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February 10, 2008

Derogate (verb)

Pronunciation: ['de-rê-geyt]

Definition: (Intransitive) To detract, undermine, blemish; (transitive) to decry, denounce, belittle.

Usage: We most often use the adjective of this Latinate family, "derogatory." However, it is a large family replete with the verb we are discussing now, an action noun, "derogation," an agent noun, "derogator," and an adverb, "derogatorily."

Suggested Usage: The intransitive sense of today's word is used with the preposition 'from' like this: "Henry's loss of the contract to his brother severely derogated from his chances of promotion." The transitive sense is very close to that of "decry" or "belittle"—to speak derogatorily about something, "Anthony constantly derogates my attempts to convert lead into gold."

Etymology: Today's word comes from Latin derogare, derogat- "to partially repeal, to take away, to diminish," comprising de- "from" + rogare "to ask." The root, rog-, descends from a very prolific Proto-Indo-European root *reg-/*rog- "to make or be straight, to rule." It is found in many words indicating measurement or governance, such as Sanskrit raja "king," Latin rex, regis "king" and English "royal" from the French descendant of Latin "rex," "roi." In German, this root turns up as reich "rich" and Reich "empire." But we have descendants of the same root in "regular" from Latin regula "straight stick, measuring stick." English "rule" is a corruption of the same word, "regula."

February 11, 2008

Zeugma (noun)

Pronunciation: ['zug-mê ]

Definition: The Greek correlate of the Latinate word, "syllepsis" [si-'lep-sis], a syntactic construction in which a single word governs at least two other words or phrases even though its sense applies to them in different ways, e.g. "He flew off the handle and straight to Rio."

Usage: Zeugma (syllepsis) usually indicates that one of the words or phrases involved is used normally while the other is in an idiom. "To lose one's temper" is idiomatic (nothing is actually lost) while the meaning of "to lose his hat" is straightforward. However, if you combine them, i.e. "He lost his hat and his temper," the result is a mildly amusing zeugmatic expression which is syntactically good but semantically not so.

Suggested Usage: Let's begin with an example of zeugma from 'Dombey and Son' by Charles Dickens, "Miss Nipper shook her head and a tin canister, and began, unasked, to make the tea." Get the idea? Now let's see if we can do it: "Councilwoman Rankin would rather press flesh than clothes." You have probably already heard something similar to this, "He drove his car recklessly and his wife crazy." All these sentences suffer from inoperable zeugma.

Etymology: From Greek zeugma "a bond," which devolved from earlier *yeug-, also the origin of English "yoke." Latin jugum "yoke" ([j] was pronounce [y]) is another descendent, one responsible for English "jugular," "conjugate," and "subjugate." The same root became Sanskrit yugam "yoke" and yoga "union." English "jostle" is a former diminutive of "joust," borrowed from Latin iuxtare "to be next to" from iuxta "nearby," another relative. The nasalized variant gave us English "join," "joint," "junction" and Spanish "junta," all originating in Latin iungere "to join."

February 12, 2008

Haywire (adjective)

Pronunciation: ['hey-wIr]

Definition: (Colloquial) Crazy, out of control.

Usage: Today's word represents an unusual though not rare situation in which an adjective derived from the noun exhibits a wholly different sense and use than the noun. The noun still refers to wire used in baling hay (though hay is generally rolled and plastic-wrapped today) but the adjective means "crazy!" There is no adverb form nor verbal use available.

Suggested Usage: Today's term is colloquial if not slang, which means its usage is restricted to casual conversation and circumscribed from formal writing. It is used mostly in the phrase "go haywire:" "My car has gone completely haywire. When I switch on the heater, the windshiled wipers flap." It is an adjective, however, with the usual sorts of adjectival applications, "My cat had a haywire moment this weekend and started chasing dogs."

Etymology: Many think today's word is a story of semantics gone haywire. "Haywire" originated as a normal compound of the words "hay" and "wire" denoting the wire used to bale hay. However, in the days before duct tape (no, it wasn't originally used to tape ducks), clueless toolless people made the same repairs with haywire. As early as 1905 the term "haywire outfit" was used to refer to a poorly equipped work crew, taking on the adjectival meaning "makeshift" or "jury-rigged" (the original spelling of "jerry-rigged"). Then, in a totally unrelated development, it acquired the sense of "crazy, unpredictable" because of the unpredictable way it flies apart when, tightly stretched around a bale of hay, it is cut to open the bale.

