TEGULAR

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 8 August 2012

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Word of the Day:

TEGULAR  (adj.)

Definition(s):

1. (adj.) of, relating to, or resembling a tile

Useful info for word game players:

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

Current theme:

No theme this week — just a few selections from the good wordbook

Epilogue:

This word is used primarily in the roofing and paving industries, and indeed it comes from the Latin tegula, meaning “tile,” ultimately from the verb tegere, meaning “to roof, to cover.”  Several other words from the same roots usually refer to the outer skin, membrane, or husk of an organism, such as TEGMEN, TEGUMEN, TEGUMENT, INTEGUMENT, STEGODON, and STEGOSAURUS.  One such word, TEGULATED, is sometimes used to refer to a kind of ancient armor composed of overlapping plates.

Could it be applied to Scrabble tiles as well?  Certainly — though it rarely has been, it would seem.  Please join me in widening the figurative use of this word among the Scrabble community!  One could refer to a tournament as a “tegular competition,” or to the luck of the draw as “tegular fate,” or to top competitors as “tegular titans.” 

Speaking of tegular titans, I look forward to seeing many of you at the upcoming National Scrabble Championship!

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ATARAXIA

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 6 August 2012

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Word of the Day:

ATARAXIA  (n. pl. -S)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) peace of mind; calmness of mind; emotional tranquility; stoical indifference

Useful info for word game players:

• Front hooks: (none)
• Back hooks: -S
• Anagrams: (none)
• Longer extensions: (none)
• Wraparounds: (none)
• Other Spellings: ATARAXY
• Related Forms: ATARAXIC (adj. & n.), ATARACTIC (adj. & n.)

Current theme:

No theme this week — just a few selections from the good wordbook

Epilogue:

The Stoics and the Epicureans of ancient Greece both sought ATARAXIA (or ATARAXY), a state of tranquility and calmness, though they differed on the best means of achieving it.  Deriving from the Greek for “lack of disturbance” or “impassiveness,” ATARAXIA remains for many today as desirable — and, often, elusive — as it was for those ancient philosophers.  The English language has many terms for this and related concepts, with small shades of difference in meaning.  Some near-synonyms that I find particularly interesting are APLOMB, EQUANIMITY, PLACIDITY, SANGFROID, SERENITY, and TRANQUILITY.

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DRESSAGE

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 24 July 2012

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Word of the Day:

DRESSAGE  (n. pl. -S)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) the art or method of training a horse in obedience and in precision of movement
2. (n.) a competitive sport involving the guiding of a horse through complex maneuvers by slight movements of the rider’s hands, legs, and weight
3. (n.) the maneuvers performed by a horse trained in this method

Useful info for word game players:

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

Epilogue:

There are three main categories of EQUESTRIAN events at the Summer Olympics: jumping, DRESSAGE, and “eventing,” the last being a sort of equestrian triathlon involving jumping, cross country, and dressage events.  The word DRESSAGE comes from the French dresser, “to train” or “to drill.”  The event involves leading a horse through complex maneuvers such as PASSAGE (a slow trot with highly elevated feet) and PIAFFE (a movement that resembles a slow trot in place), ideally in such a manner that the rider appears relaxed and the horse responds smoothly and accurately.

With that, we will ride into the sunset, anticipating the official start of the Summer Olympics later this week.  Enjoy the Games!

Word to the wise: TileHead’s word of the day feature will be a little few and far between over the next several weeks.  Please enjoy the posts when they do appear, and please be patient when they do not.  Withdrawal symptoms may be lessened by flipping through your favorite dictionary and marveling at the wondrous beauty and inexhaustibility of the English language.

