Word of the Day
bobèche
noun
a slightly cupped ring placed over the socket of a candleholder to catch the drippings of a candle.
More about bobèche
Bobèche, “a cupped ring that catches a candle’s drippings,” comes from French but is of uncertain origin. With that said, linguists have one prevailing hypothesis. The bob- part may be the same as the first element in Middle French bobine, “skein of thread,” which is the source of English bobbin. The -èche element could be based on an analogy with flammèche, “spark,” which comes from Old High German falawiska, “hot ashes.” Bobèche was first recorded in English in the late 1890s.
EXAMPLE OF BOBÈCHE USED IN A SENTENCE
Without a bobèche available, they carried the lit candles very carefully, dodging scalding drips of hot wax.
shammes
noun
the candle used to kindle the candles in the Hanukkah menorah.
More about shammes
Shammes, “the candle used to kindle the candles in the Hanukkah menorah,” is a borrowing of Yiddish shames, which comes from Hebrew shammāsh, “server, attendant.” As we learned from the Word of the Day cherubic, many Hebrew nouns add -im to become plural, which is why one shammāsh in Hebrew becomes multiple shammāshim and one shammes in English becomes multiple shammosim. Though Hebrew shammāsh is easily confused with Shamash, an Assyrian and Babylonian sun god, the two are not related; while Shamash comes from a Semitic root meaning “sun,” shammāsh appears to come from Egyptian šmsw, “follower, servant.” Shammes was first recorded in English in the late 1940s.
EXAMPLE OF SHAMMES USED IN A SENTENCE
She had the honor of lighting the shammes and the first candle on the first night of Hanukkah.
More about hauteur
Hauteur “arrogance” is a direct borrowing from French, in which it means “height.” Though hauteur and height resemble each other, they are not related; hauteur, from the French adjective haut “high,” comes from Latin altus, while height is equivalent to high plus -th (as in birth and warmth) in Old English. A close relative of English high in Frankish, another Germanic language, is hōh, and because of the influence of Frankish on the French language, the h from Frankish hōh influenced the spelling of French haut. Hauteur was first recorded in English in the 1620s.
EXAMPLE OF HAUTEUR USED IN A SENTENCE
When around larger canines, miniature dogs often display aggression and hauteur far beyond what their small stature would suggest is possible—or wise.