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January 20, 2008

Quean (noun)

Pronunciation: [kween]

Definition: No, today's word is not a misspelling but a slightly different word from what you thought with a radically different meaning. A quean is a bold, impudent, or ill-behaved woman, even a hussy or a strumpet.

Usage: This word is seldom used today because its pronunciation leads it to confusion with "queen," the other word with the same pronunciation and etymological origin but a vastly different meaning (usually). The British magazine 'Listener' referred to a someone in a 1969 issue as "an old quean who thinks she's an old queen."

Suggested Usage: Usage: Lest the rappers think we ignore their needs, here is an example of how they can put today's word to work for them: "Jean is a keen dean at school but a mean quean on the neighborhood scene." Don't overlook the fact that, should you write that your boss, teacher, etc. is "a real quean," they will at worst think you a bad speller. A somewhat archaic but still quite quaint variant of today's word is "cotquean," a combination of cot "house" (the root of "cottage") + "quean." For example, "Mary Grace scolds her family like an Amazonian cotquean when they displease her."

Etymology: Today's word originated as Old English cwene [kwenê] when "queen" was "cwen" [kweyn]. Both are akin to Dutch kween "barren cow" and Swedish kvinna "woman." All these words originated in the Proto-Indo-European root *gwen-, which also produced Greek gyne "woman," found today in English "gynecology" and "misogynist." In Russian and other Slavic languages it became "zhena" and in Persian, "zan." The Irish descendant of the same root was bean "woman" which, when combined with the word for fairy, "sídhe," becomes bean sídhe "woman of the fairies" or "banshee," the female spirit whose wailing presages death in Irish folklore.

January 21, 2008

Deign (verb)

Pronunciation: [deyn]

Definition: To consider appropriate to one's dignity or standing.

Usage: The spelling of this word has been left behind the spelling of its relatives. Its antonym, for example, is no longer "disdeign" but "disdain," even though it originates with the same French stem (see Etymology). Why is the stem spelled two different ways? Don't ask.

Suggested Usage: These days we don't seem to deign as much as we once did: "Harold entered Guido's house unheralded—the dog did not deign to bark at anyone who so obviously posed no threat to the household." We might just as well say that the dog disdained barking at Harold. To deign or not to deign, that is the question in some of our hearts, "Portia Radcliff finally deigned to go out with Horace when she learned he drove a Ferrari."

Etymology: From Old French deignier" from Latin dignari "to deem worthy or fit" from the adjective dignus "worthy." The Old French antonym of today's word was "desdeignier," which looks much more like "deign" than its English counterpart: "disdain." Other words sprung from "dignus" include "dignity" and "indignant." This Latin adjective originated in the Proto-Indo-European root *dek-/dok- "accept," which also turns up in "doctor," "document," "dogma" and "doctrine," all from Latin docere "to teach (cause to accept)." Latin decus "grace, ornament" comes from the e-grade variant of the root (*dec-) and underlies "decorate," "décor," and "decorum" in English.

January 22, 2008

Homunculus (noun)

Pronunciation: [hê-'mên-kyê-lês ]

Definition: A very small man.

Usage: The plural is "homunculi" [hê-mên-kyê-lee] or [hê-mên-kyê-lI]. The Oxford English Dictionary for some reason prefers homuncule [hê-'mên-kyul]. Until modern medicine, it was believed that a human sperm cell contained a "preformed" complete homunculus that began growing in the womb. We recommend that you avoid this usage.

Suggested Usage: The term once substituted for "midget" and "pygmy" but is considered pejorative today. Its use should be restricted to science fiction or insults, which we are sure you never use: "A squad of homunculi exited the flying saucer and carried me into their medical examination room." You, of course, would never say things like this: "If his brother is a giant in his field, he is a homunculus in his."

Etymology: From the Latin diminutive (a word referring to something small or beloved) of homo, hominis "man." Germanic languages like English marked diminutives with -kin (lambkin, pumpkin, catkin). In fact, English has an old diminutive with the same meaning as homunculus: "manikin." This word was borrowed by French then borrowed back by English as "mannequin" with a different meaning.

January 23, 2008

Compatible (adjective)

Pronunciation: [kəm pat′ə bəl]

Compatible

January 24, 2008

Unctuous (adjective)

Pronunciation: ['ungk-chu-wês]

Definition 1: Having the qualities of an unguent: oily or greasy; soft and rich, as "unctuous soil."

Usage 1: The meaning is very close to that of "smarmy," a previous YDC Word of the Day.

Definition 2: Insincerely and exaggeratedly earnest; obsequious.

Suggested Usage: Minerals are sometimes unctuous, having a slippery, oily feel. Fatty meats are unctuous. Unctuous fingers may result from eating unctuous meat. Overly solicitous people are also unctuous in a different sense: "We were met outside by an unctuous doorman building the impression that his life was devoted solely to us."

Etymology: From Latin unctum "ointment," the neuter past participle of unguere "to anoint."

January 25, 2008

Thalassic (adjective)

Pronunciation: [thê-'læ-sik]

Definition: Pertaining to the sea; marine.

Usage: This is a euphonic onomatopoeic alternative to "marine." The liquid [l] and hissing [s] give the word more semblance of sea sounds than does "marine." The mind swoons at the thought of the illustrious members of the thalass- word family: "When England ruled the seas, it was a thalassocracy," "In college Mary is studying endangered thalassians—sea turtles," and "It's cool to study thalassography by walking along the seashore."

Suggested Usage: We may speak of thalassic smells or colors and the thalassic civilizations around the Mediterranean Sea. Thalassic rocks are those composed of sediments of the sea. We can dream thalassic dreams until the occasion for a thalassic respite from work presents itself. Wouldn't you much prefer a thalassic respite to shelling out for a vacation at the shore?

Etymology: The adjective "thalassic" goes back to Greek thalassa "sea." It was made memorable by Xenophon in his "Anabasis" as the cry of the Greek mercenaries recruited by Cyrus the Younger to fight in Persia. Upon return to their homeland, when they first saw the Black Sea that would lead them to Greece, they shouted, "Thalassa, thalassa."

January 26, 2008

Epiboly (noun)

Pronunciation: [i-'pi-bê-lee]

Definition: The growth of one part about another, as rapidly dividing cells grow around a more slowly dividing group.

Usage: Today's word comes to us from embryology, a specialization of biology engaged in research on the prenatal development of organisms. Its use is usually restricted to the medical profession but today we are going to suggest kidnapping it for the linguistic benefit of the general population. The adjective is epibolic [e-pê-'bah-lik].

Suggested Usage: The metaphorical applications of the broad concept explode on the fertile mind: "Giles is rarely seen without his new epiboly, Gladys, with her arms wrapped around his neck." Abstract epibolies are not difficult to spot, either, "Daria's new train-spotting hobby has turned out to be a heavy epiboly on her already busy schedule!"

Etymology: From Greek epibole "addition" from epiballein "to throw on." Epiballein results from epi- "on, over, at" + ballein "to throw." Before you ask, yes, we do get "ball" from the same origin but the one meaning the dance you throw. The round object, ball, devolved from the same source as English "blow," "balloon," "boulevard," and, of course, "bull." Here we see how etymological change can lead to identical unrelated words as surely as it can lead to radically different related words.