Recapping the past week’s words:
FALLAWAY, APPEL, PELOTON, JUDOKA, and DRESSAGE

Also mentioned in passing:
EPEE, EQUESTRIAN, FENCING, FOIL, JUDO, JUDOIST, JUJITSU, OCTAVE, OLYMPIAD, PASSADO, PASSAGE, PIAFFE, PLASTRON, PLATOON, PRIME, PUNTO, QUARTE, QUINTE, RIPOSTE, SABER, SECONDE, SEPTIME, SIXTE, TAEKWONDO, TIERCE, TOUCHE, and VOLTE

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JUDOKA

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 23 July 2012

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Word of the Day:

JUDOKA  (n. pl. -S)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) one who practices judo; a judoist

Useful info for word game players:

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

Current theme:

Summer Olympics

Epilogue:

Many use the terms JUDO and JUJITSU (also spelled JUJUTSU, JIUJITSU, and JIUJUTSU) interchangeably, but they are technically different.  Jujitsu derives from ju (“soft” or “gentle”) and jutsu (“art” or “skill”) and is a martial art with ancient roots involving holds, throws, and paralyzing blows.  Today there are many different varieties of jujitsu, with varying emphases and teachings.  The most well known and popular variety, judo, derives from ju and do (“way”) and is a modern martial art developed by Japanese master Jigoro Kano (1860-1938) involving holds, throws, and quick movements.  A practitioner of judo may be called a JUDOKA (ju + do + ka “person”) or a JUDOIST.

Judo has been a regular Summer Olympic event since 1964 (with the exception of 1968).  Another popular martial art, TAEKWONDO, was added to the Games in 2000.  Taekwondo is derived from Korean tae (“kick”), plus kwon (“fist”), plus do (“way”), or, more poetically, “the way of kicking and punching.”

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PELOTON

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 19 July 2012

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Word of the Day:

PELOTON  (n. pl. -S)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) the main body or field of riders in a bicycle race
2. (n.) a small body of soldiers; a platoon (rare)
3. (n.) a type of colorful, ornamental Bohemian glassware; also called peloton glass (rare)

Useful info for word game players:

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

Current theme:

Summer Olympics

Epilogue:

PELOTONS, or tightly-packed groups of riders, figure prominently in most longer bicycle races.  Many riders will “bunch” together, saving energy by “drafting” behind one another, and one or more riders will eventually aim for a “break” or “breakaway.”  The word is from French and literally means “little ball” or “pellet.”  The word PLATOON is from the same source, and, indeed, the word PELOTON was once used as a synonym for a small body of soldiers.

Cycling is another sport — along with fencing, some swimming events, and some track & field events — that has been included in every modern Summer Olympic Games, from 1896 to the present.

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APPEL

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 18 July 2012

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Word of the Day:

APPEL  (n. pl. -S)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) in fencing, a stamp of the foot, used as a feint or as a warning of attack
2. (n.) in fencing, a sharp blow made to produce an opening

Useful info for word game players:

• Front hooks: R-
• Back hooks: -S
• Anagrams: APPLE, PEPLA
• Longer extensions: appelLEE/S, appelLOR/S, appelLANT/S, appelLATE, appelLATION/S, appelLATIVE/S, appelLATIVELY
• Wraparounds: RappelS, RappelED, RappelLED, RappelING, RappelLING, CappelLETTI
• Other Spellings: (none)
• Related Forms: (none)

Current theme:

Summer Olympics

Epilogue:

The sport of FENCING is rife with obscure words.  Most specialized English language fencing terms are derived from French, owing to the strong influence of French fencing masters in the 16th through the 19th centuries.  APPEL, for example, comes from the French appeler, “to call” or (in this sense) “to challenge.”  Fencing is one of the few sports that has been an official event at the games of every modern Summer Olympics, which began in 1896.

Some other unusual fencing words include:

• EPEE: a fencing blade with a bowl-shaped guard and a long, narrow blade with a blunt point; the other primary fencing swords are the FOIL and the SABER 
• PASSADO: a thrust in fencing with one foot advanced 
• PLASTRON: a pad worn by a fencer to protect the chest 
• PUNTO: a point or hit in fencing 
• RIPOSTE: a fencer’s quick return thrust following a parry 
• TOUCHE: used to acknowledge a hit in fencing 
• VOLTE: a sudden movement or leap to avoid a thrust 
• And all of the eight basic fencing positions: PRIME, SECONDE, TIERCE, QUARTE, QUINTE, SIXTE, SEPTIME, and OCTAVE

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FALLAWAY

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 17 July 2012

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Word of the Day:

FALLAWAY  (n. pl. -S)  (adj.)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) a shot in basketball made while moving away from the basket
2. (adj.) pertaining to a shot or movement made while moving away from the basket

Useful info for word game players:

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

Current theme:

Summer Olympics

Epilogue:

The FALLAWAY jump shot is a staple of modern basketball, allowing a player to take a shot with less chance of it being blocked by the opposition.  Michael Jordan was famous for hitting last-second fallaway jumpers.  He and his star teammates on the United States men’s basketball team, dubbed the “Dream Team,” ran away with the gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics.  Overall, the U.S. men’s basketball team has dominated the sport since it became an Olympic event in 1936, capturing 13 gold medals, 1 silver, and 2 bronzes in its 16 appearances.

