WOTD: Laconic

The Word of the Day for September 7 is: 

laconic  \luh-KAH-nik\  adjective
: using or involving the use of a minimum of words : concise to the point of seeming rude or mysterious

Example sentence:
"While the Ingallses were living outside the town of De Smet, in what is now South Dakota, Laura met her future husband, a laconic homesteader ten years her senior." (Judith Thurman, The New Yorker, August 10, 2009)

Did you know?
Laconia was an ancient country in southern Greece, bordering on the Aegean and the Mediterranean seas. Its capital city was Sparta, and the Spartans were famous for their terseness of speech. "Laconic" comes to us by way of Latin from Greek "Lakonikos," which is derived from "Lakon," meaning "native of Laconia." It has been with us since the 16th century and has sometimes been used with the basic meaning "of or relating to Laconia or its inhabitants" (though we're more apt to use "Laconian" for this meaning today). In current use, "laconic" means "terse" or "concise," and thus recalls the Spartan tendency to use the fewest words possible.

WOTD: Wend

Word of the Day for Saturday, September 18, 2010

wend \WEND\, verb:

1. To pursue or direct (one's way).
2. To proceed or go.

The issue will now wend through the courts; for how long is anyone's guess.
-- Jay Jochnowitz, "Smoke and taxes," The Observation Deck blog, timesunion.com, September, 2010.

But the bacteria had already begun their descent into foreign guts, and would wend their ways into intestinal tracts and into bowels.
-- Amy Tan, Saving Fish from Drowning

Wend can be traced back to the Goth wandjan, which is related to the verb "to wind."

WOTD: Jactation

Word of the Day for Sunday, September 19, 2010

jactation \jak-TEY-shuhn\, noun:

1. A restless tossing of the body.
2. Boasting; bragging.

As Denis sat alone in the silent, cabined space of his compartment, tossed this way and that by the jactation, he felt suddenly that the grinding wheels of the train spoke to him.
-- A. J. Cronin, Hatter's Castle

There are crises of convulsions, violent shouting, loud weeping, violent jactation, fainting, and semi-coma.
-- William Gilman Thompson, The occupational diseases: their causation, symptoms, treatment and prevention

Jactation derives from the Latin jactatare, "to throw."

WOTD: Caravansary

The Word of the Day for September 21 is: 

caravansary  \kair-uh-VAN-suh-ree\  noun
1 : an inn surrounding a court in eastern countries where caravans rest at night 
2 : hotel, inn

Examples:
Most of the area's hotels are on the pricey end of the scale, but there are a few caravansaries for budget travelers.

"Dedan was an important caravansary on the Incense Road, the network of ancient trading routes that linked Persia and India with the Mediterranean world." -- From an article by Jorg von Uthmann in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 28, 2010

Did you know?
In the Middle East, caravans often lodged at caravansaries. These inns were quadrangular in form and enclosed by massive walls with small windows near the top. The central court, which was surrounded by an arcade and storerooms, was large enough to hold 300 to 400 camels. The name was formed from the word "caravan" and the Persian word "sarai," meaning "palace" or "inn." "Caravansary" can also be spelled "caravanserai," and the word "serai" is used as a synonym for it.

WOTD: Extenuate

extenuate or X-10-U-8

PRONUNCIATION:

(ik-STEN-yoo-ayt) 

MEANING:

verb tr.
1. To reduce or attempt to reduce the severity of (an error, an offense, etc.) by making partial excuses for it.
2. To lessen or to make light of. 

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin extenuare (to lessen), from ex- (out) + tenuare (to make thin), from tenuis (thin). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ten- (to stretch), which is also the source of tense, tenet, tendon, tent, tenor, tender, pretend, extend, tenure, tetanus, hypotenuse, pertinacious, and detente. 

USAGE:

"The apology made clear that Shaftari believed that nothing could extenuate the wrongs he had done."
Robert F. Worth; 10 Years After a Mea Culpa, No Hint of a 'Me, Too'; The New York Times; Apr 17, 2010.

"Big bust, small lower half -- wear fitted jeans and tuck in your blouse to extenuate your waist."
Lindsay Clydesdale; A to Zoe of Fashion; Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland); May 11, 2010. 

Explore "extenuate" in the Visual Thesaurus. 

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Confusion is a word we have invented for an order which is not understood. -Henry Miller, writer (1891-1980) 

WOTD: Agog

Word of the Day for Wednesday, September 22, 2010

agog \uh-GOG\, adjective:

Full of excitement or interest; in eager desire; eager, keen.

Kobe Bryant left the Minnesota Timberwolves agog after a series of eye-popping moves in a game last week.
-- New York Times, February 5, 1998

He was now so interested, quite so privately agog, about it, that he had already an eye to the fun it would be to open up to her afterwards.
-- Henry James, The Ambassadors

By the second day he had found his sea-legs, and with hair flying and double-waistcoats flapping, he patrolled the deck agog with excitement, questioning and noting.
-- Richard Holmes, Coleridge: Darker Reflections, 1804-1834

Agog derives from Middle French en gogues, "in mirth; lively."

WOTD: Diaphanous

diaphanous \dy-AF-uh-nuhs\, adjective:

1. Of such fine texture as to allow light to pass through; translucent or transparent.
2. Vague; insubstantial.

The curtains are thin, a diaphanous membrane that can't quite contain the light outside.
-- Eric Liu, The Accidental Asian

She needed more than diaphanous hope, more than I could give her.
-- Tej Rae, "One Hand Extended", Washington Post, August 12, 2001

This phantom wore many faces, but it always had golden hair, was enveloped in adiaphanous cloud, and floated airily before his mind's eye in a pleasing chaos of roses, peacocks, white ponies, and blue ribbons.
-- Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

Diaphanous ultimately derives from Greek diaphanes, "showing through," from diaphainein, "to show through, to be transparent," from dia-, "through" + phainein, "to

Vocab: imago

Word of the Day for Monday, September 20, 2010

imago \ih-MAH-goh\, noun:

1. An idealized concept of a loved one, formed in childhood and retained unaltered in adult life.
2. Entomology. An adult insect.

She pictured him retaining, year after year, her imago in his heart, as strongly as his was impressed upon her own at that moment.
-- Ellen Wallace, King's Cope: a novel

The woman herself may change, but his imago of her once formed and given its lasting outlines in the heat of passion, does not change, so that he may himself even be faithful to a wife who is unfaithful.
-- Wilfrid Lay, Man's Unconscious Passion and Man's Unconscious Spirit

Imago is a term that originated in psychoanalysis but migrated into popular usage in the 20th Century.