truchman

Pronounced: TRUCH-muhn, noun

Notes: This word is new to me, and it has an interesting etymology

Yesterday’s word

The word Babbit refers to “a person and especially a business or professional man who conforms unthinkingly to prevailing middle-class standards”

First usage

Our word came into English in the 1920s

Background / Comments

As you might guess from the word being capitalized, this word came from a person’s name: George F Babbitt, a character in the 1922 novel Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis. Mr. Babbitt was a prosperous real-estate broker, a pillar of his Midwestern community, and a believer in success for its own sake. His name was further popularized by the Gershwin brothers song “The Babbitt and the Bromide” (featured in the musical “Funny Face” (1927) and the movie “Ziegfield Follies” (1945). The name of the character became used to refer to anyone who follows a conformist, materialistic, unimaginative lifestyle.

Babbitt

Pronounced: BAH-bit, noun

Notes: I’ve not run across this word

Yesterday’s word

The word valence means

  • the combining capacity of an atom or group of atoms to form molecules
  • the capacity of someone or something to affect another
First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1400s

Background / Comments

I remember from school discussions of “valence electrons”, and they are closely related to the first definition above. The second definition is new to me. Our word comes from the Latin word valentia (power; worth; or strength), which came from valere (to be well or strong).

valence

Pronounced: VAY-luhns, noun

Notes: I was somewhat familiar with this word as an adjective, but was uncertain of what it meant as a noun

Yesterday’s word

The word trenchant means

  • keen; sharp
  • vigorously effective and articulate (caustic, too)
  • sharply perceptive; penetrating; clear-cut; distinct
First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1200s or early 1300s

Background / Comments

I have run across the word “trencherman” in my reading; I thought that perhaps it had something of the first definition above. It looks like that word may trace back to the same root. In any event, our word comes from the Anglo-French verb trencher (to cut). It is thought that the word came from the Vulgar Latin word trinicare (to cut in three). One can describe a sword as “trenchant”, meaning that is cuts deeply; a “trenchant” remark is one that cuts deeply. The word “trench” (a long ditch cut into the ground) and “retrench” (to cut down; to pare away) come from the same source as our word.

trenchant

Pronounced: TREN-chunt, adj

Notes: I was in the area of the correct meaning with our word

Yesterday’s word

The word demotic, as an adjective, means “relating to common people; popular”. As a noun, it means “Modern Greek”.

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1700s

Background / Comments

Our word comes from the Greek word demos (people). Thus, the word “democracy” means “rule by the people”. As I noted yesterday, I had a vague idea of the adjectival meaning, but I had no idea that our word could mean Modern Greek.

demotic

Pronounced: dih-MOT-ik, adj/noun

Notes: I had an idea of the meaning of the adjective, but not of the noun

Yesterday’s word

The word recondite means

  • hidden from sight; concealed
  • difficult to comprehend; deep
  • little known or obscure
First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1600s

Background / Comments

I had an idea of the first and third definitions, but not the second one. Our word has at its root the Latin word condere (to put or bring together; to put up or store; to conceal). Interestingly enough, if one removes re- from our word, we are left with the obsolete verb “condite”, meaning “to pickle or preserve” or “to embalm”. Another word with the same root, “incondite” means “badly put together”.

recondite

Pronounced: REH-kuhn-dite, adj

Notes: I knew this word a bit

Yesterday’s word

The word piacular means “making or requiring atonement”

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1600s

Background / Comments

Our word comes from the Latin word piare (to appease).

piacular

Pronounced: pie-ACK-yuh-luhr, adj

Notes: I don’t think I’ve heard of this word

Yesterday’s word

The word liminal means

  • of or relating to a sensory threshold
  • barely perceptible
  • relating to an intermediate state, phase, or condition
First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1800s

Background / Comments

As I noted, I should have been able to work out the meaning our of word because of the well-known word subliminal, which means below the level of being noticed. Our word liminal is the adjectival form of the noun limen, which refers to the point at which a physiological or psychological effect beings to be produced, which is called the sensory threshold. Our word has expanded to take on the second and third meanings above.

liminal

Pronounced: LIH-muh-n’l, adj

Notes: I should have worked out the definition of this word

Yesterday’s word

The word frontispiece is

  • an illustration facing or preceding the title page of a book
  • a facade, especially an ornamental facade, of a building
  • an ornamental pediment over a door or window
First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1500s

Background / Comments

This word is another one that was created in error; it was a corruption of the French word frontispice because it looked like “piece”. The word comes from the Latin word frontispicium (facade), which is made of front- (front) and specere (to look).

frontispiece

Pronounced: FRUN-tih-spees, noun

Notes: I think I’ve seen this word, or a word close to it

Yesterday’s phrase

The phrase banyan day is “a day on which no meat is served to the crew of a ship”

First usage

I haven’t been able to find out when our phrase came into English

Background / Comments

The banyans are a caste of Hindu merchants: like all practicing Hindus, they ate no meat. Sailors began to use the phrase banyan day to refer to any day in which they were not given meat to eat; such fare would be pretty meager to sailors. Note that in Australia, our phrase can refer to any day on which the food is worse than usual — such as days when the budget is running out.

banyan day

Pronounced: BAN-yuhn day, noun

Notes: I’ve seen banyan trees, but I don’t know this word

Yesterday’s word

The word messuage means “a residential building with outbuildings and the attached land”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1400s

Background / Comments

I like the origin story of our word. The word came from the Old French word mesnage (household), but the ‘n’ was misread as a ‘u’ — thus, messuage. The Old French word came from the Latin word manere (to remain; dwell).