Pusillanimous

This word has nothing to do with pugilism, as I mistakenly thought.  Quite the opposite, in fact.  It's an adjective that means cowardly, faint hearted and weak spirited.  It's earliest recorded use was from before 1425 (spelt without the 'o') and came directly from the Latin pusillanumus/pusillanimis, which meant having very little courage.  It was a merging of the Latin for little, pusillus, and the Latin for spirit or courage, animus.  The spelling that we know first appeared in 1586, but sadly the word is rarely seen in literature anymore.

Allow me to leave you with a quote from a classic.  In the film The Wizard of Oz, the Wizard says to the Scarecrow, "Why anybody can have a brain.  That's a very mediocre commodity.  Every pusillanimous creature that crawls on the earth or slinks through slimy seas has a brain."


Sources:
Chambers 21st Century Dictionary (1996), Chambers.
The Wizard of Oz [online], www.imdb.com/title/tt0032138 (Accessed 10 February 2012).
Images:
The Wizard of Oz (1939), Warner Brothers.



Juliana

Esurient

It's not often that I come across a new word (forgive me if this sounds like bragging, but it is more to do with my choice of reading material rather than my 'extensive' vocabulary), so when I do find a new word it's like coming across an antique at a car boot sale.

The word I learnt yesterday was esurient, found on page 103 in Kevin Hearne's novel 'Hounded' (published by Orbit in 2011): "I felt completely restored, albeit dreadfully thirsty and a bit esurient".

Esurient is an archiac expression that means hungry (appropriately used in the novel as the character is an immortal Druid) and comes from the Latin esurire and esuriens, to hunger.  It's so archiac, that the word does not appear in many dictionaries.  I had quite a hunt to find it's meaning.

So, amaze your friends and family.  Next time someone asks you, "Are you hungry?", you can reply "Yes, I'm quite esurient", and watch their faces as they try to work out what you just said...

Sources:
The Concise Oxford Dicitonary of Current English (1995), Clarendon Press.
Hearne, Kevin (2011) Hounded, Orbit.


Juliana

Tawdry

This word has a fascinating history.  Since 1676 century it has meant showy, cheap and gaudy, however, before this it had a different meaning.  It is a shortened form of tawdry lace.  Tawdry is a corruption of Saint Audrey, and tawdry lace was a lace necklace or ribbon sold at annual St. Audrey fairs during the Middle Ages.  In one of Shakespeare's plays A Winter's Tale (c.1610), a shepherdess called Mopsa says "Come, you promised me a tawdry lace and a pair of sweet gloves" (Act IV, Scene 3).

In the Middle Ages, tawdry lace necklaces were believed to have healing powers, to cure illnesses of the throat and neck.  This was derived from the legend of Saint Audrey (also known as Saint Ethelreda), who died in the seventh century from plague.  Before her death, a doctor removed a tumour from her neck, which the Audrey believed was divine punishment for her youthful fondness for pretty and expensive necklaces.  However, when her body was exhumed seventeen years later it was not only uncorrupted (a common sign of saintliness), but the wound from her neck surgery had healed.  Thus the myth of the tawdry necklace was born.

When the Reformation removed all images of saints and attempted to eradicate all belief in their legends, the meaning of tawdry lace changed from being a miraculous amulet to the current meaning of showy and gaudy.

Tawdry is a good example of how a word's meaning can be affected by changes in society.  In this case, religious reformation altered tawdry's meaning from a positive one requiring faith in the saint's\legend to something negative and perjorative.

Sources:
Bridgman, Peter (2004) Shakespeare and St. Ethelreda's, Ely Place [online], available from www.stethelreda,com/pamphlet.doc (accessed 9 June 2011)
Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (1988), Chambers


Juliana

Veriloquy

This word is particularly apt for this blog.  According to Thomas Blount's Glossographia in 1656, it means the expression of a word, the etymology of a word.  This is exactly what this blog is all about, discovering the meanings of words, their origins and and earliest recorded usage.

