Word Of The Day

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WANDERJAHR noun (vahn-duh r-yahr)

noun

1. German. a year or period of travel, especially following one's schooling and before practicing a profession.
2. German. (formerly) a year in which an apprentice traveled and improved his skills before settling down to the practice of his trade.


Quotes

When your father finished college, he had his Wanderjahr, a fine year's ramble up the Rhine and down the Loire, with a pretty girl on one arm and a good comrade on the other.
--*Walker Percy,*The Moviegoer, 1961


She has to be bored by Bill ... she's probably pleased with the daughter ... and increasingly worried about the son, as his Wanderjahr has become a Wanderlife.
--*Michael Cunningham,*By Nightfall, 2010



Origin

Wander-year, the English translation of German Wanderjahr, was first recorded in English about 1880. Its German original entered English about a dozen years later. Like the German noun, wander-years meant the period between one’s finishing artisanal training or graduation from university and the beginning of one’s career. German and English wander derive from the Proto-Indo-European root wendh- “to turn, weave,” the source of “wind” (the verb) and “wend,” whose past tense, “went,” now serves as the past tense of the verb “to go.” Year and Jahr derive from the Proto-Indo-European root yēr- “year, season,” source of Greek hṓrā “period, season,” adopted into Latin as hōra “hour” (of varying length), the source, through Old French of English “hour.”

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DEASIL adverb (dee-zuh l)

adverb

1. Chiefly Scot. clockwise or in a direction following the apparent course of the sun: considered as lucky or auspicious.


Quotes

The high-peaked roof of moss-grown shingles reared above like the back of a green, scaly dragon, and the rafters at each end of it crossed like an X, carved into facing spirals, deasil and widdershins to balance the energies.
--*S. M. Stirling,*A Meeting at Corvallis, 2006


So let me walk the deasil round you, that you may go safe out into the far foreign land, and come safe home.
--*Sir Walter Scott,*"The Two Drovers," Chronicles of Canongate, 1827



Origin

The “Oxen of the Sun,” the 14th episode of Ulysses (if one makes it that far) begins, “Deshil Holles eamus,” a three-word sentence in three languages (Irish, English, Latin) meaning, “Let us go towards the right (i.e., auspiciously) to Holles (Street, site of the maternity hospital).” Deasil is a Gaelic adverb and adjective meaning “toward the right, clockwise, following the sun (i.e., auspiciously).” The word has several spellings (e.g., deiseal, deisal, and Joyce’s deshil) and several pronunciations. The Gaelic root is des(s)- “to the right,” derived from the Proto-Indo-European extended root deks-, source of Latin dexter, Greek dexiόs, both meaning “to the right, on the right, right,” and Sanskrit dákṣina- “to the right, southerly." Deasil entered English in the 18th century.

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TIDINGS noun (Tahy-dingz)

noun

1. news, information, or intelligence: sad tidings.


Quotes

That night it seemed that everyone in the little town and surrounding farmsteads flocked into the inn to raise a mug to the wonderful tidingsed.
--*Robin Hobb,*"Blue Boots," Songs of Love and Death, 2010


She loved being the bearer of good tidings, and she was ready with Russian tea and Yupik sympathy when the tidings were bad.
--*Dana Stabenow,*Nothing Gold Can Stay, 2000



Origin

Tidings “news, events,” the archaic verb tide “to happen, occur,” the noun tide, “regular rise and fall of ocean water,” the verb betide “to happen to, befall,” and the noun time “duration or the measurement of duration” all derive from the Germanic root tī- “to divide,” from the complicated Proto-Indo-European root dā- and its variants dai- and dī-. In form tidings derives from the Old English noun tīdung “announcement, news item,” from the verb tīdan “to happen” (source of the archaic verb tide), influenced by the Old Norse neuter plural noun tīthindi “news, events.” The singular noun tiding entered English before 1100, and the plural noun appeared in the 14th century.

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MISHPOCHA noun (mish-paw-khuh)

noun

1. Yiddish. an entire family network comprising relatives by blood and marriage and sometimes including close friends; clan.


Quotes

You can speak now. We're all mishpocha here and we got no secrets.
--*Leon Uris,*Exodus, 1958


Soon she was photographing her parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins—the whole mishpocha—finding loopy antics and exaggerated period detail in holiday gatherings and daily ritual.
--*"Seventies Long Island: The Whole Mishpocha," The New Yorker, June 3, 2015



Origin

There are several spellings for mishpocha (e.g., mishpochah, mishpacha, mishpachah) and pronunciations for the -ch- (representing the Hebrew letter heth) that Americans find difficult. Mishpocha comes from mishpokhe, the Yiddish pronunciation of Hebrew mishpāḥāh “family, clan.” Mishpocha entered English in the mid-19th century.