The world is about to get a serious case of Olympic fever, with the opening ceremony of the London Summer Olympics taking place on July 27th.  To get you into the mood, over the next several days we will host a small OLYMPIAD of words related to some of the sports of the Summer games.

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ULLAGE

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 13 July 2012

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Word of the Day:

ULLAGE  (n. pl. -S)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) the amount by which the contents fall short of filling a container
2. (n.) the quantity of liquid lost from a container due to leakage or evaporation

Useful info for word game players:

• Front hooks: S-
• Back hooks: -D, -S
• Anagrams: (none)
• Longer extensions: (none)
• Wraparounds: SullageS
• Other Spellings: (none)
• Related Forms: ULLAGED (adj.)

Current theme:

No theme this week — just a few random selections from the good wordbook

Epilogue:

That extra space at the top of bottles of wine, known as ULLAGE or HEADSPACE, often serves a purpose, allowing for expansion of contents or gases.  A similar concept applies to soda bottles, jet fuel tanks, and other containers of liquid.  Ullage seems to be on the rise in dry food packaging as well — notice the amount of air in your potato chip, cracker, or breakfast cereal packages — though more for reasons of marketing and chicanery than for any valid purpose.

The word derives ultimately from the Latin oculus (“eye”).  Medieval winemakers tried to fill casks up to the “eye” (the bunghole or stopper) to prevent the introduction of unwanted bacteria or other foreign substances.  Thus the French ouillage morphed into Anglo-French ulliage, the ancestor of our modern word.

If you are more concerned about what is inside the container, then INNAGE is the word for you.  INNAGE refers to the amount of liquid or product in a container, often measured in height from the bottom of the container.  It can also refer to the amount of liquid or product remaining in a container after shipment, such as the amount of fuel remaining in a jet tank after a flight.

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BUSHIDO

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 11 July 2012

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Word of the Day:

BUSHIDO  (n. pl. -S)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) the code of conduct of the Japanese samurai warrior

Useful info for word game players:

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

Current theme:

No theme this week — just a few random selections from the good wordbook

Epilogue:

The Japanese bu-shi-do literally means “military-knight-ways,” often translated more poetically as the "way of the warrior."  Bushido is a relatively new word in English, having been popularized by Nitobe Inazo's 1899 book Bushido: The Soul of Japan, but it encompasses a complex moral code of conduct with roots in ancient Japanese culture and warfare.  Among the virtues emphasized were courage, discipline, duty, honor, honesty, loyalty, respect, and sacrifice.

Ancient SAMURAI (“servant”) warriors were so duty-bound that they would occasionally commit SEPPUKU ("stomach-cutting"), a ritualistic form of suicide with a short sword, in order to avoid being captured by an enemy or to avoid shame for misdeeds.  This gruesome ritual is no longer practiced, of course, but Japanese culture still places a high value on duty and honor.  For example, top Japanese executives will sometimes resign in the wake of a scandal or problem that brings shame to the company.

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KLUDGE

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 9 July 2012

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Word of the Day:

KLUDGE  (v. KLUDGED, KLUDGING, KLUDGES)  (n. pl. -S)

Definition(s):

1. (v.) to put together from ill-fitting components
2. (n.) a system, especially a computer system, composed of poorly matched elements or components
3. (n.) a clumsy or inelegant solution to a problem; a messy or poorly constructed, but valid, solution to a problem or task

Useful info for word game players:

• Front hooks: (none)
• Back hooks: -D, -S, -Y
• Anagrams: KLUGED
• Longer extensions: (none)
• Wraparounds: (none)
• Other Spellings: KLUGE
• Related Forms: KLUDGY, KLUDGEY, KLUDGIER, KLUDGIEST

Current theme:

No theme this week — just a few random selections from the good wordbook

Epilogue:

