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February 24, 2008

Digress (verb)

Pronunciation: [dI-'gres]

Definition: To stray from an expected course, to move in an irrelevant direction.

Usage: "Digress" displays a full array of secondary derivations: someone who digresses is a digresser, the activity is a digression, and the behavior itself is digressive. "Digressively" is the adverb.

Suggested Usage: First, this word has a rather direct, physical sense: "On the way to the opera Downham Martini digressed slightly to a pub for a bit of light refreshment." However, it is probably more commonly used to refer to a metaphorical straying away from the subject at hand, "Could we stick to the topic of the new project, please, without digressing into how much it will promote our careers? Thanks."

Etymology:  Latin digredior, digress- "to separate, part" based on di(s) "away" + gradior "to step, walk." The Latin root derives from Proto-Indo-European ghredh- "to walk, step, move," also the source of Sanscrit kra-, kram "to go" and German schreiten "to step" and Schritt "step." The Latin root is also found in English congress (come together), ingredient (what goes in), transgress (to step across the line). We also have "grade," "gradual," and "graduate" from related Latin gradus "step," the noun from gradior.

February 25, 2008

Snollygoster (noun)

Pronunciation: ['sna-li-gah-stêr]

Definition: (Regional slang) An unscrupulous but shrewd person; a hob-goblin that preys on naughty boys, girls and poultry (sometimes called a "snallygaster").

Usage: Occasionally we offer a local dialectal variant like today's word just to share the fun it brings with the entire English-speaking community. Today's word seems to have originated in the Pennsylvania-Maryland area of the Eastern United States but occurs widely now in the Northeast. There might be a place for it in the general vocabulary.

Suggested Usage: Although dictionaries often claim this word refers only to politicians, in New England it sometimes refers to extremely bad storms (Nor'easters). The common thread seems to be something noxious and deceptive, "Hubert hired some snollygoster to put siding on his house and now it's falling off and Hubert can't find him anywhere." Of course, never say anything like this to your children: "Hetty, if you don't put your toys away, the snollygoster will get you and your pet chicken!" She might try the same tactic on your grandchildren.

Etymology: In some areas of the Eastern United States, parents keep their children ruly with warnings about the evil snollygoster or snallygaster, a nocturnal monster that is part bird, part reptile, and pounces with incredible swiftness when least expected. The name apparently derives from Pennsylvania Dutch schnelle geeschter "quick spirit," a dialectal variant of German schnell "fast, quick" and German Geist "spirit," the latter akin to English "ghost." "Snollygoster" is apparently the last stage of the progression schnelle geeschter > snallygaster > snollygoster.

February 26, 2008

Principle (noun)

Pronunciation: ['prin-sê-pêl]

Definition: A fundamental truth or rule, especially a rule of moral character, as a woman of principle.

Usage: No Word-of-the-Day series would be complete without an explanation of the differences between "principle" and "principal." Today's word is only a noun but "principal" may be either a noun or an adjective. As both it means "chief," e.g. the principal role in a play is the chief (main) role while the principal in a school or law or architecture firm is the chief of the firm, the highest member of its hierarchy.

Suggested Usage: Many principles guide our day-to-day lives but the principal principle is not to take life too seriously. Notice this principle proposes a balance: that life not be taken frivolously but also not be taken so seriously as to become burdensome. Others will have their own principal principle—but the point here is that a principal principle is a useful mnemonic for keeping track of the spellings of these two words.

Etymology: From Latin principalis, the adjective of princeps, princip- "he who takes first place, leader, emperor." The ultimate roots here are *per- "forward, before" + *kap "take." "Per" is found without its vowel in "private" and "privilege" from Latin privus "single, alone" and Latin proprius, "one's own, particular" from which English derives "proper." "Premier," "primary," "prime," "primitive" all come from Latin primus "first, foremost," which leads us to "princeps" which underlies today's English word, as well as "prince." The second stem, *kap, is the source of "capture" from Latin capere "catch, seize" and English "have."

February 27, 2008

Fob (noun)

Pronunciation: ['fahb]

Definition: A cheat, imposter, rogue; a small pocket in the waistband of trousers for carrying valuables secretly; the chain or ribbon attached to a watch in a fob pocket.

Usage: The verb, "to fob (something off on someone)," derives from the original meaning of the noun, "to cheat, misrepresent." But then the term "watch fob" does, too, for it was originally a sneaky pocket used to hide money and other valuables such as a watch. A fob chain or ribbon was used to extract valuables from fob pocket and later the word "fob" alone came to refer to the chain or ribbon.

Suggested Usage: Here is how you use both the obvious meanings of today's word in one sentence: "Whom did you manage to fob off that old fob of yours on?" But just because few people use the old meanings does not imply that they are no longer there: "Since some fob in Queensley picked his pocket, Kingsley keeps his large bills in a fob pocket only he knows the location of."

