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March 30, 2008

Limen (noun)

Pronunciation: ['li-men]

Definition: The threshold beyond which a stimulus elicits a response.

Usage: The adjective here is "liminal." Now, most of us are familiar with the term "subliminal," as in "subliminal suggestion," generally used in the sense of "imperceptible but stimulating consciousness." That is not quite what it means. The precise meaning is "below (sub-) the threshold (of consciousness)." The difference is slight but significant, since we can speak of subliminal physical stimuli, too, as we will demonstrate in the next section. Remember the plural of today's word is "limina."

Suggested Usage: Here is how you may begin to explore the metaphorical potential of our old Freudian friend: "Hardy Flowers brought a subliminal wine that couldn't quite elicit a response from our taste buds." As for today's word itself, "I'm afraid that suggestion does not quite reach the limen of consideration." (Hopefully, it won't bring a sour response.)

Etymology: Latin limen "threshold" akin to limes, limitis "boundary," the origin of our word "limit."

March 31, 2008

Tantalize (verb)

Pronunciation: ['tæn-tê-lIz]

Definition: To torment by showing or promising something desirable but holding it just out or reach or withdrawing it at the last moment.

Usage: The adjective is "tantalizing," the adverb from it is "tantalizingly," and a person who tantalizes is a tantalizer.

Definition 2: In cultural anthropology, one of the two subdivisions of a society with a dual organizational structure; more specifically, one of the two units that make up a tribe on the basis of unilateral descent.

Suggested Usage: The fundamental sense of today's word is associated with holding food and drink just beyond the reach of someone who desires it: "I would rather be tantalized with Pearl's eggplant-zucchini soufflé than actually served it." Now, however, the sense has been extended to include anything, "I accepted this job because I was tantalized with a robust benefit package, most of which I never received."

Etymology: From Greek tantalizein "to wave about" whose stem also underlies the name of Tantalus, a human of such stature in Greek mythology that he was allowed to mingle with the gods of Olympus. When they came to dinner at his home, he wanted to offer them something very precious to him, so he made a stew of his son, Pelops (have times changed?). Tantalus' bad taste left such a bad taste in the mouths of the gods that, as punishment, Tantalus was forced to stand up to his chin in water beneath branches loaded with luscious fruit. If he lowered his head to drink or raised a hand to pick a fruit, however, the water and fruit would retreat beyond his reach.

April 1, 2008

Vituperate (verb)ous (adjective)

Pronunciation: [vI-'tu-pêr-yet or -'tyu (British)]

Definition: To scold extremely harshly and with abusive language, to furiously verbally abuse.

Usage: The adjective is "vituperative" and the noun, "vituperation." One who vituperates is a vituperator. "Fulminate" originally meant "to explode," so this verb refers to an explosive verbal attack on someone. "Vituperate" also refers to an abusive verbal attack but one which is not necessarily loud.

Suggested Usage: Here is a scene I would have paid real money to witness: "The incensed priests . . . continued to raise their voices, vituperating each other in bad Latin" –Walter Scott, Ivanhoe (1819). Here is the intelligent substitute for "curse" (or worse, "cuss") you have been looking for: "Vituperate as much as you please; even if you fulminate, I will not change my mind."

Etymology: Latin vituperare "to censure, find fault" from vitium "fault" + parare "to prepare, furnish." "Vitium" developed into French "vice" whence English vice "bad habit, crime." It is unrelated to the prefix "vice-" which comes from Latin vicinus "near, neighboring." It is related to Russian vina "guilt, fault."

April 2, 2008

Nobble (verb)

Pronunciation: [nahb-êl]

Definition: To disable (especially a racehorse) by drugging or laming; to win someone over; to steal; to kidnap; most broadly, to outdo or win someone to one's side by devious means.

Usage: A colorful word from a colorful lexical world: British and Australian horseracing punters blame nobbling for unexpected results that go against the odds. Someone who wins a competition, argument, or any contest through underhanded means would be a nobbler, the noun form of today's word.

Suggested Usage: For our Ossie friends: "When a boilover and a no-hoper that couldn't run a drum beats a dead bird, causing you to lose a gorilla and look a drongo, someone nobbled your horse." Some time ago, Yorkshire Television produced an entire detective mystery series about an ex-jockey who solves cases of nobbling mixed with murder—a truly British subgenre if ever there was one. In everyday use, we might say, "Geoff took the first swing at a nail when the head of his new hammer flew off. He was nobbled at the hardware store."