Just about any computer geek will know this curious word, but it may be less familiar to those who do not deal so frequently with 0’s and 1’s.  As a noun, a KLUDGE (or KLUGE) is a fix or solution involving poorly matched or inelegant components.  To do such a fix is to KLUDGE or KLUGE (verb).  Something so put together might be described as KLUDGEY or KLUDGY (adj.).  Many computer techs enjoy creating a good kludge, which is sometimes a very effective solution to a problem.  As one technical book put it: “Any respectable in-house IT department will have a few kludges in its bag of tricks to keep the network running, and they ought to be proud of that fact” (Peter Rybaczyk, Cisco Network Design Solutions for Small-Medium Businesses).

The history of this word is, appropriately, a bit of a messy mystery.  Among the sources that have been proposed are the German kluge (“clever or smart”), the Polish or Russian klucz (“key or main point”), the Scottish kludgie (“common toilet”), and the name of an otherwise forgotten computer programmer.  In any case, the word is a perfect fit for a common modern phenomenon.  It started to be used regularly in the mid-twentieth century, and it remains popular among programmers and computer wonks today.

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LAMSTER

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 6 July 2012

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Word of the Day:

LAMSTER  (n. pl. -S)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) a fugitive from the law; an escapee; one who is trying to avoid being caught

Useful info for word game players:

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

Epilogue:

It will probably come as no surprise that criminal argot and slang have enriched American English, too.  Late 19th century and early 20th century gangster culture, for example, popularized terms such as “bum rap” (a false accusation or undeserved blame), to CON (to deceive, short for “confidence”), and RACKET (a dishonest scheme). 

Similarly, LAM gained the meaning of “in flight”, as in the expression “on the lam,” as well as a verb sense meaning “to escape, to flee.”  One who went on the lam was called a LAMSTER or a LAMISTER.  LAM had previously been a Middle English word meaning “to beat soundly,” and it is not clear how or why it developed a new meaning in the backstreets of America, where a special lingo and manner of speaking developed.  But what’s with all the questions, see?  Maybe you should just mind your potatoes, see?  Yeah, clam up and scram!

Recapping this week’s words:
POTLATCH, OUTLIVER, BUCKRA, and LAMSTER

Also mentioned in passing:
BANJO, BLUFF, CATFISH, CHEECHAKO, CHINOOK, CON, CORN, FRONTIER, GOOBER, GROUNDHOG, GUMBO, LAM, MAIZE, MUCKAMUCK, POTLUCK, QUAHOG, RACKET, RATTLESNAKE, SALTCHUCK, SKOOKUM, TYEE, and YAM

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BUCKRA

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 5 July 2012

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Word of the Day:

BUCKRA  (n. pl. -S)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) a white man or boss (often used disparagingly)

Useful info for word game players:

• Front hooks: (none)
• Back hooks: -M, -S
• Anagrams: (none)
• Longer extensions: buckraMS, buckraMED, buckraMING
• Wraparounds: (none)
• Other Spellings: (none)
• Related Forms: (none)

Current theme:

Words born in America

Epilogue:

Slaves brought to America from Africa and the Caribbean influenced American language and culture, sometimes in surprising ways.  As Walter C. Rucker writes in the Encyclopedia of African American History, “used as an expression of derision, ‘buckra’ appears to be the only anti-white epithet created originally by enslaved Africans. Others, specifically ‘cracker’ and ‘redneck,’ were created by the white elite to deride and ridicule poor whites.”  The term first began to be used widely in South Carolina and Georgia, and it is still used primarily in the southern United States.  The word is generally considered offensive or disparaging.

In any case, the word BUCKRA is probably from mbakara (“master”), from the Efik language spoken by the Ibibio people of Nigeria.  Other words from African languages that were probably introduced to American English through black slaves include BANJO, GOOBER (“peanut”), GUMBO, and YAM.

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OUTLIVER

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 3 July 2012

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Word of the Day:

OUTLIVER  (n. pl. -S)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) one who outlives another; a survivor

Useful info for word game players:

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

Current theme:

Words born in America

Epilogue:

The only current definition for OUTLIVER is the straightforward and expected one: one who survives or lives longer than another.  However, the word also has a particular connection to early United States history.  In seventeenth and eighteenth century colonial America, an “outliver” was one who moved to the frontier, far from a town center; that is, one who lived out away from others.  Sometimes outlivers ended up forming new towns; other times they simply sought adventure, freedom from city life, or independence and solitude. 