Veriloquy also means truth speaking, from the Latin veri meaning truth, and Latin loquis meaning to speak.  This word has been used since the 17th century.  Other words with similar origins are veriloquent, verity and verily.

Sources:
Blount, Thomas (1972) Glossographia 1656, G. Olms.
Colonial Sense (2011) Colonial Dictionary [online] http://www.colonialsense.com/Society-Lifestyle/Colonial_Dictionary/Main.php?CS=V (Accessed 17th May 2011).


Juliana

Portmanteau

This is not just the name of a travelling bag with two compartments (taken from the Middle French c.1584), but is also an adjective describing the blending of two of more different things of the same type.

However, for this blog, there is another more relevant meaning.  In 1882 portmanteau words entered the dictionary, thanks to Lewis Carroll, who coined the phrase as a noun to describe words made from a combination of two different words.  In Through the Looking Glass (1872), Humpty Dumpty tells Alice: "Well, slithy means 'lithe and slimy'...You see it's like a portmanteau - there are two meanings packed into one word."  Another word, also created by Lewis Carroll in the same novel is still used to day - chortle, a blend of chuckle and snort.

Other portmanteau words I have heard recently are ginormous (a mix of giant and enormous) and fantabulous (fantastic and fabulous).  Von has coined her own portmanteau word - interweb (internet and world wide web).

Although Lewis Carroll is credited with creating portmanteau words, there is evidence that they have been around since the early nineteenth century.  One of the earliest (c.1832), was savagerous - a blend of savage and dangerous.  One of my favourites, from the 1870s, is infanticipate, to await the arrival of a baby.  Such a pity this word is no longer used.

Portmanteau words are easy and fun to create.  You never know, maybe you already have some in your vocabulary.

Sources:
Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (1988), Chambers.


Juliana

Animal adjectives

One of my regular library borrowers is a learned lady in her senior years.  She frequently challenges me with new words, quotes and snippets of poetry, sending me on quests to discover new treasures of literature and linguistics.  Her latest query was to look up the word musine.  This word means relating to the genus or to the subfamily of Muridae that includes it.  Musine is interchangeable with murine.  Both words are formed from the Latin for mouse mus or mur, and the Latin suffix -inus.  The latter has become -ine, via the French feminine form of -in, and is a suffix that forms adjectives from nouns, and means 'of, like, like that of, characteristic of, and having the nature of being'.

This discovery led me to realise that there are many other adjectives that come from the Latin words for various animals.  Many of which are used today to descibe someone's character or physical traits.  Here's a list of all the ones we could find.  See how many you recognise:-

1. Aquiline - of or like an eagle, curved, hooked like an eagle's beak, 1646, from the Latin aquila.
2. Avine - an archaic variation of avian; of, relating to, or characteristic of birds, from the Latin avis.
3. Bovine - of an ox or cow, 1817, from the French bovin(e) (1352), and from the Latin bovis.
4. Canine - of or like a dog, 1607, from the Latin canis.
5. Caprine - like a goat, or suggestive of a goat, from the Latin caper.
6. Elephantine - of or like an elephant, 1631, from the Latin elephantus.
7. Equine - of or like a horse, 1788, from the Latin equus.
8. Feline - of or like a cat, 1681, from the Latin felis.
9. Leonine - of or like a lion, c.1375 (found in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales), from the Old French leonin(e), and from the Latin leo.
10. Lupine - wolflike, fierce, 1660, from the Early French lupin(e), and the Latin lupus.
11. Ovine - of, being, or relating to sheep, from the Latin ovis.
12. Porcine - of pigs or hogs, before 1425, from the Old French porcin(e), and the Latin porcus.
13. Serpentine - of or like a serpent or snake, c.1408, from the Old French serpentin(e), and from the Latin serpens.
14. Ursine - of or relating to bears, bearlike, c.1550, from the Latin ursus.
15. Vulpine - of or like a fox, 1628, from the Latin vulpis.

