Word of the Day Thread

[ITS ME!]

solatium \ soh-LEY-shee-uhm \ , noun;
1.
Something given in compensation for inconvenience, loss or injury.


2.
Law. Damages awarded to a plaintiff as compensation for personal suffering or grief arising from an injury.




Quotes:
Perhaps something could be done. And the following week it was. Arthur found himself awarded a solatium of £7, which had accumulated in some overlooked fund, and which the authorities graciously felt could be applied to his purpose.
-- Julian Barnes, Arthur & George

It is essential to emphasize that I was in no way “fired” that afternoon; rather, for the record, I merely committed my signature to a number of documents resigning tenure, accepting a none too liberal severance solatium , agreeing to vacate my offices within the week.
-- Tim O'Brien, Tomcat in Love



Origin:
Solatium is a variation on the Medieval Latin word sōlācium, which shares the root with the word solace .

[ITS ME!]

adventive \ ad-VEN-tiv \ , adjective;
1.
Not native and usually not yet well established, as exotic plants or animals.

noun: 1.
A not native and usually not yet well established plant or animal.



Quotes: I'm sure it's hard to be adventive , temporarily naturalized, that is.
-- Gish Jen, World and Town

Carrion beetles usually avoid competition with blowflies by visiting the carcasses at a later, dried stage of decomposition. Next come the omnivores, such as wasps and ants, and finally there are the adventive insects, like spiders.
-- David Shobin, The Provider



Origin:
Adventive , like adventure , is derived from the Latin word adventus meaning “an advance.” The suffix -ive denotes a noun that comes from an adjective, like detective or active.

[ITS ME!]

fusty \ FUHS-tee \ , adjective;
1.
Having a stale smell; moldy; musty.

2.
Old-fashioned or out-of-date, as architecture, furnishings, or the like.

3.
Stubbornly conservative or old-fashioned; fogyish.



Quotes: He could even smell the old woman in the buggy beside him, smell the fusty camphor-reeking shawl and even the airless black cotton umbrella in which (he would not discover until they had reached the house) she had concealed a hatchet and a flashlight.

-- William Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom!

I won't stop accusing you of being fusty if you don't stop acting that way. For God's sake, what is wrong with seeing what a rock concert is like? I'd like to find out.
-- Lionel Shriver, The Female of the Species



Origin:
Fusty comes from the Old French word fust , meaning a “wine cask.” As wine casks are stuffy and smelly, the adjective is a logical association.

[ITS ME!]

interpolation \ in-tur-puh-LEY-shuhn \ , noun;

1.
The act or process of introducing something additional or extraneous between other parts.

2.
Something interpolated, as a passage introduced into a text.

3.
Mathematics. A. The process of determining the value of a function between two points at which it has prescribed values. B. A similar process using more than two points at which the function has prescribed values. C. The process of approximating a given function by using its values at a discrete set of points.



Quotes: When men interpolate, it is because they believe their interpolation seriously needed.
-- Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason

"I am inclined to think," he added after a moment, once he had their attention again, "that if some pages were interpolated it was either done around the time of the original edition, or now, in our time.
-- Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Dumas Club



Origin:
Interpolation is derived from the Latin word interpolātus , meaning “to refurbish or touch up.”

[ITS ME!]

lave \ leyv \ , verb;
1.
To wash; bathe.

2.
(Of a river, sea, etc.) to flow along, against, or past; wash.

3.
Obsolete. To ladle; pour or dip with a ladle.

4.
Archaic. To bathe.

noun: 1.
The remainder; the rest.

adjective: 1.
(Of ears) large and drooping.



Quotes: One must have a freshness of mind, a cleanliness of body. One must lave oneself in sparkling springs—
-- Vikram Seth, A Suitable Boy

And sit on the hearthstone so I may lave your alabaster skin with my own hands.
-- Güneli Gün, On The Road to Baghdad



Origin:
Lave may come from an Old English word gelafian meaning “to wash by pouring” or from the Latin word lavare meaning “to wash.”

[ITS ME!]

anamnesis \ an-am-NEE-sis \ , noun;
1.
The recollection or remembrance of the past.

2.
Platonism . Recollection of the Ideas, which the soul had known in a previous existence, especially by means of reasoning.

