Word of the Week: Heyday

 "Word of the Week" is a meme hosted by the Plain-Spoken Pen on Mondays in which we share a word that we find entertaining, enlightening, edifying, or just plain fun to say! 

I used the word "heyday" in my last blogpost, and it made me wonder where it came from and just how it developed.

Looking it up,  I discovered that in English, "heyday" was originally used to describe high spirits, or as a lively greeting, usually in joy or surprise, and dates back to the late 16th century. Some sources state that it's probably came from the German phrase "hei da", meaning "hey there".  

Shakespeare had Hamlet use it to mean "high spirits" when (Act 3, Scene 4) he told his mother that at her mature age, one decides with cool reason, not with the excitement of passion:

You cannot call it love, for at your age
The hey-day in the blood is tame, it’s humble,
And waits upon the judgment.

Here it is in use as a negatively excited greeting in Austen's Northanger Abbey (completed 1803, published 1817):

Scarcely had they worked themselves into the quiet possession of a place, however, when her attention was claimed by John Thorpe, who stood behind her. "Heyday, Miss Morland!" said he. "What is the meaning of this? I thought you and I were to dance together."

How it moved from "hi there" to it's current usage was harder to pin down, and while I didn't get a consensus, it was suggested in a few places that "high day" (as in a really great day) became blended with the greeting, and eventually took it over so that "heyday" carried the former meaning, and the latter use/meaning fell out of fashion.

Regardless, it is certainly a fun word!

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Word of the Week: Quidnunc

"Word of the Week" is a meme hosted by the Plain-Spoken Pen on Mondays in which we share a word that we find entertaining, enlightening, edifying, or just plain fun to say! 

I just finished reading The Benson Murder Case by S. S. Van Dine (published in 1926), and came across a new-to-me word:

From various sources on the internet, I learned that quidnunc, from the early 18th century, is a mashup of the two Latin words "quid" and "nunc" meaning "what now", mimicking the question of a nosey listener.  What a great word!

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Word of the Week: Louche

 "Word of the Week" is a meme hosted by the Plain-Spoken Pen on Mondays in which we share a word that we find entertaining, enlightening, edifying, or just plain fun to say! 

I'm currently reading To the Letter by Simon Garfield, and he used the intriguing word "louche", which had me scrambling for a dictionary.  According to multiple sources, it is from the French, originally meaning "squinting" or "cross-eyed", and describes something that is not socially acceptable -- immoral, disreputable, sordid -- but yet, at the same time, kinda appealing.  A rakish fellow, for example, or (the fictional versions of) pirates, gangsters, or smugglers.  

How about you? Can you think of any good examples of this great word?  And did you find any interesting words last week?

Word of the Week: Ratiocination

"Word of the Week" is a meme hosted by the Plain-Spoken Pen on Mondays in which we share a word that we find entertaining, enlightening, edifying, or just plain fun to say! 

Despite it being my second time reading Locked Rooms by Laurie R. King, I have found two great words used in it that I don't remember encountering previously.*  Last week's was recherché, while toward the end of the book I came across "ratiocination".  A search of several sites gives the following definition:

It was mentioned in conjunction with Sherlock Holmes, and I have to say, it's the perfect word to use side-by-side with such a man.

How about you?  Did you already know this word?  Have you run across any great words in the past week?

*I don't know whether to blame it on my sieve-like memory, or the fact that I listened to the audiobook version, and it is easy for me to forget things I don't see in print.  Either way, I got to discover a pair of new words!

Word of the Week: Recherché

"Word of the Week" is a meme hosted by the Plain-Spoken Pen on Mondays in which we share a word that we find entertaining, enlightening, edifying, or just plain fun to say! 

I've been rereading Locked Rooms (Laurie R. King) this past week, and ran across the adjective "recherché".  I was able to figure it out from context, but wanted to get a specific definition.  One problem, though. . .  I was listening to the audiobook, not reading, and I could not figure out how to spell "rare-char-shay"!  It took a lot of Googling, and an equal amount of laughter, before I finally came across it.