Etymology: Here is a word whose meaning had migrated great distances in English in a process known as 'semantic narrowing,' the narrowing of a word's meaning to progressively smaller objects. Originally, it meant a sneaky person, then a sneaky pocket, next the object kept in the pocket, and finally a chain on the object kept in the pocket.

February 28, 2008

Bissextile (adjective)

Pronunciation: [bI-'seks-tIL]

Definition: The discussion of same sex marriages made us think that we should send out a related word but we decided instead to offer this wholly unrelated word, which means "(1) referring to a leap year or (2) the extra day in a leap year."

Usage: Gotcha! Today's word has absolutely nothing to do with gender differences. As you can see from the Etymology, it refers only to leap year or the intercalary (extra) day of a leap year. If you are in a hurry, you may refer to the extra day simply as the "bissext," though "bissextus" is probably the more easily pronounced.

Suggested Usage: For those of you born on February 29, here is something you can't get away with, "The reason Gilliam is 10 but looks 40 is that he was born in a bissextile year and only has birthdays every 4 years." That simply doesn't work, however logical it might seem. 2004 has a bissectus (yesterday) and hence is a bissextile year.

Etymology: This word comes from Latin bissextilis "having an intercalary day" from the first word of the phrase bis sextus (dies) "twice the sixth day," from bis "twice" and sextus "sixth." The phrase arises from the fact that the sixth day before the Calends of March (February 24} occurred twice every leap year in the Roman calendar. Thus this "sex" comes from the Latin word for "six," which shares the same origin as German "sechs," Dutch "zes," Spanish "seis," French "six," Italian "sei," Russian "shest'," and Classical Greek "hex" (remember "semi-" and "hemi-"?) Many words come from the Latin and Greek versions of this root: "sextet," "sextillion," and "hexagonal." "Siesta" was inherited by Spanish from the Romans, by whose timepieces midday was 6 o'sundial.

February 29, 2008

Eke (verb)

Pronunciation: [eek]

Definition: To increase, supplement, to fill out; to barely gain even through hard work. ("Eke" is eke an archaic adverb meaning "also.")

Usage: Here is a good example of how the meanings of words evolve over time. Originally this word meant "to supplement, complete, fill out," as in "to eke out a living with a second job" or "eke out the material with a scrap in the sewing machine." However, the implication of a supplement, such as a second job, implies shortage and hardship, so the next generation came to (mis)take this word as meaning "supplement by hardship." The next generation then focused on the hardship itself, as to "eke out an existence from an abandoned mine," which suggests a bare existence achieved through difficult labor. Language learning is imperfect and each new generation of speakers does not comprehend the meanings of words exactly as its teachers intend them.

Suggested Usage: Today's word has a meaning we are about to lose, "to add, supplement, fill out," as in "The memory of their week on the Greek Isles eked out Stella's enjoyment of their reunion dinner." But even the new meaning admits of innovative usage, "After dating her for 7 years, Hargrove could eke very little joy out of Gladys' marriage to his erstwhile friend, Alistair."

Etymology: Old English ecan from Old Germanic *aukjan, related to Latin augere "to increase" whence "augment," "auction," and Greek auxanein "to increase." "Auxiliary" is from Latin auxilium, eke based on this same root. Without the initial [a], the [u] becomes a consonant, [w], and the addition of the suffix [s] produces *wegs, which underlies the verb wax [waks] "to grow," as "to wax romantic" and the part of the body most notable for it growth—"waist."

March 1, 2008

Thwart (verb)

Pronunciation: [thwart]

Definition: (1) To pass from one side or end to the other, as a lizard might quickly thwart a road. (2) To lay something athwart, as to thwart a stream with logs to create a pond. (3) To obstruct, as to thwart the forward progress of vehicles on the road. (4) To frustrate, defeat, as the media thwart efforts to maintain the pristine beauty of the English language.

Usage: It has been a long time since we last ran across an English word pronounced the way it is spelt but here is another. It has only been a few days since we have seen a word whose semantic progress is so clearly laid out as today's (remember "eke"?) Just follow the numbers in the definition and you will see what I mean.

Suggested Usage: Meanings (1) and (2) above have been deemed archaic by the majority of dictionaries but if you refuse to allow archaicity to thwart your creative drive, you may challenge your swimming partner to try to thwart the river before you and, by the time he figures your meaning, you will be halfway to the other side. The noun "thwart" is seldom used except in referring to the crosswise seat on a rowing boat. The preposition, however, is still alive: "The fence cut athwart his path" or, again, "The mountains athwart the moist winds from the Indian Ocean left the leeward plains desiccated."

Etymology: Today's word comes from common Germanic and is not borrowed from any language. Its cousins are found in all Germanic languages: German zwerch "athwart," Norwegian tvers "over," Swedish tvär "crossways," Danish tværs "across." The PIE root underlying the Germanic stem also gave us "torch," "torque," "tortuous," "torture," "contort," and "distort"—all come from Latin torquere "to twist," formed by metathesis, the switching places between the [r] and the vowel. Sanskrit tarkú "spindle" shares the same lexical ancestor.