3.
The medical history of a patient.

4.
Immunology . A prompt immune response to a previously encountered antigen, characterized by more rapid onset and greater effectiveness of antibody and T cell reaction than during the first encounter, as after a booster shot in a previously immunized person.

5.
(Often initial capital letter) a prayer in a Eucharistic service, recalling the Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension of Christ.




Quotes: When I was writing a novel about a fourteen-year-old girl, I must remember what I was like at fourteen, but this anamnesis is not a looking back, from my present chronological age, at Madeleine, aged fourteen.
-- Madeleine L'Engle, The Irrational Season

The narrator of Dostoevsky's Dream of a Ridiculous Man visits in his sleep, in a state of anamnesis perhaps, a humanity living in the Golden Age before the loss of innocence and happiness.
-- Czesław Miłosz, To Begin Where I Am: Selected Essays



Origin:
Anamnesis is derived from the Greek roots ana (meaning “re”) and mimnḗskein (meaning “to call to mind”).

[ITS ME!]

novation \ noh-VEY-shuhn \ , noun;
1.

The introduction of something new; innovation.

2.
Law. The substitution of a new obligation for an old one, usually by the substitution of a new debtor or of a new creditor.




Quotes:
Everything seems to suggest that his discourse proceeds according to a two-term dialectic: popular opinion and its contrary, Doxa and paradox, the stereotype and the novation , fatigue and freshness, relish and disgust: I like/I don't like .
-- Roland Barthes, Roland Barthes

The Text is a little like a score of this new kind: it solicits from the reader a practical collaboration. A great novation this, for who executes the work?
-- Edited by Dorothy Hale, The Novel: An Anthology of Criticism and Theory 1900-2000



Origin:
Novation comes directly from the Latin word novātiōn which meant "a renewing." Its roots are novāre which means "to renew" and the suffix -ion which denotes an action, as in creation or fusion.

[ITS ME!]

truss \ truhs \ , verb, noun;
1.
To tie, bind, or fasten.

2.
To make fast with skewers, thread, or the like, as the wings or legs of a fowl in preparation for cooking.

3.
To furnish or support with a truss or trusses.

4.
To tie or secure (the body) closely or tightly; bind (often followed by up).

5.
Falconry. (Of a hawk, falcon, etc.) To grasp (prey) firmly.

noun: 1.
Civil Engineering, Building Trades . A. Any of various structural frames based on the geometric rigidity of the triangle and composed of straight members subject only to longitudinal compression, tension, or both: functions as a beam or cantilever to support bridges, roofs, etc. Compare complete (def. 8), incomplete (def. 3), redundant (def. 5c). B. Any of various structural frames constructed on principles other than the geometric rigidity of the triangle or deriving stability from other factors, as the rigidity of joints, the abutment of masonry, or the stiffness of beams.

2.
Medicine/Medical. An apparatus consisting of a pad usually supported by a belt for maintaining a hernia in a reduced state.

3.
Horticulture. A compact terminal cluster or head of flowers growing upon one stalk.

4.
Nautical. A device for supporting a standing yard, having a pivot permitting the yard to swing horizontally when braced.

5.
A collection of things tied together or packed in a receptacle; bundle; pack.

6.
Chiefly British. A bundle of hay or straw, especially one containing about 56 pounds (25.4 kg) of old hay, 60 pounds (27.2 kg) of new hay, or 36 pounds (16.3 kg) of straw.



Quotes: She showed me how to bone a fish with one pass of the knife, how to truss a turkey, change the oil in a car, do taxes. Instruction seemed to be her only method of communication as far as I was concerned.
-- Ann Patchett, The Patron Saint of Liars

A dress like this does not require a maid to truss me and my hair requires only a brush.
-- Madeline Hunter, The Sinner



Origin:
Truss is derived from the Middle English word trussen which is a related to the Vulgar Latin word torsāre meaning "to twist, wind or wrap."