The word OUTLIVER is also an example of an early American propensity to adapt familiar words to new uses or to combine old words to form new concepts.  CORN, for example, was a very old English word with a variety of meanings that Americans adopted to refer specifically to MAIZE, or “Indian corn.”  The term FRONTIER, a word originally referring to the front side of something, became an Americanism for the vast lands at or beyond the border of a region.  The sense of BLUFF meaning “a steep headland or riverbank” was originally an Americanism, while compounds such as CATFISH, GROUNDHOG, and RATTLESNAKE combined familiar old words in new ways.  Such words, along with a gallimaufry of words borrowed from native and European languages, gradually gave American English a distinct flavor that helped set it apart from English spoken in Britian or other parts of the world.

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POTLATCH

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 2 July 2012

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Word of the Day:

POTLATCH  (n. pl. -ES)  (v. -ED, -ING, -ES)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) a ceremonial feast marked by gift giving and sometimes the destruction of property as a show of wealth and status, especially as practiced by Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest and the northwest coast of Canada
2. (n.) any party, feast, or celebration
3. (v.) to hold a potlatch feast or celebration

Useful info for word game players:

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

Current theme:

Words born in America

Epilogue:

Native American languages have contributed many words to the English language, mostly owing to the close contact between cultures in the early periods of European settlement in the Americas.  Last year, we looked at QUAHOG and other words from the Atlantic coast of America, mostly borrowed in colonial times.  Much later, in the nineteenth century, along the Pacific Northwest of the United States and up the northwest coast of Canada to Alaska, an unusual pidgin language known as Chinook Jargon developed to facilitate trade among the various peoples of those lands.  As writer Douglas Harper describes it, Chinook Jargon was “a mish-mash of native, French, and English words once used as a lingua franca in the Pacific Northwest.”

The word POTLATCH was borrowed during this period, deriving from the Wakashan patshatl, meaning “"giving, or gift.”  It is still used chiefly in the Northwestern United States and Canada.  The word is not etymologically related to POTLUCK — which is an English word, dating from the sixteenth century and derived from a straightforward combination of POT and LUCK, i.e. “to take one’s chances on what may be in the pot” — but the similarity in sound and rough meaning has led to the two words sometimes being used interchangeably or imprecisely.

Other words most likely from Chinook or Chinook Jargon include CHEECHAKO (a newcomer), MUCKAMUCK (an important person), SALTCHUCK (a body of salt water), SKOOKUM (excellent or large), and TYEE (a chief or boss, or a type of salmon).  Finally, the word CHINOOK itself, obviously derived from the name of the Indian tribe, refers to “a warm dry wind of the Pacific Northwest or the slopes of the Rocky Mountains.”

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DUENDE

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 29 June 2012

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Word of the Day:

DUENDE  (n. pl. -S)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) the power to attract through personal magnetism and charm; charisma
2. (n.) inspiration or passion
3. (n.) a ghost or spirit

Useful info for word game players:

• Front hooks: (none)
• Back hooks: -S
• Anagrams: DENUDE, DUDEEN, and ENDUED
• Longer extensions: (none)
• Wraparounds: (none)
• Other Spellings: (none)
• Related Forms: (none)

Current theme:

No theme this week — just a few random selections from the good wordbook

Epilogue:

This word is sometimes considered untranslatable — words such as “magnetism,” “charm,” or “passion” only approximate the sense, some argue, since DUENDE is more of a mysterious feeling or force.  A dancer, artist, or writer may be said to have duende, an inexplicable power or quality that draws the observer or reader in.  One Spanish dictionary reportedly defined it as “mysterious and ineffable charm.”  The Spanish poet García Lorca said that Johann Wolfgang von Goethe unintentionally defined it best when he described a musician as “a mysterious force that everyone feels and no philosopher has explained.”

Fittingly, the word has a mysterious and debated history.  It probably started out as Old Spanish duen de casa, “owner or lord of a house,” and in modern Spanish it came to mean “ghost or fairy,” of the sort that inhabits houses or causes minor mischief.  From this, somehow, emerged the Spanish dialect meaning of “charm.”  Nowadays, one with duende possesses a mysterious and powerful charm or passion, as if animated by an inner spirit. 

