Word of the Day

Dithyrambic, “of or relating to an impassioned oration,” describes a dithyramb, which refers to a wild Greek choral song or, more broadly, to an enthusiastic speech. Dithyramb comes from Ancient Greek dīthýrambos, which belongs to a small family of words related to song or rhythm, including íambos, “iamb.” Alas, these words are likely of mysterious pre-Greek origin, coming from a lost language spoken in the eastern Mediterranean. For more examples of pre-Greek words, check out the Words of the Day obelize and pharyngeal. Dithyrambic was first recorded in English at the turn of the 17th century. EXAMPLE OF DITHYRAMBIC USED IN A SENTENCE The teacher was known for dithyrambic declarations, praising all her students for their exceptional performance.

The roots of welkin, “the sky,” run rather deep in English history. Welkin’s earliest recorded form is Old English wolcen, “cloud, sky,” the plural of which is wolcnu. Wolcen belongs to a class of nouns in Old English that added a final -u when they became plural. Other such words include æcern, “acorn”; cnēow, “knee”; and scip, “ship,” all of which simply add -s today in the plural. Outside the British Isles, welkin appears to have relatives in other West Germanic languages, such as Dutch wolk and German Wolke, both “cloud,” but no clear connections beyond that branch. Welkin was first recorded in English before 900 CE. EXAMPLE OF WELKIN USED IN A SENTENCE As they drove through the night, the North Star arose in the darkened welkin, guiding them home.

Asinine, “foolish, unintelligent, or silly,” comes from Latin asinīnus, which is based on asinus, “donkey.” The specific origin of asinus remains unknown and unrecorded, but there is ample evidence that it derives from a lost pre-Roman language based on its resemblance to other Eurasian words for “donkey” or, specifically, “female donkey,” such as Ancient Greek ónos, Arabicʾatān, and even Luwian tarkasna-. This could all point to an origin for asinus in what is now Iraq, perhaps Sumerian anše or anšu, “donkey.” Asinine was first recorded in English at the turn of the 17th century. Learn a few synonyms for asinine. EXAMPLE OF ASININE USED IN A SENTENCE The guest speaker's bizarre misuse of several complex words made him sound asinine.

Bombogenesis, “the 24-hour process in which a cyclone develops hurricane-force winds,” is formed from bomb, in the sense of bomb cyclone or weather bomb, and genesis. Bomb ultimately comes from Ancient Greek bómbos, “a booming sound.” Though bómbos and English boom aren’t related, they are formed in the same way: by verbally mimicking a loud noise. Bombogenesis was first recorded in English in the early 2000s. EXAMPLE OF BOMBOGENESIS USED IN A SENTENCE The skiers hunkered down when they learned that the onset of the bombogenesis was still to come.

Schmatte, “an old ragged garment,” is an Americanism adapted from Yiddish shmate, “rag,” from Polish szmata, of the same meaning. Though much of Yiddish vocabulary comes from German, it uses the Hebrew writing system as an alphabet and treats silent Hebrew consonants as vowels. This is how the letters aleph and ayin, which are silent in most varieties of modern Hebrew, make the “ah” and “eh” sounds in Yiddish shmate. Schmatte may also appear as shmatte in English; both spellings are equally valid, with the sch- closer to German spelling standards despite its Polish origin. Schmatte was first recorded in English in the late 1960s. EXAMPLE OF SCHMATTE USED IN A SENTENCE “Take that schmatte off,” the grandmother scolded, “and put on a proper coat, or you’ll catch a cold!”