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APOPEMPTIC adjective (ap-uh-pemp-tic)

adjective

1. pertaining to leave-taking or departing; valedictory.

noun

1. Obsolete. a farewell address; valedictory.


Quotes

Only to the fool who believes all truths debatable, who believes true virtue resides not in men but in eulogies, true sorrow not in partings but in apopemptic hymns, and true thought nowhere but in atramentaceous scrollery--only to him is elegant style, mere scent, good food.
--*John Gardner,*Jason & Medeia, 1973


Their apopemptic ride was an escape, and because pursuit was assumed--because the men at the door to Major Medicine had been told that they were fugitives from Dallas justice--it took on the character of a stampede.
--*William Manchester,*The Death of a President, 1967



Origin

The English apopemptic is a straightforward borrowing of the Greek adjective apopemptikós, “pertaining to dismissal, valedictory,” a derivative of the adverb and preposition apό- “off, away” and the verb pémpein “to send,” a verb with no clear etymology. The Greek noun pompḗ, a derivative of pémpein, means “escort, procession, parade, magnificence,” adopted into Latin as pompa (with the same meanings), used in Christian Latin to refer to the ostentations of the devil, especially in baptismal formulas, e.g., “Do you reject the devil and all his pomps?” Apopemptic entered English in the mid-18th century.

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BAGATELLE noun (bag-uh-tel)

noun

1. something of little value or importance; a trifle.
2. a game played on a board having holes at one end into which balls are to be struck with a cue.
3. pinball.
4. a short and light musical composition, typically for the piano.


Quotes
My horse was an excellent roadster; and I was expecting to do the fifty miles--a mere bagatelle to a South American steed--before sunset.
--*Mayne Reid,*The Finger of Fate, 1872


... the reserve price had been fixed at $1,100,000. This amount for a financial society dealing with such matters was a mere bagatelle, if the transaction could offer any advantages ...
--*Jules Verne,*Godfrey Morgan: A Californian Mystery, translated 1883



Origin

Bagatelle came to English from French, from Upper Italian bagat(t)ella, equivalent to bagatt(a) “small possession.” It entered English in the 1630s.

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FLOCCULENT adjective (flok-yuh-luh nt)


adjective

1. like a clump or tuft of wool.
2. covered with a soft, woolly substance.
3. consisting of or containing loose woolly masses.
4. flocky.
5. Chemistry. consisting of flocs and floccules.


Quotes

The night was overcast, and through the flocculent grey of the heaped clouds there filtered a faint half-light of dawn.
--*H. G. Wells,*"The Story of the Late Mr. Elvesham," The Idler, Volume IX, February to July, 1896


A September night, with the stars shining, and the plane-trees in the Square floating like flocculent dark clouds across the brilliant firmament of the Imperial Hotel.
--*Warwick Deeping,*Roper's Row, 1929



Origin

There is no Latin adjective flocculentus, but the English adjective flocculent is formed from Latin elements: the noun floccus “tuft of wool” (of unknown etymology) and, by extension, “something insignificant,” and the adjective suffix -ulentus “full of, abundant in.” Latin floccus is the source of English flock (tuft of wool or cloth), flocking (fine, powdered wool or cloth for decorating wallpaper), and flocked (e.g., wallpaper). Flocculent entered English at the end of the 18th century.

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DAILY-BREADER noun (dey-lee-bred-er)

noun

1. British. a commuter.


Quotes

The daily-breader, the journeyman, might envy this tortured dignitary his title, his chain, his rank at Court, this important office, to which he had climbed so pertinaciously, only to wear himself out in it ...
--*Thomas Mann,*Royal Highness, translated by A. Cecil Curtis, 1916


They seemed to insist upon his being but a mere "daily breader," who was trudging home to snatch a few hours' sleep before hurrying off to catch the train to his work.
--*Horace W. C. Newte,*The Square Mile: A Story of Ways and Means, 1908



Origin

Daily-breader suggests “daily bread,” the English translation of Latin panem… quotidiānum of the Lord’s Prayer (Pater noster) in the gospels of Matt. 6:11 and Luke 11:3. Daily-breader entered English in the 19th century.

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FACEPALM verb (feys-pahm)

verb

1. the gesture of placing the palm of one's hand across the face, as to express embarrassment, frustration, disbelief, etc. (often used as an interjection): She read the post and comments and did a facepalm. Okay, that was dumb—facepalm!

2. to use this gesture to express such emotions.



Quotes

Easily one of the biggest facepalms of the year occurred at the Oscars, when the wrong movie was announced for Best Picture.
--*"The Biggest Facepalm Moments of 2017," Entrepreneur, December 1, 2017


... the ambassador's facepalm was fodder for body language analysts.
--*"Trump's first trip: From 'Glum Pope' to tough talk," BBC, May 26, 2017



Origin

Facepalm was first recorded between 2000-05. It very literally combines the words face and palm.

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BRUMAL adjective (broo-muh l)

adjective

1. wintry.


Quotes

" 'Tis a brumal Night, for behold, it sweepeth by," announces Squire Haligast from the shadows ...
--*Thomas Pynchon,*Mason & Dixon, 1997


There came a howling brumal day that a half-frozen young Man rode through the flinging snow and into the bailey.
--*Dennis L. McKiernan,*Dragondoom, 1990



Origin

The English adjective brumal ultimately derives from the Latin adjective brūmālis (the noun diēs “day” is understood) “pertaining to the winter solstice; the winter solstice.” Brūmālis is a derivative of the noun brūma “the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice,” from earlier breuma and brevima, formed from the adjective brevis “short” and an archaic form of the more usual superlative ending -issima. Brumal entered English in the 16th century.