February 13, 2008

Concupiscence (noun)

Pronunciation: [kahn-kyê-'pi-shênts]

Definition: A powerful lust, especially sexual, for something.

Usage: The word is often used as the antonym of Platonic love. St. Augustine wrote on marriage and concupiscence, noting that the avoidance of concupiscence toward the spouses of others is not enough; married couples should extirpate it from their relationship, too.

Suggested Usage: The word may be used metaphorically to express a strong, visceral desire for anything: "Her concupiscence for chocolate keeps her in Tae Bo classes constantly." You might also say, "His concupiscence for work left his family in despair," instead of calling him a workaholic.

Etymology: Latin concupiscere "to desire ardently", from com- "with" + cupere "to desire". The stem cup- underlies "Cupid" and "cupidity", from cupido "desire".

February 14, 2008

Prescient (adjective)

Pronunciation: ['pre-shênt]

Definition: Having knowledge beforehand.

Usage: The noun is "prescience" ['pre-shêns]. "May had the prescience to take her umbrella to work despite the sunny skies this morning."

Suggested Usage: Let us hope we all have the prescience to designate a driver before we go partying. But this is a word that comes in handy anywhere thinking ahead is appropriate: "Lou's wealth resulted from prescient investments before retirement." At home try this: "I'm not prescient and you didn't call; how could I know you would bring all your friends home for lunch?"

Etymology:  From Latin praescins, participle of praescire "to know ahead": prae- "before" + scire "to know" (whence "science"). Scire and scindere "split" derive from the PIE stem *skei- "cut, split." Old Irish scian "knife" and English sheath, and Greek skhizein "to split" whence "schism" and "schizo-" probably all share the same origin.

February 15, 2008

Etcetera (noun)

Pronunciation: [et-'se-tê-rê]

Definition: And others of a similar kind.

Usage: Today's word is a bit more focused than such native expressions as "so forth," "so on," and "among others;" it refers only to others of the same class. English also uses Latin et alii, abbreviated as et al. "and others" to refer to coauthors, such as "Anderson et al.," meaning that Anderson was one of several authors. Today's word is also a countable noun that means, in the plural (etceteras), "miscellaneous extra things or persons."

Suggested Usage: There is no need to string several etceteras on the end of a sentence even though you might be tempted, "Sheila has a million reasons for not cooking: the stove doesn't work, the ingredients are old, the restaurants are cheap, etc." One "etcetera" suffices as a substitute for even the 999,997 missing reasons here. The plural noun can be a lot of fun: "The prince arrived with a ton of luggage and an entourage of busy little etceteras."

Etymology: Today's word is a Latin two-word phrase, et "and" plus cetera "the others." "Cetera" comes from *ke-etero- where tero- means "a second time, again," also found in ceteris paribus "other things being the same." The ke- is an ancient word for "this." Because [k] became [h] in initial position in English, we are not surprised that "here, hence, hither" all begin with this root. It also turns up in "he/him" and "her" (dative-accusative of Old English heo "she.") The neuter 3rd singular pronoun in Old English was hit "it," heard today in some rural dialects in the Southeastern United States. In Old Russian *ke- developed into sei "this," found today in segodnya "today" and seichas "right now" from a time when chas, now "hour," meant "moment."

February 16, 2008

Varlet (noun)

Pronunciation: ['vah(r)-let]

Definition: (1) An attendant or servant; a knight's page. (2) A rascal; a knave

Usage: While "varmint" skulks in the shady reputation of slang, today's is a word of sterling character and reputation that may be used in any situation where it is appropriate to speak of varletry. That's right, the behavior of varlets is "varletry."

Suggested Usage: Perhaps you think the days of varlets, rascals, and knaves has passed but, if you look around carefully, you will see that they remain well represented in the current population: "Sometimes it seems as though only varlets, knaves, and rascals can reach high office in business or government." Of course, it only seems that way. If no decent people rose to high positions in business and government, no one would be chasing the varlets out today!

Etymology: Today's word is a variant of Old French vaslet "squire, servant," which reduced to "valet" in modern French. "Vaslet" is akin to vassal "feudal tenant," the root of which is vas-, a word of Celtic origin. It originates in Old Gaulish vassus or vasso "servant, young man," a word related to Welsh "gwas," Irish "foss," and Breton "goaz," according to the Oxford English Dictionary.