds that resemble a magpie)
• a chatterer
• a person who indiscriminately collects things (especially things of little value)

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1500s

Background / Comments

I knew of the bird definition; I also knew of the collector meaning (a more widely used synonym is “packrat”); however, the second meaning was unknown to me. Both the second and third meanings came about because of a supposed reputation of magpies for chattering and for hoarding. Our word actually comes from Mag (short for Margaret) combined with pie, which came from the Latin word pica (magpie). I’ve no idea why Margaret was used (perhaps is was a very common name when the word was being formed)…the idea was the stereotypical notion that women chatter. Thus the name came to be attached to the bird; it had a reputation as a chatterer, and thus the second meaning came into being – seems rather like circular reasoning to me.