[ITS ME!]

solecism \ SOL-uh-siz-uhm \ , noun;

1.
A breach of good manners or etiquette.

2.
A nonstandard or ungrammatical usage, as unflammable and they was.

3.
Any error, impropriety, or inconsistency.



Quotes: To pick a fight with a visiting lord is a solecism , but being caught that way would have put the solecism squarely on Minch's head…
-- Joel Rosenburg, Hour of the Octopus

The idea of having committed the slightest solecism in politeness, whether real or imaginary, was agony to him; for perhaps even guilt itself does not impose upon some minds so keen a sense of shame and remorse, as a modest, sensitive, and inexperienced youth feels from the consciousness of having neglected etiquette, or excited ridicule.
-- Sir Walter Scott, Waverly



Origin:
Solecism was originally a toponym for people from the Greek city of Cilicia where a corrupt form of Greek was spoken. It came to mean "a mistake in speaking or writing" in Middle French in the 1500s. The sense of "a breach in manners" was recorded in the early 1600s.

[ITS ME!]

fetial \ FEE-shuhl \ , adjective;

1.
Concerned with declarations of war and treaties of peace.



Quotes: When a just and rightful war was declared upon a foreign enemy—and were there any other kinds of wars?—a special fetial priest was called upon to hurl a spear from the steps of the temple over the exact top of the ancient stone pillar into the earth of Enemy Territory.
-- Colleen McCullough, The First Man in Rome

He struck his treaties with foreign princes in the Forum, sacrificing a pig and reciting the ancient formula of the fetial priests.
-- Edited by John Carew Rolfe, Suetonius



Origin:
Fetial comes directly from the Latin word fētiālis , which referred to a member of the Roman college of priests who were representatives in disputes with foreign nations.

[ITS ME!]

gasconade \ gas-kuh-NEYD \ , noun, verb;
1.
Extravagant boasting; boastful talk.

verb: 1.

To boast extravagantly; bluster.



Quotes:
The British officers laugh, because they are well armed and many, and Kemal's men are pitifully few, but they enjoy and admire Kemal's swashbuckling gasconade , and they let his party pass.
-- Louis de Bernières, Birds Without Wings

The papers, barely days old, were full of boastful malarkey and gasconade , but of much more evident value when it came to information about the state of things in France, and in the local area.
-- Dewey Lambdin, Troubled Waters



Origin:
Gasconade originally referred to people who were from the Gascony region of southwest France, bordering Spain. Gascons reputedly boast and exaggerate their success, and their toponym took on a life of its own. It became common in English in the early 1700s.

[ITS ME!]

sprat \ sprat \ , noun;

1.
A small or inconsequential person or thing.

2.
A species of herring, Clupea sprattus, of the eastern North Atlantic.



Quotes: How'd you get yourself into this, sprat , Bustard wanted to know.
-- Gene Wolfe, Epiphany of the Long Sun

Edgerton was cursing, but Mr. Bullock just shook his head. "No, sir, don't say such things in front of the little sprat …"
-- Catherine Coulter, Deception



Origin:
Sprat is a variation of the Old English word sprot which meant "a sprout or twig." Its most common usage is in the nursery rhyme "Jack Sprat."

[ITS ME!]

Cimmerian \ si-MEER-ee-uhn \ , adjective;

1.
Very dark; gloomy; deep.

2.
Classical Mythology. Of, pertaining to, or suggestive of a western people believed to dwell in perpetual darkness.



Quotes: I was ripe for death, and along a road full of dangers, weakness led me to the boundaries of the world and the Cimmerian land of darkness and whirlwinds.
-- Arthur Rimbaud, A Season in Hell

Once beneath the over-arching trees all was again Cimmerian darkness, nor was the gloom relieved until the sun finally arose beyond the eastern cliffs, when she saw that they were following what appeared to be a broad and well-beaten game trail through a forest of great trees.
-- Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan the Untamed



Origin:
Like gasconade , cimmerian was originally a toponym. It referred to the Cimmerii, an ancient nomadic people who live in Crimea, according to Herodotus.

[ITS ME!]

profligacy \ PROF-li-guh-see \ , noun;
1.
Reckless extravagance.

2.
Shameless dissoluteness.

3.
Great abundance.



Quotes: The extravagance and general profligacy which he scrupled not to lay at Mr. Wickham's charge, exceedingly shocked her; the more so, as she could bring no proof of its injustice.
-- Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

The profligacy of a man of fashion is looked upon with much less contempt and aversion, than that of a man of meaner condition.
-- Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments



Origin:
Profligacy comes from the Latin word prōflīgātus which meant "broken down in character or degraded."

