mithridate

Pronounced: MITH-ruh-date, noun

Notes: This word made me think of “mithril”, the fictional metal invented by J. R. R. Tolkien

Yesterday’s word

The word bema is

  • a platform for speaking
  • an area around the altar in a place of worship
First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1600s

Background / Comments

Our word comes from the Greek word bema (step; platform), which comes from bainein (to go). I had a vague idea of the meaning from listening to Bible teaching: it says, concerning believers, that they “must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ”. The word “judgment seat” is our our word bema; in context, it refers to the Greek athletic contests (the Isthmian games) in which judges carefully watched the contestants to ensure that they obeyed all the rules of the contest. The lawful winner was led by a judge to a platform called bema, where he received a laurel wreath. In completeness, bema is also used in the gospels and Acts to refer to the platform where a Roman ruler sat to make decisions or pass judgment.

bema

Pronounced: BEE-muh, noun

Notes: I had a vague notion of the meaning

Yesterday’s word

The word algid means “cold”

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1600s

Background / Comments

Our word is the only English word that comes from the Latin word algēre (to feel cold). Our word is also used to describe a severe form of malaria, marked by prostration, cold and clammy skin, and low blood pressure.

algid

Pronounced: AL-juhd, adj

Notes: Another in a long list of words I don’t know

Yesterday’s word

The word pangram is “a sentence that uses all of the letters of the alphabet”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

Probably the most famous pangram (at least for those that took typing class) is “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” Another one I rather like (but I had to look it up) is “My girl wove six dozen plaid jackets before she quit.” Our word comes from two Greek words: pan- (all) combined with -gram (something written).

pangram

Pronounced: PAN-gram (alt: PAN-gruhm; PANG-gram), noun

Notes: I didn’t know this word when I first came across it, but I know it now

Yesterday’s word

The word taradiddle means

  • a small lie; a fib
  • pretentious nonsense
First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1700s

Background / Comments

Our word is used informally. I knew the first definition; it was used in the Lord Peter Wimsey story Clouds of Witness by Dorothy Sayers. I was not aware of the second definition. The origin of our word is uncertain.

taradiddle

Pronounced: tar-uh-DID-uhl, noun

Notes: I’ve run across this word in reading, and I knew one of the definitions

Yesterday’s word

The word disseise means “to deprive especially wrongfully of seisin; dispossess”

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1200s.

Background / Comments

Our word is one of those irritating dictionary entries that define a word using another form of the word: I had to look up “seisin” (this refers to land or chattel — chattel is movable personal property). Our word was used in the Magna Carta (1215) thus: “No free man shall be… disseised… except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land”. Our word comes from the Anglo-French word seisir (to put in possession of).

disseise

Pronounced: dih-SEEZ (alt: diss-SEEZ), verb

Notes: It sounds like “disease”, but isn’t related

Yesterday’s word

The word bletting means “the ripening of fruit, especially of fruit stored until the desired degree of softness is attained”.

First usage

Our word is one of the rare ones that I cannot find out when it came into English

Background / Comments

Our word is near the end of the not-very-good calendar of words; this time, they listed the word as a verb, even though their own definition was that of a noun. It looks to be the gerund of “blet”, but “blet” is not a verb either (as least, not that I could find). Our word comes from the French word blet (overripe), which is considered to be a variant of the Old French word bleche, which is an adjective that comes from the verb blecier (to bruise).

bletting

Pronounced: BLET-ing, noun

Notes: Another word I’ve never run across

Yesterday’s word

The word ambigram is “a word or phrase written in a manner that is reads the same (in some cases, a different word or phrase) when oriented in a different way (such as reflected or rotated).

First usage

Our word came into English in the 1980s

Background / Comments

You may be able to split our word apart into its components (but I don’t know how much that would help). It is made up of the Latin words ambi- (both) and -gram (something written). You can find images of ambigrams on the Internet.

ambigram

Pronounced: AM-bih-gram, noun

Notes: I didn’t know this word

Yesterday’s word

The word Ameslan means “American Sign Language”

First usage

Our word came into usage in the 1970s

Background / Comments

This word was created in America, and is made up from American Sign Language. I know some people who know sign language, but I’ve never heard this term.

Ameslan

Pronounced: AM-uh-slan (alt: AM-slan), noun

Notes: Kind of a specialized word; some of you may know it (I didn’t)

Yesterday’s word

The word calligram means “a word, phrase, or piece of text arranged to form a picture of the subject described”

First usage

Our word came into English in the 1920s

Background / Comments

Think of the notes of a scale written to look like a treble clef, or words for ‘bicycle’ in multiple languages arranged to look like a bicycle. These are examples of calligrams. The word comes from the French word calligramme, which comes from the Greek words calli- (beautiful) and -gram (something written). The word ‘calligraphy’ comes from the same sources, with -graph (writing) instead of -gram.

calligram

Pronounced: KAL-ih-gram, noun

Notes: You probably can guess this word

Yesterday’s word

The word pilar means “of, pertaining to, or covered with, hair”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

Our word comes from the New Latin word pilāris (of hair). Note that our word does not apply only to human hair; a coconut shell can be described as a “pilar shell”.