Etymology: The origins of today's word are officially unknown. It's close enough to "hobble," an acceptable means of limiting a horse's gait with a rope to suggest a relation. Perhaps a combination of "knackered," a lower register word for "tired out, exhausted" and "hobble," to denote that a horse has been done in completely.

April 3, 2008

Nefarious (adjective)

Pronunciation: [nê-fæ-ri-ês]

Definition: Wicked, evil.

Usage: The adverb is "nefariously" and the noun, "nefariousness." We know of no traps or peculiarities in the usage of this word that need to be respected, other than that it is a very strong word to be used sparingly in reference to others.

Suggested Usage: Today's word refers to the deepest level of evil, "Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin were among the most nefarious leaders of the 20th century." If it is used elsewhere, it should be applied judiciously: "I have no nefarious hidden agenda; I just want to buy you a cup of coffee and talk for a minute."

Etymology: Latin "nefarius" from nefas "crime, transgression" reducible to ne- "not" + fas "divine law." The Latin root actually derives from an original root *dho-/dhe which also produced English "do" and "deed." In Latin the initial consonant became [f] and, with it, the root shows up in facere "to do or make." This root is the origin of the –fic and numerous English words like "beautification" and is the origin of the suffix –fy in related verbs like "beautify." It is also the origin of the –fex in "pontifex," the full word from which "pontiff," the title of the pope, derives. "Pont," which now means "bridge" in Italian, originally meant "way," so the word "pontifex" meant "he who prepares the way."

April 4, 2008

Quincunx (noun)

Pronunciation: ['kwing-kungks]

Definition: Five objects arranged so that four are at the corners of a square or rectangle and one is at the center; the pattern of "five" on a 6-sided die.

Usage: Sir Francis Galton used a box with a triangular arrangement of pegs inside which he called a quincunx in order to explore laws of variation. Beads dropped from the top of the box hit each peg with equal probability of going left to right. But at the bottom of the triangle, the beads form a bell curve, suggesting that variation leads to mediocrity. The pinball machine works along the same principles: any ball that hits a series of obstacles is more likely to end up in the middle, where the gap between the flippers lies, than on either side. The ball travels quincuncially (the adverb).

Suggested Usage: "Aurora blamed her divorce from George on a quincunx in their horoscopes." Yes, the quincunx is important in astrology, where it means two planets are 150 degrees from each other and have very little in common. In Christianity, the quincunx means the four wounds in Jesus' hands and feet, plus the spear through the side. To the ancient Greeks, the quincunx signified divine perfection—the four elements of fire, water, earth and air, plus the fifth, mystery element, the quintessence.

Etymology: From the Latin for "five ounces," from quinque "five" + uncia "ounce, a twelfth part." Latin "quinque" [kwenkwe] originates in the Indo-European root *penkwe after an anticipatory assimilation of the [p] to the final [kw]. German fünf "five" is expected. English "five" suffers a loss of the nasal [n] which did not drop out of "finger," originally meaning a "fiver." Russian pjat' "five"comes from *penti and Greek penta provides the name of the five-sided Pentagon.

April 5, 2008

Panoply (noun)

Pronunciation: ['pæ-nê-plee or -pli]

Definition: A full suit of armor; an impressive array of something rich and lustrous.

Usage: Today's word is an orphan except that it may be used as a verb. Mark Twain in "The Gilded Age" (1873) wrote, "It would be…judicious to send her forth well panoplied for her work. So he had added new and still richer costumes to her wardrobe, and assisted their attractions with costly jewelry."

Suggested Usage: Keep in mind that Greek pan- means "full" so "full panoply" is redundant ("in full panoply" meaning "in full dress" is idiomatic and escapes this caveat): "Herbert supports a panoply of good causes, all of which benefit him in some direct or indirect way." The referent should be at least nominally bright and shining. "A panoply of rotten vegetables" doesn't work but, "The hall was bedecked with photographs of the presidential panoply that had brought the company to its current sorry pass," works better, apparently, than did the presidents it mentions.

Etymology: We found little on the history of this word. It comes from the Greek panoplia "complete set of armor" from pan "all" + hopla "armor (pl.)" Where these two came from, who knows?