EMNORRTY

 Word of the Week

A feature wherein TileHead highlights a word that is is especially interesting or unusual (and, incidentally, useful in Scrabble play):

EMNORRTY

(unscramble the letters to form this week's word...)

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This week's word is...

RETRONYM (n. pl. -S)

• Definition(s):
  
  1. (n.) a term coined to distinguish the original form from a more recent version or development

• Front hooks: (none)
• Back hooks: -S
• Anagrams: (none)
• Longer extensions: (none)
• Wraparounds: (none)
• Other Spellings: (none)
• Related Forms: (none)

TileHead says:

Often I focus on terms that have been in the English language for hundreds of years.  RETRONYM, on the other hand, is barely 30 years old, having been coined by Frank Mankiewicz in 1980 and popularized by a William Safire newspaper column in that same year.  It is formed on classical roots, though, and describes a concept that is probably as old as technology itself.  The prefix retro- is Latin ("backward, or behind") and the suffix -onym is Greek ("name, or word"), and Mankiewicz's coinage combines them to refer to a term that was not used until a newer version of the concept came into existence: for example, "acoustic guitar" was created to distinguish the traditional guitar from the newer "electric guitar."  Similarly, "snail mail" (first documented c. 1982) was coined only after email and voicemail came into widespread use; previously, it was usually simply "mail."

True art lay elsewhere, probably in what we now, in a classic retronym, call "live drama."
  ~ Washington Post article, 6 November 1988

But what happens when you accept your position in the appearance pecking order... only to find that... while you've been foolishly priding yourself on "aging naturally" — there's a retronym for you — others have been slipping off to the dermatologist's office.
  ~ Beth Teitell, Drinking Problems at the
      Fountain of Youth (2008)

Some other modern RETRONYMS include:

• analog watch
• conventional oven 
• day baseball 
• landline telephone
• manual transmission
• natural grass
• print book

The -onym root, by the way, is a very common suffix in English words and is especially familiar to competitors in the National Spelling Bee.  Top spellers study assiduously and must navigate through all manner of oddities in our language, including HOMONYMS (words having the same or similar sound but different meanings, such as pleural and plural), EPONYMS (words formed from the name of a person, such as pasteurization), and TOPONYMS (words formed from the name of a place, such as bikini).  The latter two categories of words can be especially tricky since personal and geographical names do not always follow the normal rules of ORTHOGRAPHY ("correct spelling").

Competitive orthography comes to mind now because the 2011 National Spelling Bee (http://spellingbee.com/) will take place later this week, May 31st-June 2nd, in Washington, D.C.  Portions of this year's event will be televised on ESPN, with coverage of some of the earlier rounds starting at 10 a.m. EST on June 2nd and coverage of the final rounds starting at 8:30 p.m. EST that night.  So tune in to see some stupendous spelling!  (But heed this word to the wise: the Spelling Bee uses a different word source than Scrabble, so words used in the Bee may not be acceptable or may be spelled differently in Scrabble, and vice versa.)  Good luck to all the spellers!

"We love spelling"

Quote of the Week:

We are fearless spellers who love scary words
We're the nerds with the dictionary on our knees...
Though in school we seem strange
At the bee we seem better
As we count out each letter in our mind
And we find
We love spelling
  ~ "Why We Like Spelling," from
      the Broadway musical 25th
      Annual Putnam County
      Spelling Bee (2005)

CDELORW

Word of the Week

A feature wherein TileHead highlights a word that is is especially interesting or unusual (and, incidentally, useful in Scrabble play):

CDELORW

(unscramble the letters to form this week's word...)

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This week's word is...

CLOWDER (n. pl. -S)

• Definition(s):
  
  1. (n.) a group of cats

• Front hooks: (none)
• Back hooks: -S
• Anagrams: (none)
• Longer extensions:  (none)
• Wraparounds: (none)
• Other Spellings: (none)
• Related Forms: (none)

TileHead says:

In order to truly appreciate this word, we need to step back into the late Middle Ages, to a time when hunting and heraldry, religion and folklore, art and poetry, and other features of medieval life combined to influence language in important and long-lasting ways.  Out of this rich cultural melange arose, for example, documents such as medieval BESTIARIES — collections of stories, especially popular in the 12th and 13th centuries, describing real and imaginary animals along with symbolic or allegoric interpretations of their behavior.  The Bestiary of Philippe de Thaon (c. 1120), for instance, noted that the "fox is very sly and very cunning" and that the elephant "has understanding and great memory."