The audiobook reader is British, so I'm going to have to listen to an American speaker say it before I use it, but it's such a snazzy word that I hope I can remember it!

What about you?  Where you familiar with this one?  Did you find any good words this week?

Word of the Week: Dunce

"Word of the Week" is a meme hosted by the Plain-Spoken Pen on Mondays in which we share a word that we find entertaining, enlightening, edifying, or just plain fun to say! 

This past week, while reorganizing my personal library, I came across A Confederacy of Dunces* and wondered were the term "dunce" originated.  A quick internet search netted a wealth of information (extremely appealing to this lover of history) that dates it back to the early 16th century, as a derogatory term applied to the followers of John Duns Scotus (c. 1265/66 – 1308).

The Blessed Duns Scotus ("Duns the Scot")  was a was a Scottish Catholic priest, university lecturer, philosopher, and  Augustinian-Franciscan theologian who had great influence on both Christian and secular Western European thinking during the High Middle Ages.

Now, fast forward a few hundred years to the Renaissance and note the rise of secularism with it's emphasis on being successful and happy in this present world rather than a concentration on the Christian afterlife, and a focus on the political, economic, social and intellectual aspects of life instead of religion.  Those Scotists arguing against this secularism were derided by the humanists, and the term "dunce" (from name "Duns"), became synonymous for one who was backward thinking, incapable of true scholarship. 

Probably more information than anyone is really interested in on a Monday morning, but I found it fascinating!

So, how about you?  Did you stumble across any interesting words over the past week?

*A novel I consider a work of genius while being fully cognizant that it's not universally appealing.

Word of the Week: Etymology of Cole Slaw

 *"Word of the Week" is a meme hosted by the Plain-Spoken Pen on Mondays in which we share a word that we find entertaining, enlightening, edifying, or just plain fun to say! 

I'm back to etymology this week.

We have relatives coming into town over Easter weekend, and thinking about that led me to thinking about feeding them, which led me to thinking about take-out, which led me to thinking about side dishes, which led me to cole slaw.  

I live in the Southern US, and slaw (as we call it) is a staple side dish for potlucks, picnics, funeral meals, and family get-togethers. It's highly popular when served with another Southern staple, barbeque. 

In my part of the world cole slaw is mainly just shredded cabbage (green or red or a mix) and shredded carrots mixed with mayonnaise and your choice of seasoning, usually black pepper, maybe some dried mustard, and/or a little sugar.  Other regional recipes are made with vinegar/vinaigrette instead, or some sort of salad dressing, or even sour cream, with spices and additions varying widely.

Personally, I hate the stuff.  But that's a nonissue here.

Why, I wondered, is the dish called "cole slaw"?  Perhaps a corruption of "cold"? But where'd the "slaw" part come from?  The internet to the rescue.

Cole slaw, it seems, has Dutch roots, with the world "cole" coming from the word "kool" (cabbage).  "Slaw" comes from "salade" (salad), shortened to "sla".  The two combined sometime in the 18th century to form "koolsla", around which time the dish was brought to the US and the name changed to "coleslaw" or "cole slaw" depending on where you live.

Not particularly exciting, as far as etymology goes, but interesting all the same because cabbage is not native to North America, and yet was widely used enough by the 18th century to be a popular dish.

Oh, you want to know more about that cabbage, you say?  Well, I'll tell you!

It's an ancient plant, probably domesticated before 1000 B.C.  It was extremely popular in Europe by the High Middle Ages (roughly 1000-1300 A.D.). During the 17th and 18th century cabbage became a staple in many of the more northern European countries.  The Low Countries and Germany began to pickle it as a scurvy preventative around the same time (sauerkraut).  French explorer Jacque Cartier brought it over in the mid-1500s, and it was popular enough here that cole slaw was a popular dish by the mid-to-late 1700s.

So, now that you know far more about cole slaw and cabbages than you ever wished, what side dish is a staple for your part of the world?  And did you find any words of interest this past week?

