Word of the Day

Cryptomnesia, “the phenomenon of regarding an old memory as a new idea,” is based on crypto-, “hidden, secret,” and Ancient Greek mnêsis, “memory.” Crypto-, ultimately from Ancient Greek krýptein, “to hide,” is of unclear origin. Confusing matters further is the resemblance between krýptein and kalýptein, “to cover,” which is the source of eucalyptus (literally “well covered”) and possibly Calypso, a sea nymph in the Odyssey. Mnêsis is also the source of the Word of the Day hypermnesia and is distantly related to a range of thought-related words containing m followed by n, including mantra, mental, mind, and mnemonic. Cryptomnesia was first recorded in English at the turn of the 20th century. EXAMPLE OF CRYPTOMNESIA USED IN A SENTENCE One member of the study group, clearly experiencing cryptomnesia, suggested an idea that he didn’t realize he had heard in a news story earlier that day.

Chicanery, “trickery by quibbling,” is an adaptation of French chicanerie, from the verb chicaner, which is typically translated as “to quibble” or “to split hairs” and once referred specifically to legal contexts. Appropriate for its meaning, the origin of French chicaner is controversial. One possible derivation is from a Germanic root meaning “to arrange” that is also the source of chic (via German Schick, “skill”). Alternatively, chicaner may be a merger of chic-, a common Romance element indicating smallness (compare chinchy and Spanish chico, “boy”), and ricaner, “to snicker.” Chicanery was first recorded in English circa 1610. EXAMPLE OF CHICANERY USED IN A SENTENCE Though the judge dismissed the lawsuit on a technicality, the prosecutors knew that it was the defense attorney’s chicanery that had successfully distracted from the matter at hand.

Trachle, “to fatigue, tire,” is of uncertain origin, but the leading hypothesis is that the term comes from dialectal Dutch tragelen, “to walk laboriously,” related to standard Dutch traag, “slow, sluggish.” Another option is that trachle is a variant of draggle, “to trail on the ground, follow slowly,” which is formed from drag. English drag is closely related to Dutch dragen and German tragen, both meaning “to carry,” which bear an intriguing resemblance to dialectal Dutch tragelen above, though this is probably a coincidence. Trachle was first recorded in English in the 1540s. EXAMPLE OF TRACHLE USED IN A SENTENCE The long walk into town thoroughly trachled the horses as they pulled the carriage through the falling snow.

Leveret, “a young hare,” comes by way of Old French lievre, “hare,” from Latin lepus (stem lepor-), of the same meaning. Though English hare and Latin lepus are unrelated, they both exemplify rhotacism. As we learned from the Word of the Day rhotacize, s and z sounds often become r in numerous world languages, and both English and Latin are no exceptions. While Germanic hazōn evolved into Old English hara and then English hare, Latin lepus changed to lepor- in its plural and object forms. Leveret was first recorded in English in the early 15th century. EXAMPLE OF LEVERET USED IN A SENTENCE We found the tiny leverets waiting patiently for food in their nest.

If you’re wondering whether ewer, “a pitcher with a wide spout,” and the similarly watery sewer are related, you’ve guessed correctly. The ultimate origin of ewer is Latin aquārius, “vessel for water,” which evolved into Old French euwier or evier after a series of sound changes (compare modern French évier, “stone channel serving as a sewer”). Meanwhile, sewer comes from Vulgar Latin exaquāria, “drain for carrying water off.” The Latin aquāri- element is based on aqua, “water,” as are the Words of the Day gouache and terraqueous. Ewer was first recorded in English around the turn of the 14th century. EXAMPLE OF EWER USED IN A SENTENCE In the constellation Aquarius, a man is depicted as pouring an endless stream of water from a ewer.