So, too, did many hunting treatises arise in this and later periods, describing in great detail the techniques, terminology, and customs of the chase, as well as the art, language, and symbolism of heraldic crosses and other related topics.  By the 15th century, many such manuals included lists of "terms of venery" (VENERY being an old word for "hunting"), denoting the proper nomenclature for various groups of animals.  The 1486 Boke of Saint Albans, a popular treatise on hawking, hunting,  and coats of arms attributed to Dame Juliana Barnes, included perhaps the most influential of the early lists, a "Compaynys of beestys and fowlys" section with more than 160 "company terms."  Such terms are now often called "collective nouns," "nouns of multitude," or "nouns of assembly."   Many of these old collective nouns for groups of animals are still in widespread use, including:

• a HERD of cattle
• a PACK of wolves
• a COLONY (or ARMY) of ants 
• a SCHOOL of fish 
• a PRIDE of lions  
• a FLOCK of birds 
• a SWARM of bees

Others were surprisingly specific: a group of geese in flight should properly be called a SKEIN, while a group of geese on land should be called a GAGGLE.  (Many of the old lists also included proper collective terms for people and objects, such as a DEN of thieves or a CLUSTER of grapes, but that is a topic for another day.)

Some of these "company terms" have largely lost their earlier meaning, such as BEVY (originally the term for a group of roes or quail) or COVEY (originally the term for a group of partridges), both of which have taken on the general sense of a "group of" almost anything.  Others have survived unscathed to the modern day but are used only very rarely, such as a CLOWDER of cats, a SORD of mallards (from the Latin surgere, "to rise"), or a CETE of badgers (origin unknown).

The lists also contained delightfully colorful and poetic terms, such as:

• a SHREWDNESS of apes
• a SLOTH of bears 
• a BUSYNESS of ferrets 
• a SKULK of foxes 
• a SINGULAR of boars  
• a TIDINGS of magpies (from the belief that the future could be foretold based on their flight)
• a MURDER of crows 
• an EXALTATION of larks  
• a CHARM of finches (from an Old English word cirm, meaning "noise, chatter") 
• an OSTENTATION of peacocks 
• an UNKINDNESS of ravens

Some authorities have taken a dim view of these terms, denouncing them as humorous coinages that were rarely, if ever, used outside of such "fanciful" lists.  But we do not know to what extent the terms on these lists were in actual usage, and the fact remains that these more unusual terms were listed in the same old lists, right alongside "familiar" terms such as SCHOOL of fish and PRIDE of lions — terms that might seem just as "fanciful" or "humorous" if they were not so common.  As with other parts of the language, all we can say for certain is that some of these terms survived the centuries and passed into usage, while others did not.  But I would argue that our English language, now often reduced to the simplest and commonest forms, could stand to benefit from the sort of richness, poetry, and half-humorous double meanings that characterize many of these terms.  Thus, should I ever encounter a party of magpies, I will not hesitate to proclaim it a sign of good TIDINGS!

Having covered roughly 900 years of territory, we can now confidently state that CLOWDER is the proper term for a group of cats.  The origin of this collective term is uncertain, though it may be related to words such as CLUTTER or CLUSTER.  It nearly passed out of use, but, happily, it has been revived somewhat in recent years.

And when I came to myself, I was lying upon the bed, full of bruises and scratches, as though I had been kicked for an hour by Wilful, the baron's unruly horse, or scarified by a clowder of wild cats.
~ Joseph Strutt, Queenhoo-Hall (1808)

"That's a fine clowder of cats you have, Aunt Alex," I told the old dowager one day when I was bringing her some peanut brittle from my mother.
~ Noel Perrin, A Passport Secretly Green (1961)

A clowder of unadoptable, irredeemably feral cats lives at my brother's mill, where he formulates and grinds feed-mixes — corn for energy, soy for proteins — to nourish all manner of farm animals, from cattle to llamas.  The cats arrived not long after the mill opened.
~ Janet Lembke, Because the Cat Purrs: How We Relate to Other Species and Why It Matters (2008)

In the interest of accuracy on the subject of a group of cats, it is also worth noting that a group of kittens or young cats is properly called a KINDLE.