[ITS ME!]

heterotelic \ het-er-uh-TEL-ik \ , adjective;
1.

Having the purpose of its existence or occurrence apart from itself.



Quotes: You're of heteroteleic value, that means you were invoked for an extraneous purpose alone, the outcome of which won't even be known to me until I'm back with my physical body in the physical world…
-- William Cook, Love in the Time of Flowers

Therefore, what has been proposed above as a means of redirecting the development of postmodernity toward more livable, human dimensions is a heterotelic narrative transitivity—an active reimmersion of narrative in the social—which contrasts sharply with the autotelic concern for their own procedures and the hermetic intransitivity of modernist self-consciousness and late modernist self-reflexivity.
-- Joseph Francese, Narrating Postmodern Time and Space



Origin:
Heterotelic is directly derived from the Greek roots héteros meaning "other", tele- meaning "distant", and the suffix -ic which denotes an adjective, as in metallic and athletic.

[tp2503]

Is that the opposite of homophobic? Uhhhh huhhh uhhhh

Just a joke..... :)

[ITS ME!]

expostulate \ ik-SPOS-chuh-leyt \ , verb;
1.
To reason earnestly with someone against something that person intends to do or has done.



Quotes: The tears would run plentifully down my face when I made these reflections; and sometimes I would expostulate with myself, why Providence should thus completely ruin his creatures, and render them so absolutely miserable, so without help abandoned, so entirely depressed, that it could hardly be rational to be thankful for such a life.
-- Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe

Peter at last determined one day, all of a sudden, that he would step into this highland reaver's den, and expostulate with him on the baseness and impolicy of his conduct, and try to convince him of these, and persuade him to keep his own laird's bounds.
-- James Hogg, Tales of the Wars of Montrose



Origin:
Expostulate is derived from the Latin word expostulātus which meant "demanded urgently or required."

[ITS ME!]

bonny \ BON-ee \ , adjective, adverb, noun;
1.
Pleasing to the eye.

2.
British Dialect . A. (Of people) Healthy, sweet, and lively. B. (Of places) Placid; tranquil. C. Pleasing; agreeable; good.

adverb: 1.
British Dialect. Pleasingly; agreeably; very well.

noun: 1.
Scot. and North England Archaic . A pretty girl or young woman.



Quotes: Mayhap 'tis time to speak of more than how fine the weather is or how bonny she looks.
-- Hannah Howell, Highland Honor

As he was about to fix the last nail in the last of the shoes, the man in green said, "Would you be knowing what ails the bonny young lady?"
-- Ethel Johnston Phelps and Pamela Baldwin-Ford, Tatterhood and Other Tales



Origin:
Bonny is of uncertain origin. It may be related to the Old French word bon meaning "good." It entered the Scots dialect in the mid-1400s.

[ITS ME!]

viscid \ VIS-id \ , adjective;
1.
Having a glutinous consistency; sticky; adhesive.

2.
Botany. Covered by a sticky substance.



Quotes: This was the moment for the curious, shading their faces from the fiery glow, to plunge their walking-sticks into the viscid mass and dip out portions of the lava.
-- T. M. Coan, "An Island of Fire," Scribner's Monthly

But now a snake commenced to coil around my feet, and with a momentary terror I rushed forward, only to strike a rock and fall into a viscid pool.
-- Will L. Garver, Brother of the Third Degree



Origin:
Viscid comes from the Latin word for mistletoe, visc . Mistletoe was used to make a sticky paste to trap birds called birdlime. It is clearly also related to the word "viscous."

[ITS ME!]

desinence \ DES-uh-nuhns \ , noun;
1.
A termination or ending, as the final line of a verse.

2.
Grammar. A termination, ending, or suffix of a word.



Quotes: The extreme facility with which the language lends itself to rhyming desinence has a most injurious effect upon versification. There are not verses only, but whole poems, in which each line terminates with the same desinence.
-- Wentworth Webster, Basque Legends

But it will end, a desinence will come, or the breath fail better still, I'll be silence, I'll know I'm silence, no, in the silence you can't know, I'll never know anything.
-- Samuel Beckett, "Texts for Nothing," The Complete Short Prose



Origin:
Like descent , desinence is related to the Latin word dēsinere which meant "to put down or leave."