Tag Archives: Etymology

Apostrophe: Part 2

əˈpɒstrəfiː apostrophe: 1) A rhetorical device in which the speaker breaks off from discourse in order to address a person or thing, absent or present; 2) The sign ’, used to indicate omitted letters, or the possessive case In my previous post about apostrophes, I wrote about the use of the punctuation mark, and mentioned … Continue reading Apostrophe: Part 2

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 [Sondrestrom … 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 enjoyment This … Continue reading Merry, Jolly, Happy