ɪmˈpiːtʃmənt impeachment: The accusation and prosecution of a person for treason or other high crime or misdemeanour before a competent tribunal; in Great Britain, the judicial process by which a person may be tried before the House of Lords at the instigation of the House of Commons; in the U.S.A., a similar process in which … Continue reading Impeachment
Tag Archives: Etymology
Manger
ˈmeɪndʒə(r) manger: A box or trough in a stable or byre, from which horses and cattle eat. Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head. The stars in the bright sky looked down where he lay, The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay. Nineteenth-century … Continue reading Manger
Prorogation
prɒrəʊˈɡeɪʃən prorogation: the act of discontinuing the meetings of an assembly without dissolving it For present purposes, the relevant limit on the power to prorogue is this: that a decision to prorogue (or advise the monarch to prorogue) will be unlawful if the prorogation has the effect of frustrating or preventing, without reasonable justification, the … Continue reading Prorogation
Gaudeamus
ɡɔːdiːˈeɪməs gaudeamus: merry-making by college students Turn on the spigot Pour the beer and swig it And gaudeamus igit- (uh) -tur Tom Lehrer “Bright College Days” (1959)* Gaudeamus is the first-person plural present active subjunctive of the Latin verb gaudeo, “to rejoice”—so it means “let us rejoice”. It’s the first word of a thirteenth-century … Continue reading Gaudeamus
Ultima Thule: Part 2
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. Advertising slogan for the Apple II computer (1977), often hilariously misattributed to Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) In my previous post about ultima Thule, I traced the strange history of the Greek name Thule, and how it came to be associated with the Latin adjective ultima, meaning “far” or “farthest”. … Continue reading Ultima Thule: Part 2
Ultima Thule: Part 1
ˈʌltɪmə ˈθjuːliː ultima Thule: a distant, unknown region at the extreme limit of travel Years ago I talked with Knud Rasmussen, the great Danish explorer, who in the early twenties had made a trip by dog team from Greenland around the Arctic rim to Nome, Alaska. In our library here at Bluie West Eight … Continue reading Ultima Thule: Part 1
Uniquely Shakespearean
[T]here are 357 cases where the Oxford English Dictionary has Shakespeare as the only recorded user of a word, in a particular sense, on one or more occasions. David Crystal & Ben Crystal The Shakespeare Miscellany (2005) Shakespeare is well known for being a wordsmith. Elsewhere in their excellent Shakespeare Miscellany, the Crystals note that … Continue reading Uniquely Shakespearean
Merry, Jolly, Happy
God rest you merry, gentlemen, Let nothing you dismay Traditional English Christmas carol The three words I’m going to write about in this post are pretty much inextricably linked with Christmas, but all of them started off meaning something different from their current usage. ˈmɛrɪ merry: cheerful and lively; characterized by festivity and … Continue reading Merry, Jolly, Happy
Gangrel
ˈɡæŋɡrəl gangrel (noun): a vagabond, vagrant or wandering beggar; a lanky, loose-limbed person; a toddler (Scottish hillwalking: a person who wanders far among the hills) Only the real gangrel penetrates this remote corrie with its shivering waters and black Sgurr. Hamish Brown, Hamish’s Mountain Walk (1978) Brown is talking about Loch a’ Choire Mhoir, … Continue reading Gangrel
Latin Plurals: Nouns Ending In -a
First Latin scholar: Crispin, I have some fresh lime. Would you decline a tequila? Second Latin scholar: Certainly. Tequil-a, tequil-am, tequil-ae, tequil-ae, tequil-ā. Tequil-ae, tequil-ās, tequil-ārum, tequil-īs, tequil-īs. That’s a very old joke, referring to Latin first-declension feminine nouns. (My, what a laugh we used to have at the expense of those poor Classics students.) … Continue reading Latin Plurals: Nouns Ending In -a