Word of the Week: Antepenultimate

I can remember the first time I heard the word "penultimate".  It was on my tenth-grade vocabulary list one week, and I was scornful of it.  I wanted to know why in the world it would be needed when "the next to the last" would work just as well.  My teacher just smiled and shook her head and told me it would have it's uses. She was right -- since then, I've used it who-knows-how-many times.  It's a wonderful word!

Saturday, my husband popped his head up from the book he was reading to say "antepenultimate, hmm" in a musing tone.   I knew immediately what the word meant, but I had never encountered it.  What a super fantastic addition to my vocabulary!  

How about you -- did you already know it?  And have you heard any other great words or phrases this past week?

*"Word of the Week" is a meme hosted by the Plain-Spoken Pen on Mondays in which we share a word that we find entertaining, enlightening, edifying, or just plain fun to say! 

Word of the Week: Etymology of Bumper Crop

 

For this week's "Word of the Week"*, here's a common phrase I encountered a few days ago, while reading a sermon by St. Augustine, on the feast day of Saints Perpetua and Felicity. The quote, translated by Edmond Hill, O.P. in 1994,  is

and in order that this bumper crop of Christian peoples might spring up like sprouting seeds, they watered the earth with their blood

Now, is it just me, or does the phrase "bumper crop" seem out of place in the musings of a 3rd Century scholar? The incongruity of the phrase sent me to researching it's etymology from various sites across the web. 

First noted use is in the 17th Century, when "bumper" referred to a brimming-full cup; within the next hundred years it began to mean something large; by the mid 1800s, it was most often used in the term "bumper crop", rather than as a stand-alone word.

There's my answer, then. . .  The translator, in his endeavor to make the sermon accessible for everyone, threw in a phrase that doesn't feel appropriate. I would love to know what the original phrase was in Latin, and other ways it might have been rendered.

How about you?  Did you run across any interesting words or phrases this past week?

*"Word of the Week" is a meme hosted by the Plain-Spoken Pen on Mondays in which we share a word that we find entertaining, enlightening, edifying, or just plain fun to say! 

Word(s) of the Week: Brobdingnagian and Heirloom

For this week's "Word of the Week"*, here's one I encountered a few days ago, while reading A Monstrous Regiment of Women (by Laurie R. King):

I recognized it, knew it's meaning, and even knew it was from Gulliver's Travels (by Johnathan Swift), but not the details.  According to Merriam-Webster, "Brobdingnagian" (always capitalized) means "marked by tremendous size".  It comes from the land of Brobdingnag, peopled by giants and (again from Merriam-Webster), within two years of the novel's publication, "Brobdingnagian" was being used to mean something enormous or gigantic.  I've never used it -- it's a mouthful -- but might try incorporating it in writing some point in the future.

As a bonus, here's another word of interest from the past week: heirloom.  Now what, you might ask, could be interesting about such a common word?  I wanted to know something about it from long before it became a legal term: what "loom" referred to in heirloom.  I checked the etymology and, apparently (according to various sources), before it meant a specific machine, the word "loom" (a shortened form of the Old English word "geloma" meaning tool or utensil) meant a tool in general, though in it's broader, original meaning, it could be any item or article.  Hence, an heirloom could be as humble as the tool of the trade of one's father.  It may not be interesting to anyone else, but I found it to be so.

*"Word of the Week" is a meme hosted by the Plain-Spoken Pen on Mondays in which we share a word that we find entertaining, enlightening, edifying, or just plain fun to say! 

Word of the Week: Cacography

"Word of the Week" is a meme hosted by the Plain-Spoken Pen on Mondays in which we share a word that we find entertaining, enlightening, edifying, or just plain fun to say!  I just discovered it today, and love the idea, so I'm chiming in a couple of days late.

I ran across this week's word while online this morning.  "Cacography", according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is an expressive word meaning "bad handwriting".  I love it, and plan to put it to memory, then to use!