I am convalescing. l have been sick with a virus, a strange influenza that has left me as weak as a kindle of kittens.
~ Kate Atkinson, Emotionally Weird: A Novel (2001)

For those wishing to learn more about collective nouns, James Lipton's quaint An Exaltation of Larks is a good modern starting point and one of the many sources I consulted in researching this topic.  And with that note, I will end this lengthy post, lest I should surpass the patience of my small LEGION of readers!

"Words, those precious gems"

Quote of the Week:

And so we come to words, those precious gems of queer shapes and gay colours, sharp angles and soft contours, shades of meaning laid one over the other down history, so that for those far back one must delve among the lost and lovely litter that strews the centuries... They arrange themselves in the most elegant odd patterns.
~ Rose Macaulay (1881-1958), Personal Pleasures (1935)

AAFFLSTU

Word of the Week

A feature wherein TileHead highlights a word that is is especially interesting or unusual (and, incidentally, useful in Scrabble play):

AAFFLSTU

(unscramble the letters to form this week's word...)

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This week's word is...

AFFLATUS (n. pl. -ES)

• Definition(s):
  
  1. (n.) a creative or divine inspiration
  2. (n.) "miraculous communication of a supernatural knowledge; hence also, the imparting of an over-mastering impulse, poetic or otherwise" (OED)

• Front hooks: (none)
• Back hooks:  (none)
• Anagrams: (none)
• Longer extensions:  -ES
• Wraparounds: (none)
• Other Spellings: (none)
• Related Forms: (none)

TileHead says:

Inspiration sometimes seems to come in a blast of air, blowing through quickly and powerfully.  Such is the basis of the word AFFLATUS, which literally means "a blowing or breathing upon," as it derives from the Latin flare, "to blow."  (Indeed, flare and blow are cognates, both probably tracing back to an ancient Indo-European root meaning "to swell, blow up.")  Accordingly, English writers have used AFFLATUS to refer to exceptional puffs of inspiration, or to the divine imparting of supernatural insight or knowledge, since at least the 1600s.

Writings being inspired by... a more gentle and easie afflatus.
– John Spencer, A Discourse Concerning Vulgar Prophecies (1665)

We had been talking about the masters who had achieved but a single masterpiece – the artists and poets who but once in their lives had known the divine afflatus and touched the high level of perfection.
– Henry James, "The Madonna of the Future" (1873)

He never again achieved that delicate balance of cold, scientific investigation and imaginative afflatus.
– Samuel Eugene Scalia, Carducci: His Critics and Translators in England and America (1937)

On the other hand, some bursts of air are more mundane, as with other words derived from flare such as CONFLATE, DEFLATE, INFLATE, REFLATE, SUFFLATE, and INSUFFLATE.  Then there are the usually unwelcome blasts of air associated with FLATUS (n. pl. -ES, "intestinal gas"), FLATULENT (adj., "marked by or affected with gas generated in the intestine or stomach"), and the related forms FLATULENCE, FLATULENCY, and FLATULENTLY.

Moral of the story: the winds of language blow in many directions, and one must take care not to mistake a FLATUS for AFFLATUS.

"How I confront the world"

Quote of the Week:

It seems to me I can only make sense of my feelings toward the world when I sit down and try to articulate through language how I confront the world, how it confronts me, how I move through it.
– Gregory Djanikian (1949- )

ACELNORV

Word of the Week

A feature wherein TileHead highlights a word that is is especially interesting or unusual (and, incidentally, useful in Scrabble play):

ACELNORV

(unscramble the letters to form this week's word...)

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This week's word is...

NOVERCAL (adj.)

• Definition(s): of or pertaining to a stepmother

• Front hooks: (none)
• Back hooks:  (none)
• Anagrams: (none)
• Longer extensions:  (none)
• Wraparounds: (none)
• Other Spellings: (none)
• Related Forms: (none)

TileHead says:

It sometimes seems as though English has a word for everything, and a word like NOVERCAL certainly reinforces that notion.  The Latin noverca ("stepmother," perhaps from an extended sense of novus, "new") gave birth to this one, which has been used in English since at least the 1600s.  Since stepmothers have not always had the best reputation, the OED notes that it is frequently "in extended use: cruel, malicious, hostile."

