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.

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.