So, there's fifteen animal adjectives.  Let me know if you can think of any more.

Sources:
Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (1988)
Websters Third New International Dictionary, unabridged (1993)


Juliana

Rood

I know this is a four letter word, but it's not a rude one!

A rood is the name given to the cross on which Christ died.  It is also used for any images of this (painting, sculpture, etc.) found in churches.  The word was used from before 1121, but spelt rode, which later became rood by the end of the fouteenth century.  It comes from the Old English rod, used before 830, which meant a cross, a pole, or a measure of land.

The rood is now used to mean a depiction of Christ on the cross, attended by the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Apostle, and it usually carved from wood.  Sometimes this was suspended from the ceiling, but most surviving examples are placed above a rood screen, which divided the Medieval Catholic church into two - one area for the congregation, and the other, behind the screen, was where the altar was placed, where only the priests were allowed.  One splendidly and intricately carved rood screen survives in the eleventh century church of Partrishow (aka Patrishow or Patricio) near Abergavenny in the Brecon Beacons, South Wales (see left).

Another more accessible example, is found in St. Teilo's Church in St. Fagan's National History Museum, near Cardiff (depicted right).  Dating from the twelfth century, this church (originally from Pontarddulais, near Swansea) has been recreated in the time of 1520, with marcellously bright murals and carvings.  This church, with its wonderful rood screen, gives you a chance to experience a Medieval church in all its glory.  I recommend a visit.

Sources:
Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (1988), Chambers.
Curl, James Stevens (1999) A Dictionary of Architecture, Oxford University Press.
Images:
Decoration - The Rood Screen (2009?) [online], http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/1207/ (Accessed 17 February 2011).
The Rood Screen at Partrishow/Patricio (2000) [online], http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1212550 (Accessed 17 February 2011).





Juliana

Twerp

In an episode of the TV series Psych (He Dead, season 4, episode 2) Detective Lassiter says "You were acting like an obnoxious little twerp", to which Shawn Spencer replies, "It's nice to hear the word twerp has survived the millennium".

My sentiments exactly.  This lovely little word doesn't seem to be used much anymore.

This slang word does not have a long history.  It's not known where it came from, but started to appear about 1925.  Twerp means a stupid, undesirable or inferior person.  That seems a little harsh.  Whenever I have heard the word used, it is used more affectionately.  In the TV series mentioned above, Shawn is often an idiot, but not stupid, undesirable or inferior.  This is just one example of how the meaning and usage of a word can change over time.  And also how some words may have a long history and others come and go within a century.  Twerp is being lost, and it's not even a century old.  How sad.

Sources:
Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (1988), Chambers.


Juliana 

Whoops-a-daisy!

In the film Notting Hill, Hugh Grant's character says "Whoops-a-daisy" to which Julia Roberts' character replies "No-one has said 'whoops-a-daisy' for fifty years". 

That's not quite true.

I still hear this expression used.  Granted, not very often, and rarely by anyone under forty.  But only yesterday, I spilt a glass of water and found myself saying "Whoops-a-daisy!" and I'm not quite forty yet!

One variant of this phrase is oops-a-daisy, also used after an accidental trip or spillage.  This is perhaps most commonly used and an early mention of it was in 1862 in Clough Robinson's The Dialect of Leeds and its Neighbourhood. 

Another common variant is upsy daisy, usually used when picking up babies and toddlers.  This phrase was used by Jonathan Swift in a letter published in The Journal of Stella in 1711.

So help bring this wonderful phrase back.  Pass it on, use it the next time you slip, trip or spill a drink.  Say "oops-a-daisy" and see what happens...

Sources:
Martin, Gary (1996-2010) 'Ups-a-daisy.' The Phrase Finder.  Available from:  http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/ups-a-daisy.html (Accessed 3rd January 2011).


Juliana