debenture

Pronounced: dih-BEN-chur, noun

Notes: I’ve run across the word before; it turns out that I have been mispronouncing it… and not only that, I wasn’t quite right in the meaning

Yesterday’s word

The word magniloquent means “speaking in or characterized by a high-flown (often bombastic) style or manner”

First usage

Our word came into English in the 1600s

Background / Comments

I correctly noted the “loquent” as referring to speech, but I thought the prefix meant “bad” (as in ‘malevolent’). In reality, our word is composed of the Latin word magnus (great) and loqui (to speak). Our word is a synonym of grandiloquent, which is the older word.

magniloquent

Pronounced: mah-NIH-luh-kwuhnt, adj

Notes: My guess at this word’s meaning was wrong

Yesterday’s word

The word mittimus is “an official order to commit someone to prison”

First usage

Our word is an old one, coming into English in the mid-1400s

Background / Comments

I think we tend to call a mittimus “an arrest warrant”. Our word comes from the Latin word mittimus (we send), which is the first word of such an order. It comes from the word mittere (to send).

mittimus

Pronounced: MIT-uh-muss, noun

Notes: This is a new word to me

Yesterday’s word

The word atavism means

  • recurrence of an ancestral trail, or reversion to a past style or manner
  • one that reminds of a past time
First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1800s

Background / Comments

For some reason, our word makes me think of the original Star Trek series; possibly from the episode “All Our Yesterdays”. I may have run across our word in a Nero Wolfe story, but not particular one comes to mind. Our word came from French, and into French from the Latin word atavus (ancestor). In Latin, the word avus means “grandfather”. It is thought that the “at” in our word is related to atta (daddy) – recall, too, the Aramaic word “abba” that means the same thing, and is used in the Bible in the book of Galatians. Its original meaning had the idea of “a throwback”. The more figurative sense is more common, and came be used to describe, for example, a modern building that looks like it was from an earlier era.

atavism

Pronounced: AH-tuh-vih-zuhm, noun

Notes: I’ve run across this word in reading, but I could not properly define it

Yesterday’s word

The word jayhawker is

  • a robber
  • a native or resident of Kansas
First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

I should have known the second definition, and would have, if I paid closer attention to college football. I believe a Kansas college team is called the “Jayhawks”. I was unaware of the first meaning. Originally, a Jayhawker was a member of antislavery guerrillas in Kansas or Missouri during the US Civil War (why they were called this is not known). Presumably, because of the actions of the original Jayhawkers, the first disreputable meaning came to be.

jayhawker

Pronounced: JAY-haw-kuhr, noun

Notes: I almost had the definition correct

Yesterday’s word

The word cineast is “a devotee of motion pictures; moviemaker”

First usage

Our word came into English in the 1920s

Background / Comments

After seeing the definition, I should have recognized cine- from ‘cinema’ and been able to guess the meaning. Our word comes from French, and some of the alternate spellings reflect that origin – it is also spelled cineaste and cinéaste. It comes from the French word ciné (another word for cinema) combined with -aste (one who is or works in), and originally meant “a filmmaker or movie director”. People began to use the word to refer to film buffs, and that is the most common usage these days.

cineast

Pronounced: SIH-nee-ast, noun

Notes: A word I should have have been able to figure out

Yesterday’s word

The word pinchbeck, as an adjective, means “counterfeit; spurious”. As a noun, it is “an alloy of zinc and copper, used as imitation gold in jewelry”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1700s

Background / Comments

I noted yesterday that our word reminded me of The Music Man film (1964). When Professor Harold Hill is stirring up the town, he gives a spiel called “Ya Got Trouble”. In it is the line …and the next thing ya know, your son is playin’ for money in a pinch-back suit. It turns out that “pinch-back” is really a distortion of our word (although it’s not clear to me how a suit can be ‘spurious’ or ‘counterfeit’). Our word comes from a real person: Christopher Pinchbeck, who invented the alloy that is the noun definition. He was, in his day, well-known, not merely for the alloy, but also for clocks and orreries (mechanical solar system models) which he made. He kept the means to create the alloy a closely-guarded secret. That didn’t stop crooked men from creating articles that claimed to be made from Pinchbeck’s alloy; in fact, an unusual case of people faking fake gold. I presume that the adjective definition came about because Mr Pinchbeck’s alloy was used for imitation gold.

pinchbeck

Pronounced: PINCH-bek, adj/noun

Notes: While I don’t know this word, it makes me think of The Music Man

Yesterday’s word

The word garniture means

  • embellishment; trimming
  • a set of decorative objects (as vases, urns, clocks, etc)
First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

After I read the definitions (especially the second one), I thought that garniture may be to garnish as furniture is to furnish; that is, we “furnish” a house with “furniture” – we “garnish” (that is, embellish) a house with “garniture”: that view is mostly correct. Our word comes from Middle French word garniture (equipment), which comes from the Old French noun garnesture, which comes from the verb garnir (to warn, equip, or garnish).

garniture

Pronounced: GAR-nih-chur, noun

Notes: I don’t think I know the word, but after reading the definition, I had a good idea of the origin of the word

Yesterday’s word

The word vidimus means

  • an attested copy of a document
  • an official inspection
First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1400s

Background / Comments

If you remember the famous saying attributed to Julius Caesar (“veni, vidi, vici”), our word is related to the middle word of the three. Our word comes from the Latin word vidimus (we have seen), which is from the verb videre (to see). In case you’re interested, “vidi” is the first person singular perfect indicative active form of the verb.

vidimus

Pronounced: VAI-dih-muss, noun

Notes: It looks Latin to me, but I don’t know this word

Yesterday’s word

The word Bonapartism means “a policy supporting dictatorial rule usually by a leader who has ostensibly received a popular mandate”

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1800s

Background / Comments

You may have thought (as did I) that our word referred to the support of Napolean Bonaparte (Napolean I), and it is named after him. The year that our word came into English was also the year that Napolean I was defeated at Waterloo. It was the same year that he was forced from power, and exiled. Incidentally, the word ‘waterloo’ (a decisive defeat) came into English the following year.

Bonapartism

Pronounced: BO-nuh-par-tih-zuhm, noun

Notes: Not quite what you might think

Yesterday’s word

The word quoz means “an odd person or thing”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1700s

Background / Comments

I know people who are odd, and even one who describes himself as odd, but I didn’t know that we had a word for it. I hope I remember and start to use our word. The origin is not known: it is speculated that it is a variant of ‘quiz’ — of course, it’s also possible that ‘quiz’ is a variant of our word.