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TEENFUL

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 27 June 2012

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Word of the Day:

TEENFUL  (adj.)

Definition(s):

1. (adj.) filled with grief; grievous
2. (adj.) sorrowful; afflicted

Useful info for word game players:

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

Current theme:

No theme this week — just a few random selections from the good wordbook

Epilogue:

The word TEEN was used throughout Middle English and Early Modern English to mean “grief, sorrow, or trouble,” or sometimes more strongly “ill fortune or harm.”  The word derives from Old English teona “injury, wrong,” and is related to Old Norse and Old Frisian forms of the same.  It was employed to good effect by some of the most famous of English writers:

Almighty and al merciable quene,
To whom that al this world fleeth for socour,
To have relees of sinne, sorwe and tene,
Glorious virgine, of alle floures flour,
To thee I flee, confounded in errour!
~ Geoffrey Chaucer, “An A.B.C.” (c. 1375)

I to grave, where peace and rest lye with mee,
Eightie odde yeeres of sorrow I have seen,
And each howres joy wrackt with a weeke of teene.
~ William Shakespeare, Richard III (c. 1597)

The vagaries of language are such that this sense of the word is not employed much anymore, and the derivative TEENFUL (“full of sorrow”) is also fading into desuetude.

Though you may know some teenful teens, the old “sorrowful” sense of the word is not related to the combining form -teen found in numbers such as THIRTEEN, FOURTEEN, etc.  That -teen was simply an inflected form of the number TEN in Old and Middle English, so that fiftene or FIFTEEN was simply a short way of saying “five and ten.”  TEEN, in the sense of a person with an age in the years ending in -teen, first appears in English in the 17th century.  Words such as TEENAGE, TEENAGER, TEENYBOP, and TEENYBOPPER are even more recent creations, all first appearing or gaining popularity in the twentieth century.

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LUSTRUM

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 22 June 2012

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Word of the Day:

LUSTRUM  (n. pl. LUSTRUMS or LUSTRA)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) a period of five years
2. (n.) a ceremonial purification of the ancient Roman population after the census every five years

Useful info for word game players:

• Front hooks: (none)
• Back hooks: -S
• Anagrams: (none)
• Longer extensions: (none)
• Wraparounds: (none)
• Other Spellings: (none)
• Related Forms: LUSTRAL (adj.), LUSTRATE (v.), LUSTRATION (n.)

Epilogue:

The ancient Romans held a census every few years, the primary purpose of which was to identify men capable of bearing arms.  After the census, a purification ceremony known as a LUSTRUM or LUSTRATION was performed.  The ceremony included the sacrificing of a boar (sus), sheep (ovis), and bull (taurus), a ritual known as the suovetaurilia.  Because the census was normally conducted every five years, the word LUSTRUM came to refer to any five-year period, as it usually does today.

The word LUSTRUM and its variations derive from the Latin lustrare (“to brighten, or to purify”), which is also source of words such as LUSTER and ILLUSTRATION.  Turning to other Latin roots, an even fancier word for a five-year period is QUINQUENNIUM, a combination of quinque (“five”) and annus (“year”).

Recounting this week’s featured words:
CHILIAD, LAKH, ALGORISM, and LUSTRUM

Also mentioned:
ALGEBRA, ALGORITHM, CHILIASM, CHILIARCH, CRORE, ILLUSTRATION, KILO (and KILO- words), LUSTER, LUSTRATION, MILLION, QUINQUENNIUM, and RUPEE

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ALGORISM

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 21 June 2012

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Word of the Day:

ALGORISM  (n. pl. -S)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) the Arabic or decimal system of counting
2. (n.) calculating by means of the Arabic figures 1 through 9, plus zero: arithmetic
3. (n.) calculating with any form of notation
4. (n.) the rule for solving a specific kind of arithmetic problem: algorithm

Useful info for word game players:

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

Current theme:

Numbers

Epilogue:

The ninth century Persian mathematician Muhammed ibn Mūsa al-Khwārizmi (c. 780-c. 850) had an enormous influence on mathematics, as well as a surprisingly deep influence on the English language.  He wrote the book on algebra — literally — and is directly linked to several mathematical terms.

