quoz

Pronounced: kwaz, noun

Notes: I don’t think I’ve every run across this word

Yesterday’s word

The word pantheon means

  • a temple dedicated to all the gods; the gods of a people
  • a group of illustrious persons
First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1300s (but see the comments below)

Background / Comments

When our word first came into English, it referred to the famous Pantheon in Rome. Later on, the word was used to refer to any collection of gods. In the 1800s, our word began to be used for groups of important persons. The Romans borrowed Pantheon from the Greek word pantheion (a temple honoring all their gods), which is composed of pan- (all) and theos (god).

pantheon

Pronounced: PAN-thee-ahn, noun

Notes: I sort of knew this word, but not the complete set

Yesterday’s word

The word unco, as an adjective, means “unusual; remarkable; strange”. As an adverb, it means “remarkably; extremely”. As a noun, it can mean “stranger” or “news”.

First usage

Our word, surprisingly to me, came into English in the early 1400s

Background / Comments

I thought our word was a modern word, as there is a tendency to shorten words, but it is a very old word. I also thought it might be short for “uncommon”, but this is not right either. Our word actually is a shortening (a variant) of “uncouth”, which is made up of un- (not) and cuth (known), which comes from cunnan (to know).

unco

Pronounced: UNG-koh, adj/adv/noun

Notes: Such an interesting word! I had a few surprises with this word

Yesterday’s word

The word unclubbable means “having or showing a disinclination for social activity; unsociable”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1700s

Background / Comments

It is thought that Samuel Johnson (he of the famous dictionary) created our word – a lady quoted Samuel Johnson as using it to describe a friend. We can see the word “club” in the word; how much a person is clubbable or unclubbable may be tied to how that one would fare in “The Club”, created by Johnson and others and later called “The Literary Club”. I seem to recall running across unclubbable in some reading; I thought it meant that the character could not qualify for membership in some club — thus, I was not quite right with the definition.

unclubbable

Pronounced: un-KLUH-buh-bull, adj

Notes: I think I remember this word in my reading, but I would not define it well

Yesterday’s word

The word diel, as a noun, means “a period of 24 hours”. As an adjective, it means “lasting 24 hours or having a 24-hour period”

First usage

Our word came into English in the 1930s

Background / Comments

Such a useful word! I’m surprised I haven’t run across it, especially as it is a more recent word. Our word comes from the Latin word dies (day).

diel

Pronounced: DY-uhl (alt: deel), noun/adj

Notes: I’m surprised that I haven’t heard this word

Yesterday’s word

The word gadzookery is a British word, and means “the use of archaisms (as in a historical novel)”

First usage

Our word came into English in the 1950s

Background / Comments

I might be able to be accused of gadzookery; I’m not an author, but I do like some of the older words not much in use… whence is, I think, archaic, but useful. Another archaic word is the exclamation “pshaw!”. Dropping “thou”, “thy”, or “thine” into speech is another gadzookery. “Gadzooks” is an expression used by a character in the Charles Dickens’s novel Nicholas Nickleby. It wasn’t a gadzookery then, but using it now would definitely be — and thus our word came from “gadzooks” combined with “-ery” to make it a noun.

gadzookery

Pronounced: gad-ZOO-kuh-ree, noun

Notes: I’ve not run across this word

Yesterday’s word

The word yerk means, as a verb, “to rise, stir, strike, whip, pull, kick… and so on”. As a noun it means “a sudden movement, kick, jerk, stab, etc”

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1400s

Background / Comments

Well, not much to say here… the origin of our word is uncertain.

yerk

Pronounced: yuhrk, verb/noun

Notes: I don’t think I’ve run across this word

Yesterday’s word

The word hackle means

  • the hair or feathers on the back of an animal’s neck
  • temper, dander
First usage

Our word came into English in the first half of the 1400s

Background / Comments

Like you, I was aware of the phrase “raise one’s hackles”, said of people. This usage is figurative; a person does not raise the hairs on the back of his head. When the word first came into English, it referred to a bird’s neck plumage. On male birds, the neck feathers can stand up when the bird is defensive, and our word also was used to refer to an instrument that was used to comb our long fibers of flax, hemp, or jute. The instrument definition is no longer in use; however, in the 1800s the word was used to refer to dogs (and people). With all of that, I have not heard of the word in the second sense; that is, to mean temper or dander. Our word comes from the late Middle English word hakel/hakele/hakle (animal’s skin; bird’s plumage).

hackle

Pronounced: HAH-kuhl, noun

Notes: I knew one definition (you probably do, too), but one was not known to me

Yesterday’s word

The word bacchant means “a boisterous reveler”

First usage

Our word came into English in the very late 1600

Background / Comments

Even though it was the third pronunciation, it is how I would pronounce this word (BACK-uhnt). Our word comes from Roman mythology; specifically, from Bacchus, the god of wine in Roman mythology (the Greek equivalent is Dionysus).

bacchant

Pronounced: buh-KANT (alt-1: buh-KAHNT; alt-2: BAK-uhnt)

Notes: I didn’t quite define this word properly, but I was a bit close

Yesterday’s word

The word picaresque means “of or relating to rogues, rascals, or roguish protagonists”

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1800s

Background / Comments

Our word comes from the Spanish word picaresco (of or relating to a picaro). The word picaro means “rogue” or “bohemian”. Our word generally describes a novel in which a person of low standing has a series of adventures among people of higher classes, using his wits (and some dishonesty) to get by. The first picaresque novel is considered to be Lazarillo de Tormes, written around 1554 by Diego Hurtado de Mendoza.

picaresque

Pronounced: pih-kuh-RESK, adj

Notes: A neat word, unknown to me

Yesterday’s word

The word autolycan means “characterized by thievery or trickery”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1800s

Background / Comments

The reason I said that I was surprised that I didn’t know our word was that while in school, I was very interested in Greek mythology and read a lot of it. Our word comes from a character from Greek mythology (Autolycus), who was the son of Hermes and Chione. He was skilled in theft and trickery, probably because he had the ability to make himself or things he touched invisible.