VIATIC

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 4 November 2011

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VIATIC  (adj.)

Definition(s):

1. (adj.) pertaining to traveling
2. (adj.) pertaining to a road or way

Useful information for game players:

• Front hooks: A-
• Back hooks: -A
• Anagrams: (none)
• Longer extensions: viaticAL/S, viaticUM/S,
• Wraparounds: (none)
• Other Spellings: (none)
• Related Forms: VIATICAL (n.), VIATICUM (n.), VIATICA (pl. n.), VIATOR (n.)

Epilogue:
This word arrived in modern English by way of the Latin viaticus (“pertaining to a journey”) and ultimately from via (“road”).  So too did VIATOR (“a traveler”) and VIATICUM.  The latter originally meant “the Christian Eucharist given to a person who is dying or is in danger of death,” but now usually means “traveling expenses” or more generally “provisions for a journey.”  Similarly, VIATICAL was originally an adjective meaning “pertaining to travel,” but is now also a noun meaning “an arrangement whereby a person having a terminal illness (esp. AIDS) sells his or her life insurance policy to a third party for less than its mature value so that he or she can benefit from the proceeds while alive” (OED).  The sense in all of these words is of travel, whether in this world or beyond.


Recapping this week’s words: VALKYRIE, VIGIA, VICENARY, and VIATIC

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