But Fortune... soone cald for the Principall and Interest from this Prince, to whom she was meerly Novercall.
– George Buck, History of the Life and Reigne of Richard the Third (1646)

Guido's old lady-mother Beatrice,
Who since her husband, Count Tommaso's death,
Has held sole sway i' the house...
Was recognized of true novercal type,
Dragon and devil.
– Robert Browning, The Ring and the Book (1868)

Bianca... became subject to the novercal tyranny and the ill-will of the new mistress of the house.
– Thomas Okey, The Old Venetian Palaces and Old Venetian Folk (1907)

On the other hand, there is no standard English word meaning "pertaining to a stepfather" (or to other step-relationships) at all, so NOVERCAL remains a noteworthy lexical gem and one perhaps overdue for a more positive revival.

Incidentally, George Buck's account of Richard the Third (see the first quote above) also makes use of STEPDAME, which was once a perfectly harmless synonym for "stepmother," though it probably would not sound very polite to modern ears.  DAME was occasionally used for "mother" prior to 1600 and was used in this sense by both Chaucer and Shakespeare, before falling out of use in modern English.  GRANDAME was similarly used to mean "grandmother," with an alternate spelling of GRANDAM – which also happens to be the anagram of the more modern GRANDMA.

"The language that we carry inside us"

Quote of the Week:

Everything can change, but not the language that we carry inside us, like a world more exclusive and final than one's mother's womb.
 – Italo Calvino (1923-1985)

AILLPUV

Word of the Week

A feature wherein TileHead highlights a word that is is especially interesting or unusual (and, incidentally, useful in Scrabble play):

AILLPUV

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This week's word is...

PLUVIAL (n. pl. -S)

• Definitions:
  
  1. (n.) a prolonged period of rainy weather
  2. (n.) a cloak worn by a senior cleric for protection against the rain or for ceremonial occasions
  3. (adj.) of or relating to rain; rainy

• Front hooks: (none)
• Back hooks: -S
• Anagrams: (none)
• Longer extensions: INTER-
• Wraparounds: (none)
• Other Spellings: (none)
• Related Forms: PLUVIAN (adj.), PLUVIOSE (adj.), PLUVIOUS (adj.)

TileHead says:

Deriving from the Latin pluvialis ("rainy"), forms of this word began appearing in English as early as the 1500s.  It is sometimes used in scientific senses, with reference to PLUVIAL and INTERPLUVIAL periods:

Although desert conditions have existed periodically in the region for approximately 70 million years, the southwestern deserts as they exist today are relatively young, with no more than 12,000 years having passed since the last wetter, pluvial period when the area contained abundant, interconnected standing and running water.
– Gene S. Helfman, Bruce B. Collette, & Douglas E. Facey, Diversity of Fishes (1997)

It is also frequently encountered in literary and jocular senses, along with interchangeable forms such as PLUVIAN, PLUVIOSE, and PLUVIOUS:

Never, even in his own pluvious land, had Roderick seen such a deluge as that which shortly swept down upon the poor little town hour after hour.
– Dinah Maria Mulock Craik, "Young Mrs. Jardine" in Harper's New Monthly Magazine (1879)

Both yesterday and today were novel and absurd days, and certain not quite intelligible, but significant, outlines were showing through confusedly. Like that darkish solution in which mountain views would presently float and grow clear, this rain, this delicate pluvial damp, developed shiny images in her soul.
– Vladimir Nabokov, King, Queen, Knave: A Novel (1968)

Normandy is, after all, one of the most pluviose provinces of France.
– Julian Barnes in Jim Shepard's Writers at the Movies (2000)

Incidentally, Pluviose was also the name of the fifth month of the French Revolutionary Calendar, a calendar based on natural and logical principles used by the French government between 1793-1805, in those heady days of revolution and reform on both sides of the Atlantic.  Pluviose (the "rainy" month) extended from approximately January 20th to February 18th and fell between the months of Nivose (the "snowy" month) and Ventose (the "windy" month).  Some features of the calendar were unpopular or impractical and the government soon reverted to the common Gregorian calendar, but another logical system of reform championed in France around the same time – the Metric System – remains in widespread use throughout most of the world.

"Words are flying out"

Quote of the Week:

Words are flying out like
Endless rain into a paper cup
They slither while they pass
They slip away across the universe
– "Across the Universe" song lyrics, written by John Lennon and performed by The Beatles (1969)