Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day
Words that I do not know
Pronounced: STAH-luhd, adj
Notes: I look at this word and see “solid”, which is a kind of a hint
The word brio means “vigor or vivacity”
Our word came into English in the mid-1700s
Our word is a nice, useful word — I hope I can bring it into conversations. Our word has come a ways: it came to use from the Italian word brio (liveliness), which came from the Spanish word brio (spirit), which came from the Celtic word brigos (strength).
Pronounced: BREE-oh, noun
Notes: I don’t know this word, but it looks like an incomplete word
The word rescript has multiple meanings, some of which you’d probably guess:
Our word came into English in the early-to-mid 1500s
In the order of the definitions above, one can see how the meaning has changed over time: from a written response to a Roman emperor it became any official pronouncement, and then became more gradual to writing or re-writing. Our word comes from the Latin word rescrīptrum (an imperial rescript), which is a noun created from the neuter past participle rescrībere (to write back; reply).
Pronounced: REE-script, noun
Notes: You might be able to guess this meaning
The word popinjay is “someone who indulges in vain and empty chatter”
Our word is old; it came into English in the early 1300s
Once again, I’m going by a memory that may or may not be correct, but I think I heard this word in the original Star Trek series. I think Scotty used our word to describe an ambassador in “A Taste of Armageddon”, which is from the first season. I may try to re-watch this show, just to see if I remembered correctly. I didn’t know the word when I heard it then, but I never looked it up. I liked the sound of it, and it was clearly not meant in a complimentary way. Our word came into English from French and Spanish, but traces back to the Arabian word babbaga (parrot). The reference information I have says that the last syllable was changed from “ga” to “jay” because people thought the word referred to a jay. Update: I did watch “A Taste of Armageddon”, and I remembered correctly; Scotty does call Ambassor Fox a popinjay.
Pronounced: POP-in-jay, noun
Notes: I think I’ve heard the word, but I couldn’t define it well
The word Brobdingnagian means “marked by tremendous size”
Our word came into English in the mid-1700s
I think I read this word in CS Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia — possibly in Book 4 (The Silver Chair) — I think this because one part deals with a city of giants. However, some of the other books also mention giants and may have used this word. It’s also possible that am not remembering correctly. Those who have read more classical stories may know that this word comes from Gulliver’s Travels, by Jonathan Swift. In school, we read an excerpt from Gulliver’s Travels – his first of four adventures dealing with the people of Lilliput, who are tiny. His second adventure takes place in the land of Brobdingnag, which is inhabited by giants, and is the source for our word. Gulliver’s Travels was a very popular book in its day — so much that our word came into usage just a few years after the book’s publication.
Pronounced: brab-ding-NAH-gee-uhn, adj
Notes: People who know this word are better read than I am
The word starets is “a religious teacher or adviser”
Our word came into English in the 1920s
People familiar with the Eastern Orthodox Church (also known as Greek Orthodox) may know this word. In that church a starets is a spiritual adviser who is not necessarily a priest. Our word comes from the Russian word starets (elder).
Pronounced: STAR-its (alt: STAR-yits), noun
Notes: The plural is interesting (“startsy”). Another word I’ve not run across (I don’t think I read the right kind of books to run across the word)
The word denegation means “denial”
Our word came into English in the late 1400s
If you saw “negation” in our word, it would get you close to the meaning. Our word traces back to the Latin verb negare (to say no, to deny). This same Latin root also gives us abnegation (self-denial), negate, and renegate, which originally referred to someone who denies (leaves) a religious faith.
Pronounced: deh-nih-GAY-shun, noun
Notes: A simpler definition that I thought
The word paries is “a wall of a body part or cavity”
Our word came into English in the late 1600s
I cannot recall ever running across this word; however, it is related to the word “parietal”, which I have heard in some mystery stories (I think “parietal lobe”). Anyway, our word comes from the Latin word paries (wall).
Pronounced: PAR-ee-eez, noun
Notes: This word has an odd plural (parietes)
The word palisade means
Our word came into English in the late 1500s
I happen to know the first definition because of a strategy game called “Age of Empires II” – one of the types of early defense that can be built is a palisade wall. There is a line of cliffs along the western bank of the Hudson River in southeastern New York and northern New Jersey, presumably because the cliffs resemble rows of stakes or trees. Although who first created the name is unknown, the meaning has generally spread to the third definition above, whether or not they look like a stakes or not. Our word came into English from the French word palissade, which came from the Latin word palus (stake).
Pronounced: pah-luh-SADE, noun
Notes: I knew one of the definitions
The word quale means “a quality or property as perceived by a person; a subjective experience”
Our word came into English in the mid-1600s
Our word came from the Latin word qualis (or what kind).
Pronounced: KWA-lee (alt: KWA-lay), noun
Notes: Interesting plural form (qualia); not a word I knew
The word mithridate is “an antidote against poison; especially a confection held to be effective against poison”
Our word came into English in the 1500s
It wasn’t until I read the etymology that our word sounded familiar. Around three months ago, we have a similar word, with the same background – mithridatism and, almost a year ago, we had mithridatize. And yet the meaning of our word is slightly different. Since I’ve given the story twice, I won’t repeat it again; you can read about Mithridates the Great in those links.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day