rhadamanthine

Pronounced: rah-duh-MAN-thuhn (alt: rah-duh-MANT-thuhn), adj

Notes: This long word is often capitalized

Yesterday’s word

The word camelious means “relating to the camel or its hump”

First usage

Our word came into English in the first decade of the 1900s

Background / Comments

I think I was thinking of chamomile or chameleon and missed the more obvious ‘camel’ in our word. Our word is, in fact, derived from camel, which comes from the Latin word camelus (camel), which comes from the Greek word kamelos (camel). The Hebrew word for camel is gamal; the Arabic word jamal. Incidentally, this is another word with all the standard vowels in order.

camelious

Pronounced: kuh-MEE-lee-uhs, adj

Notes: My thoughts flew (incorrectly) to a flower

Yesterday’s word

The word solstitial means

  • of, relating to, or characteristic of a solstice
  • happening or appearing at or associated with a solstice
First usage

The reference material I consulted do not agree; one says that the word arrived in English in the 1300s; another says the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

As I noted yesterday, after I read the definition, it seemed so obvious, but I didn’t know the definition when I first saw the word. Our word came into English from Anglo-French, which came from the Latin word solstitium (solstice), which is composed of sol- (sun) and -stit or -stes (standing). The much more well-known word “solstice” comes from the same source.

solstitial

Pronounced: sahl-STIH-shuhl, adj

Notes: I didn’t know the meaning when looking at the word; after seeing the definition, it seems obvious – do you know it?

Yesterday’s word

The word solipsism means

  • the view or theory that the self is all that exists or can be known to exist
  • self-absorption or self-centeredness
First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

I don’t subscribe to the theory in the first definition; moreover, it seems to me that if such a theory is followed, it would tend to lead to the second definition. Our word comes from the Latin words solus (alone) combined with ipse (self).

solipsism

Pronounced: SOL-ip-siz-uhm, noun

Notes: I confused this word with another word dealing with logic

Yesterday’s word

The word carpaccio means “thinly sliced raw meat or fish served with a sauce”; note that the word is usually used postpositively (after the name of the dish, as in ‘salmon carpaccio’)

First usage

Our word came into English in the 1960s (possibly the 1950s)

Background / Comments

Our word was created by a man named Guiseppe Cipriani, who ran a restaurant in Venice, Italy. He created the dish for the Countess Amalia Nani Mocenigo; he had heard that she was under doctor’s orders to eat raw meat (or, at least, avoid cooked meat). According to the restaurateur, he decided to call his invention “carpaccio” because the red in the beef matched the colors used in paintings by the Renaissance painter Vittore Carpaccio. I prefer the alternate pronunciation (the one with four syllables instead of three).

carpaccio

Pronounced: car-PAH-choh (alt: car-PAH-chee-oh), noun

Notes: I guessed at this word, and was way off

Yesterday’s word

The word affectious means “affectionate or cordial”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1500s

Background / Comments

Did you notice that our word contains all of the standard vowels in order? If you guessed at the meaning, you probably guessed the look-alike word ‘affectionate’. Our word came from the French language, which came from the Latin word afficere (to affect or influence).

affectious

Pronounced: uh-FEK-shuhs, adj

Notes: You might be able to guess the meaning of this one… and do you see anything interesting in our word?

Yesterday’s word

The word cacography means

  • bad handwriting
  • bad spelling
First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1500s

Background / Comments

I should have been able to guess the meaning of our word, as I should have recognized the parts of the word: it comes from the Greek words kakos (bad) and graphein (writing). It is, more or less, the opposite of ‘calligraphy’ (beautiful writing). These days, our word is usually used in the first meaning above; however, back in the early days of our word, it was used to mean the second definition above. At the time our word came into English, spelling was not standardized, and people spelled words as they thought made sense to them. Note that the Authorized Version of the Bible in 1611 greatly helped to stabilize the English language.

cacography

Pronounced: ka-KAH-gruh-fee, noun

Notes: I should have known the meaning of this word

Yesterday’s word

The word quacksalver means “a quack; one pretending to have skills or knowledge – especially in medicine”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1500s

Background / Comments

I was familiar with the word “quack”; what I didn’t know was that it is a shortening of our word. Our word comes from an obsolete Dutch word that is now kwakzalver, which is made up of quack (boast) and salve (ointment).

quacksalver

Pronounced: QUACK-sal-vuhr, noun

Notes: An interesting word

Yesterday’s word

The word quotidian means

  • occurring every day
  • belonging to each day; everyday
  • commonplace; ordinary
First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1300s

Background / Comments

What a great word to swap out for “daily”! Our word comes form the Latin word quotīdiānus / cottīdiānus (daily), which comes from the adverb cottīdiē (every day). The root is quot (however may occur; every) combined with diē (day).

quotidian

Pronounced: kwoh-TIH-dee-uhn, adj

Notes: A good word to know and use

Yesterday’s word

The word jaculate means “to emit or hurl”

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1600s

Background / Comments

Our word comes from the Latin word jaculare (to dart), which comes from jaculum (dart; javelin), which comes from jacere (to throw).

jaculate

Pronounced: JACK-yuh-late, verb

Notes: Another new word for me

Yesterday’s word

The word benedict is “a newly married man who has long been a bachelor”

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1800s

Background / Comments

Our word traces back to Shakespeare; specifically, the play Much Ado About Nothing: Benedick and Beatrice are two of the characters that exchange barbed comments and both claim to detest marriage. However, at the end of the play, these two marry each other. Thus, the name Benedick came to mean a man who married later in life. Over time, the spelling was changed to benedict (there is a little evidence – very little evidence – that benedict meant “bachelor” at one point in time). Our word isn’t used much these days; if you like to use rare words, drop this into your conversation.