fastuous

Pronounced: FAS-choo-us, adj

Notes: I know a similar word (fatuous), but not this one

Yesterday’s word

The word benison means “blessing; benediction”

First usage

Our word is old; it came into English in the early 1300s

Background / Comments

Our word shares the same background as “benediction”: it comes form the Latin word benedicere (to bless), which itself is the combination of bene dicere (to speak well of), which is composed of bene (well) and dicere (to say). Usually words tend to shorten over time; however, our word shows up about 100 years earlier than “benediction”. I like our word and hope I remember to use it in the place of “benediction”.

benison

Pronounced: BEH-nuh-suhn, noun

Notes: I’ve never run across this word, but I hope to remember it and use it on occasion

Yesterday’s word

The word torpid means

  • sluggish or inactive
  • apathetic
  • dormant as when hibernating
First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1600s

Background / Comments

Once again, I am familiar with the first definition, but the second and third are not ones that I would have been able to come up with. Our word comes from the Latin word torpidus (numb), which comes from torpere (to be stiff or numb).

torpid

Pronounced: TORE-pid, adj

Notes: I was somewhat familiar with the word, but not completely

Yesterday’s word

The word visceral means

  • felt in or as if in the internal organs of the body
  • not intellectual; instinctive
  • located on or among the internal organs of the body
First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

I am most familiar with the first definition; it is used in this sense for something felt “deep down”, and it turns out that this meaning is the most common usage of our word. I could have guessed at the second meaning, but I was unfamiliar with the third meaning. The word viscera refers to the internal organs of the body; especially the heart, liver, and intestines. It comes from the Latin word viscera, where it has the same meaning. Something visceral, therefore, has to do with the “viscera”.

visceral

Pronounced: VIH-suh-ruhl, adj

Notes: I’ve certainly run across this word, but found that I could not define it to my satisfaction

Yesterday’s word

The word bathos means “an abrupt descent from lofty or sublime to the commonplace; anticlimax”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

Our word looks like ‘pathos’, but the meanings are quite different. I cannot recall where I may have seen this word. Our word comes from the Greek word bathos (depth).

bathos

Pronounced: BAY-thas (alt: BAY-thos), noun

Notes: I think I’ve heard or read this word, but did not know the meaning

Yesterday’s word

The word subreption is “the act of obtaining something (such as a prize or reward) by concealing pertinent facts”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1500s

Background / Comments

I ran across this word in my reading; specifically, in the Nero Wolfe story Please Pass the Guilt by Rex Stout. In a humorous section, Nero Wolfe is dictating a proposed article to Archie Goodwin: ‘…by fraud. Period’ — No. Instead of ‘fraud’ make it ‘by subreption’. It’s more precise and will add to vocabularies. Paragraph. I had to smile at this because it added to my vocabulary, as I had to look up the word to see how it was more precise than ‘fraud’. Our word comes from the Latin word subreptiōn, which is a stem of subreptiō (a stealing), related to the word subreptus, the past participle of subripere (to steal).

And, in an odd twist of happenstance, just about a week after this entry, one of my vocabulary sources listed subreption as its word-of-the-day.

subreption

Pronounced: sub-REP-shun, noun

Notes: This word comes from my reading

Yesterday’s word

The word farrago means “a confused mixture”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

As I noted yesterday, I’ve been mispronouncing this word; I thought it was “FAIR-uh-go”. I have read the word and had an idea of the meaning. Our word comes from the Latin word farrago (mixed fodder).

farrago

Pronounced: fuh-RAH-go, noun

Notes: I did not pronounce this word right, but I was close to the meaning

Yesterday’s word

The word nescience means “lack of knowledge or awareness; ignorance”

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1600s

Background / Comments

I did not properly parse this word; for some reason, I thought that the prefix “ne-” or “nes-” means “new” and that error threw off what I thought was the meaning. Our word is a combination of the Latin prefix ne- (not) and scire (to know). Note that scire is also the ancestor of “science”, which originally meant “knowledge”.

nescience

Pronounced: NEH-shuns (alt: NEH-shunts; alt-2: NEH-she-uns; alt-3: NEH-she-unts), noun

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

Yesterday’s word

The word rechauffe means

  • warmed leftover food
  • rehash; old reworked material
First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1700s

Background / Comments

I love the idea of referring to leftovers as rechauffe; it quite elevates the meaning. Our word came from the French word réchauffé (reheated; rehashed), which came from chauffer (to warm), which came from the Latin word calefacere (to make warm), which came from calere (to be hot) combined with facere (to make).

rechauffe

Pronounced: ray-show-FAY, noun

Notes: A fun word to slip into conversation

Yesterday’s word

The word raddled means

  • being in a state of confusion; lacking composure
  • broken-down; worn
First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1600s

Background / Comments

As you can see from the definitions above, the first one is about the same as the word “rattled”. Our word is the (much) older word; “rattled” did not show up until the early 1900s; I suspect that someone heard “raddled” and wrote “rattled” and thus a new word was formed. However, the second definition doesn’t really seem to fit; it is theorized that it comes from a red coloring used to mark animals; the coloring was called “raddle”. From this word raddled came to mean “heavily made up with rouge”; a person in such a state would look older and more haggard.

raddled

Pronounced: RAH-duhld, adj

Notes: Very interesting word; do you know it?

Yesterday’s word

The word gratulate means

  • to congratulate
  • to express joy at the sight of something or someone
First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

So, which is older – gratulate or congratulate? It turns out that congratulate is slightly older (by about 20 years). Our word comes from the Latin word gratulari (to congratulate), from gratulari (to show joy), which comes from gratus (pleasing).