Rectigrade Rec-ti-grade Adjective Moving or proceeding in/on a straight line or course Stanley failed the field sobriety test when he was unable to walk in a rectigrade fashion. Probably old, I would wager there is some Latin back there, but Merriam-Webster is silent on the subject.
Word of the Week
My Word! September 3
by Betsey Ellis •
Quarterdeck Quar-ter-deck Noun the stern area of a ship’s upper deck; a part of the deck designated by the Captain for ceremonial and official use The Captain of the Titanic could not see the iceberg from his position on the quarterdeck. This one is another oldie and dates to 1622 for the first…
Coffee Potpourri
WHAT’S IN A NAME AUGUST 28th
by Betsey Ellis •
While that which we call a rose would smell as sweet if it were not called a rose, how about an Elizabeth? Ever wonder what a name means or how it came about? Elizabeth is our modern form of the Hebrew name Elisheva or Elisheba. It comes from the Hebrew words for God and oath.…
Word of the Week
My Word! August 26
by Betsey Ellis •
Procellous Pro-cel-lous Adjective Meaning stormy Here in Florida the summer afternoons are frequently procellous. You know I couldn’t go too long without hitting words we got from Latin! This time it traces back to procellosus, also meaning stormy.
Word of the Week
My Word! August 19
by Betsey Ellis •
OlivaceousOl-i-va-ceousAdjectiveOlive coloredNot surprisingly, olives and 1970’s bathrooms are both olivaceous.This one harkens back to 1776! You have to wonder why we suddenly decided we needed a new word for olive colored that year, it’s not like there was nothing else going on.
Word of the Week
My Word! – August 12
by Betsey Ellis •
Nimiety Ni-mi-e-ty Noun Excess, redundancy The artist’s ingrained nimiety results in cloying pictures of cute kids holding even cuter animals. This one goes back to 1542 in English. We got it from the Latin adjective nimius, meaning “excessive.”
Coffee Potpourri
WHAT’S IN A NAME
by Betsey Ellis •
While that which we call a rose would smell as sweet if it were not called a rose, how about a Donna? Ever wonder what a name means or how it came about? There are two meanings behind this name, just depends on which path you take. The more common one makes Donna a name…
Word of the Week
My Word! – August 5
by Betsey Ellis •
Malison Mal-i-son Noun A curse or malediction With her dying breath, Angelique pronounced a malison on Barnabas that would transform him into a vampire. This one has been around for at least 800 years, but has been pretty much supplanted by its cousin, malediction. Both come from the Late Latin word maledicere, meaning “to curse.” “Maledicere”…
Word of the Week
My Word! – July 29
by Betsey Ellis •
Lanai La-nai Noun A roofed or covered porch; a private balcony in a hotel room A lot of houses in Tanglewood have a lanai. We first see this one in 1823 and it does NOT come from Latin. We got this from Hawaiian!
Word of the Week
My Word! – July 22
by Betsey Ellis •
Klipspringer klip·spring·er Noun A small African antelope found from Cape Colony to Somaliland. “The Zoo” recently featured an episode about the relocation of a herd of klipspringer that I enjoyed. Probably not found in English before we found then cute little guys (and they are cute).