Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day
Words that I do not know
Pronounced: EHN-klave, noun
Notes: Our word has a specialized meaning that I did not know
The word uberous means “abundant; fruitful”
Our word came into English in the early 1600s
These days, we tend to use “uber-” as a prefix meaning ‘super’ or ‘superb’; because of this, I was incorrect in my guess at the meaning of our word. Our word just comes from the Latin word uber (rich; fruitful; abundant).
Pronounced: YOO-burr-us, adj
Notes: Not what I thought
The word Apollonian means
Our word came into English in the mid-1600s (but see the comments below)
The first definition is the obvious one. I thought that the second definition seemed strange, especially as Apollo was not necessarily known for his balance of character. The ancient Greeks regarded Apollo as the perfection of youthful manhood, and thus, the first meaning came into being. The second meaning came about from the word of Nietzsche and other German scholars in the 1800s used Apollonian in contrast with Dionysian to contrast the forces of calm rationality to the forces that were frenzied, uninhibited, and instinctive.
Pronounced: a-puh-LOH-nee-uhn, adj
Notes: You probably know one meaning, but there is a second one that you may not know (I didn’t)
The word resumptive means (as you might guess) “tending to resume, repeat, or summarize”
Our word goes back a long way; it came into English in the late 1300s
I didn’t know that our word existed, which is why I posted it — but it is pretty easy to guess the meaning. Our word comes from the Latin word resumere (to resume), which comes from re- (again) and sumere (to take).
Pronounced: rih-ZUMP-tihv, adj
Notes: You may know this word
The word oligopsony is “a market situation in which a few independent buyers exert a disproportionate influence on the market”
Our word came into English in the 1940s
Many people are familiar with ‘monopoly’; our word is similar. In addition, both words trace back to the Greek language, although ‘monopoly’ came to use via Latin, and our word came straight from Greek. It is made of olig- (few) combined with opsōnia (the purchase of victuals). This latter word is composed of opson (food) and ōneisthai (to buy).
Pronounced: ah-luh-GAHP-suh-nee, noun
Notes: Certain people may know this word (I didn’t)
The word peculate means “to steal of misuse money or property entrusted to one’s care; embezzle”
Our word came into English in the early 1700s
Our word came from the Latin word pecu (cattle; money). I know the noun ‘peculations’, but I wasn’t aware that a verb form followed.
Pronounced: PECK-yuh-late, verb
Notes: I know a related word; do you know this one?
The word potboiler is “a usually inferior work (as of art or literature) produced chiefly for profit
Our word came into English in the mid-1800s
The reason I had a debate with myself over posting this word is that I know it; I know it from the Dorothy Sayers novel Gaudy Night with Lord Peter Wimsey (that story is the longest one and concludes the trilogy about his relationship with Harriet Vane – begun in Strong Poison and continued in Have His Carcass). Gaudy Night has a mystery, but also has a lot of introspection by Harriet Vane as well as thoughts on various topics. One such topic is the question of whether an excellent artist in hard times paint potboilers to get the money he needs to support himself and his family. Is such an action being untrue to himself or to his art? Some people find the topics and the introspection irksome; I quite enjoy it. Our word goes way back to a time when the fire on the hearth always needed to be running for cooking and/or warmth. Thus, they needed fuel to “keep the pot boiling” — when artists and writers wrote quick, cheap stuff designed to sell fast, but not containing much artistic value, critics called such works “potboilers”.
Pronounced: POT-boy-ler, noun
Notes: I had a debate about posting this word (more tomorrow)
The word ambit means “scope; range; limit; or boundary”
Our word came into English in the late 1300s
I’ve never run across our word, but it is a nice, useful word. It comes from the Latin word ambitus (going around), which comes from ambire (to go around), which is composed of ambi- (both; around) and ire (to go).
Pronounced: AM-bit, noun
Notes: Interesting word
The word vertiginous means
Our word came into English around 1600
At first, the definitions look quite different, but if you think about frequent and rapid changes occurring about an individual, it could be dizzying. Our word comes from the Latin adjective vertiginosus, of which the noun form, vertigo (a turning or whirling action), which comes from vertere (to turn). You probably know the word vertigo, which came into English in the 1400s.
Pronounced: ver-TIH-juh-nuss, adj
Notes: There are two definitions that don’t appear to be related at all
The word sternutate means “to sneeze”
Our word came into English in the mid-1700s
I hope I remember to use this once in a while to be different from “sneeze”. What a great word! It comes from the Latin word sternuere (to sneeze).
This post is number 1,000 in this sequence.
Pronounced: stir-NEW-tate (alt: stir-NYOU-tate), verb
Notes: A great word to know and use
The phrase qui vive means “alert; lookout”
Our phrase came into English in the 1700s (probably mid-1700s)
I am not sure where I first read this word, but I have certain read the phrase “on the qui vive”; I also remember seeing it abbreviated as “on the q.v.”, so I assumed that shortcut matched the pronunciation. When I first ran across the phrase, I thought that “qv” was short for “quiver” and someone was so alert that he was quivering. Our phrase originated as a French sentinel’s challenge: Qui vive? (literally, “who lives?”, more properly translated as “Long live who?”) Thus, the expression “on the qui vive” means to be on lookout or alert, and thus our noun phrase came to our meaning above.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day