Writing 1 Spring Words of the Day

Week 1

Today's words were for those little bits and pieces that we might simply call "thingamajigs" or "whatchamacallits."

meme -- fr. Greek mimeme; to imitate -- a digital image combined with text to express a cultural comment.

pintle -- the pin or bolt that is used in hinge.

ferrule -- the metal cap on the end of an umbrella

aglet -- the cover of the end of a shoe lace

Week 2

incunabulum -- fr. Latin incunabula, "swaddling clothes, cradle, birthplace, beginnings," -- a book or pamphlet printed in Europe before the 1500s.  Incunabula are not manuscripts, which are written by hand, but products from the infancy of the printer's art.

infante -- fr. Latin infans, "child" -- Any son of the king of Spain or Portugal, except the oldest or heir apparent.  

lasagna -- fr. Latin lasanum, "chamber pot" -- a baked Italian dish consisting of wide strips of pasta cooked and layered with meat or vegetables, cheese, and tomato sauce.


Week 3

farci -- fr. French, farcir, "to stuff"   -- a food stuffed with finely ground, seasoned meat and vegetables

diktat -- fr.German, diktat, "something dictated; fr. Latin dictare, "to dictate" -- an authoritative decree or statement

limbo -- fr. Latin limbus, "border, edge"-- an intermediate, transitional, midway place.

Week 4

acronym -- fr. Greek, akron, "or tip" -- an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of other words and pronounced as a word (e.g. NASA, SCUBA)

aptronym -- fr. Latin, aptus, "fitting" -- a person's name that is regarded as amusingly appropriate to their occupation (e.g. a florist named Katie Gardener)

capitonym -- fr. Latin caput, "head" -- a word that changes its meaning (and sometimes pronunciation) when it is capitalized.  (e.g. Concord/ concord; Polish/polish)

homonym -- fr. Greek homos, "same" -- a word spelled and pronounced like another but has a different origin and meaning  (e.g. the small flying bat and the baseball bat.)  Homophones are words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings, e.g. sea and see.

pseudonym -- fr. Greek pseudos, "false" -- having or using a false name, a pen name, or an alias.  For example, Mark Twain was a pseudonym for Samuel Clemens.

Week 5

hoc monumentum posuit -- Latin,  hoc monumentum posuit, "this monument built/erected" -- The abbreviation H.M.P. is often added at the base of a statue or monument denoting who built it or who commissioned the building.

larmoyant -- French, larmoyant, "tearful" -- tearful, maudlin, sentimental

eponym -- Greek, epi, "called after," nym, "named"   -- a person after whom a discovery, invention, place, etc., is named or thought to be named.  Examples:  Kleenex, chapstick, sandwich, cardigan.

Week 6 

ma non troppo -- Italian, "but not too much" -- this term is often used with musical terms, especially tempo-related ones.

pas -- fr. Italian, "step" -- a step or series of steps used in ballet

toccata -- fr. Italian "touch" -- a musical piece for organ or harpsichord characterized by full chords, rapid runs, and high harmonies


Week 7

Our Words of the Day dealt with fears.  I've been using a book by Richard Lederer, Crazy English, for some of our words. The Greek root phobia means "fear" 

acrophobia -- fr. Greek, akron, tip, heights -- a fear of high places  (by the way, the word "acrobat" has the same root, akron)

nyctophobia -- fr. Greek nux, "night" -- a fear of darkness or night

ombrophobia -- fr. Greek ombros, "storm or rain" -- fear of rain or storms (by the way, the word "umbrella" also has the same root.)

phengophobia -- origin unknown  -- fear of daylight

basophobia -- fr. Latin bas, base -- a fear of falling; a fear of standing

arachibutyrophobia -- a fear of getting peanut butter stuck on the room of your mouth

And one more

hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia -- the fear of long words