Al-Khwārizmi’s book Al-Kitāb al-mukhtasar fī hisāb al-jabr wa'l-muqābala (“The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing”) (c. 830) was an influential work that laid out the basic rules of algebra.  Although al-Khwārizmi was not the discoverer of algebraic mathematics (ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, and Greeks worked out the basics first), his work was so influential that the word al-jabr (“completion”) in the title of his book eventually became the word ALGEBRA in English. 

Al-Khwārizmi also wrote several other important texts relating to mathematics, astronomy, and geography.  His stature as a mathematician was so great that his name eventually became synonymous with the Arabic numbering system (0-9) itself: the medieval Latin form of al-Khwārizmi eventually morphed into the English ALGORISM.  In turn ALGORISM, still used today to refer to the decimal system of counting or to computation using it, also influenced the development of the word ALGORITHM (a step-by-step procedure for solving a mathematical problem).  In this case, al-Khwārizmi’s name probably became conflated with the Greek arithmos (“number”), leading to the form ALGORITHM.

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LAKH

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 20 June 2012

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Word of the Day:

LAKH  (n. pl. -S)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) one hundred thousand (100000)
2. (n.) a great number

Useful info for word game players:

• Front hooks: (none)
• Back hooks: -S
• Anagrams: (none)
• Longer extensions: (none)
• Wraparounds: HAlakhA/S, HAlakhIC, HAlakhAH/S, HAlakhOT/H, HAlakhIST/S
• Other Spellings: LAC
• Related Forms: (none)

Current theme:

Numbers

Epilogue:

Indian English has some distinctive words for large numbers, and their notation system reflects these terms.  A LAKH (or rarely, LAC) is one hundred thousand, usually written there as 1,00,000.  The different placement of the comma makes sense in this system, because they see it as one lakh, not one hundred thousand.  Similarly, ten lakh (written as 10,00,000) is what we in the United States would call one million.  One hundred lakhs, or what we would call ten million, is called a CRORE and is written as 1,00,00,000.  Both LAKH and CRORE derive from Hindi versions of Sanskrit words for the same concepts.

Idiosyncratic notation aside, LAKH and CRORE are handy little words to have around, much shorter and simpler than the alternatives “one hundred thousand” and “ten million.”  Perhaps someday they will be adopted and used more widely in the U.S. and other English-speaking countries.

Now that you know about LAKH and CRORE and that the word MILLION is rarely used in India, you can impress your friends with this fun fact: when the movie Slumdog Millionaire was released in India, it was titled Slumdog Crorepati. A crorepati is one with a crore (ten million) or more RUPEES — roughly the equivalent of a millionaire in terms of status and purchasing power.

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CHILIAD

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 18 June 2012

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Word of the Day: 

CHILIAD  (n. pl. -S)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) a group of one thousand
2. (n.) a millennium: a period of one thousand years

Useful info for word game players:

• Front hooks: (none)
• Back hooks: -S
• Anagrams: (none)
• Longer extensions: chiliadAL, chiliadIC
• Wraparounds: (none)
• Other Spellings: (none)
• Related Forms: CHILIADAL (adj.), CHILIADIC (adj.)

Current theme:

Numbers

Epilogue:

The ancient Greek word for “one thousand” can be transliterated as either chilioi or khilioi.  The CH- form gave English words such as CHILIAD, CHILIASM (belief in the millennium of Christian prophecy), and CHILIARCH (a commander of one thousand troops in ancient Greece). 

You are probably more familiar with words with spellings based on the K- form, such as KILO, KILOBYTE, KILOGRAM, KILOWATT, KILOMETER/KILOMETRE, and KILOCALORIE, since the kilo- prefix was adopted for use in the metric system, first devised in France in the late 18th century and now widespread throughout the industrialized world — with the notable exception of the United States.  A few lesser-known words with the kilo- prefix, all pertaining to units of measure, include KILOBAR, KILORAD, KILOTON, KILOBAUD, KILOMOLE, KILOVOLT, KILOCURIE, KILOCYCLE, KILOGAUSS, KILOJOULE, KILOPARSEC, and KILOPASCAL.

This week we will play the numbers game, by accounting for unusual words related to numbers. 

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