Word Of The Day

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CHANTICLEER noun (chan-tuh-kleer)

noun

1. Now Literary. a rooster: used as a proper name in medieval fables.

Quotes
Alas, that Chanticleer flew down from the rafters!
--*Geoffrey Chaucer (1342/43–1400),*"The Nun's Priest's Tale," The Canterbury Tales, Modern English prose translation by R. M. Lumiansky, 1948



The old cock which had for years behaved as well as any chanticleer in the county took to crowing in the middle of the night ...
--*William Jenkyn Thomas,*"The Power of St. Tegla's Well," The Welsh Fairy Book, 1907



Origin
Animal fables of a fox tricking a bird and of being “outfoxed” by that bird date to the mid-11th century in prose and poetry in Old French dialects and Medieval Latin. The most accessible version of Chanticleer and the Fox is in Chaucer’s “Nun’s Priest’s Tale,” a beast fable and mock epic dating to about 1390, in The Canterbury Tales. “Chanticleer,” the name of the “hero,” derives from the Old French “Chantecler,” which derives from chanter “to sing, crow” and the adjective cler “clear, loud” (clair in Modern French). The word entered English in the 14th century.

[oldcolner]

From the Telegraphs description of Bristols defence with this 20 yards in front of their goalkeeper

enciente

noun-archaic

an enclosure or the enclosing wall of a fortified place.

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PARERGON noun (pa-rur-gon)


noun
1. something that is an accessory to a main work or subject; embellishment.
2. work undertaken in addition to one's principal work.

Quotes
It was what you might call a final exhibition--a last attack--a giddy par-ergon.
--*Rudyard Kipling,*Stalky & Co., 1899

Sometimes this making or doing was their profession; sometimes it was a parergon carried on deliciously in leisure hours.
--*A. P. Herbert,*The House by the River, 1921


Origin
Párergon, a Greek noun meaning “secondary business, side job” comes from the Greek preposition and prefix pará “alongside, beyond” and the (Attic) Greek noun érgon “work.” Other dialects, e.g., Doric, preserve the more conservative form wérgon, which shows more clearly the relationship between the modern English noun “work” (from Germanic werkam) and the ancient Greek forms. The ancient Greek and Germanic nouns derive from Proto-Indo-European wergom. The word entered English in the 17th century.

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EQUIVOQUE noun (ek-wuh-vohk)


noun
1. an equivocal term; an ambiguous expression.
2. a play on words; pun.
3. double meaning; ambiguity.

Quotes
The [French] language, too, suggests shades and "nuances" of colouring, that exist not in other tongues--you can give to your canvas the precise tint you wish, for when mystery would prove a merit, the equivoque is there ready to your hand, that means so much, yet asserts so little.
--*Charles Lever,*Arthur O'Leary: His wanderings and ponderings in many lands, 1845

Upon this point, however, an air of uncertainty is thrown by means of an equivoque, maintained throughout the paper, in respect to Mr. Miller's middle name.
--*Edgar Allan Poe,*"A Chapter on Autography," Graham's Magazine, 1841


Origin
Equivoque entered English in the late 1300s, and was originally spelled equivoc. It derives from the Late Latin term aequivocus meaning "ambiguous."

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KANONE noun (kuh-noh-nuh)

noun
1. a person who is an expert skier.

Quotes
So I was understandably a little nervous last spring in Telluride when I had the chance to meet Norman Vaughan, a man who has been, for many years, top kanone in my ski pantheon.
--*Peter Shelton,*"Norman, Kanon: In 1936 Vaughan wrote Ski Fever. In 1995 he still burns with passion." Ski, December 1995

... you'll have ski lessons so thorough, they'll swear you're a kanone by tour's end.
--*"The après-skier's guide to the Alps," Skiing, November 1968



Origin
Kanone came to English from the German word literally meaning "cannon," which comes from Italian cannone. This, in turn, derives from Italian canna "tube."

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ATARAXIA noun (at-uh-rak-see-uh)



noun
1. a state of freedom from emotional disturbance and anxiety; tranquillity.

Quotes
Remember that the goal of the great Epicurus was not an earthly he-done (Hedonism), or pleasure, but a lofty ataraxia, or freedom from cares and trivial thoughts.
--*H. P. Lovecraft,*Selected Letters, 1965–1976

"I feel lucid," he manages to say, "I want to think." She looks pleased. "We call that the ataraxia effect. It's so nice when it goes that way." Ataraxia, philosophical calm.
--*James Tiptree, Jr.,*"Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" 1976



Origin
Ataraxia “impassiveness, calmness” is best known from and associated with the ethics of the Athenian philosopher Epicurus (341–270 b.c.). It is acquired by shunning politics and obnoxious people, by paying no attention to the gods or an afterlife, and by devoting oneself to trustworthy friends and a simple life. Ataraxia was important to the Stoic philosophers, also, but for them the final goal was apatheia, which means not “apathy” in the modern sense but “calmness,” imperturbability gained from the pursuit of virtue. Ataraxia (spelled atarxie) entered English in the early 17th century.

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UMBRA noun (uhm-bruh)


noun
1. shade; shadow.
2. the invariable or characteristic accompaniment or companion of a person or thing.
3. Astronomy. a. the complete or perfect shadow of an opaque body, as a planet, where the direct light from the source of illumination is completely cut off. b.the dark central portion of a sunspot.
4. a phantom or shadowy apparition, as of someone or something not physically present; ghost; spectral image.

Quotes
Lancelot followed in her shadow. ... Only in the umbra of the old woman could he make his way.
--*J. Robert King,*Lancelot du Lethe, 2001

In the umbra of the statue they hung, neither looking at the other, not speaking.
--*Tanith Lee,*The Book of the Beast, 1988


Origin
Umbra entered English around the year 1600. It comes from the Latin term meaning "shade, shadow."

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CLOUDLAND noun (kloud-land)

noun

(1) The Sky

(2) A region of unreality, imagination, etc; dreamland.

Origin:

Cloudland entered English in the early 1800's. Cloud-Cuckoo-Land is a related term that comes from Greek Nephelokkygia, the realm which separated the gods from mankind in Aristophanes' The Birds.

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FEINSCHMECKER noun (fahyn-shmek-uh r)

noun
1. German. gourmet.

Quotes
Our haute feinschmecker takes time off to sample the lowly delights of the hamburger joint.
--*“Contents: Restaurants: Grind House Glories," New York, March 9, 1970

He's light-years ahead of you, a true scientist in the making and a feinschmecker of the highest order.
--*Anne Landsman,*The Rowing Lesson, 2007


Origin
The German noun Feinschmecker literally means ”fine-taster” from fein “fine” and Schmecker “taster.” The word entered English in the late 19th century.

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PARALOGIZE noun (puh-ral-uh-jahjz)

verb
1. to draw conclusions that do not follow logically from a given set of assumptions.

Quotes
"A brick," he retorted, "is a parallelogram; I am not a parallelogram, and therefore not a brick ..." "Charley Lightheart, you paralogize."
--*Stewart Edward White and Samuel Hopkins Adams,*The Mystery, 1907

Whether, moreover, in seeking to find an analogy between the laws of nature, and municipal laws, he does not paralogize, may perhaps be questioned.
--*Abraham Coles,*Abraham Coles: Biographical Sketch, Memorial Tributes, Selections from His Works (Some Hitherto Unpublished), 1892


Origin
Paralogize entered English from Medieval Latin paralogizāre, from Greek paralogízesthai meaning “to reason falsely.” It's been used in English since the late 1500s.