Word of the Day

Ignescent comes from the Latin verb ignēscere, “to catch fire,” from the noun ignis, “fire.” Ignis is the source of several fire-related words in English, including igneous, ignite, and ignition. Because Latin and Sanskrit, a classical language of India, are distantly related, Latin ignis closely resembles Sanskrit Agni, the name of the Hindu god of fire. Ignescent was first recorded in English in the 1820s. EXAMPLE OF IGNESCENT USED IN A SENTENCE With the dark night sky as a backdrop, the New Year's Eve fireworks show was brilliantly ignescent.

Smaragdine, “emerald-green in color,” comes via Latin smaragdus from Ancient Greek smáragdos, “emerald,” which may derive either by way of Sanskrit or directly from a Semitic source akin to Hebrew bāreqeth “gemstone, emerald.” Bāreqeth and its Arabic relative barq, “lightning,” come from a Semitic root roughly meaning “to flash, shine.” Because of a variety of regular sound changes, Latin smaragdus evolved into Old French esmeragde (also esmeralde) and was adapted into English as emerald. For fans of Disney or Victor Hugo, this Old French word is also the source of the name Esmeralda. Smaragdine was first recorded in English in the late 14th century. EXAMPLE OF SMARAGDINE USED IN A SENTENCE Because the ink was not yet dry on the drawing of the Emerald City, the artist left a smaragdine smear when he brushed his hand against the page.

Rubricate, “to mark or color with red,” comes from Latin rūbrīca, “red ocher,” which is also the source of English rubric, “any established mode of conduct or procedure.” The shift in definition here is because rubric originally referred in English to a title or heading in a book that was written in red for easy distinction from the rest of the text (in black), and red ocher was ground to produce the pigment once used in red ink. Rūbrīca comes from ruber, which is one of multiple Latin words for “red,” as we learned from the Word of the Day rufescent. Rubricate was first recorded in English in the 1560s. EXAMPLE OF RUBRICATE USED IN A SENTENCE Looking at the old tome through the display case glass, she imagined the scribe who painstakingly rubricated all of the chapter headings.

Precocity, “the state of ripening early,” ultimately comes from Latin praecox, “early ripening,” from the verb praecoquere, “to bake early, ripen early.” The prae- element means “before” and is the ancestor of English pre-; Latin ae often becomes English e, as we also saw in the Word of the Day preternatural. The verb coquere, “to cook,” is the source of numerous words in English, whether from Latin directly (concoct), by way of French (biscuit, charcuterie, cuisine), via Italian (ricotta, terra cotta), through Old English (cook, kitchen), or using another route entirely (apricot). Precocity was first recorded in English in the 1630s. EXAMPLE OF PRECOCITY USED IN A SENTENCE After centuries of hybridizing the plant, the strawberry is now widely known for its precocity.

Jamboree, “any large gathering with a partylike atmosphere,” is an Americanism of unknown origin. Though the term is often associated with the Scouts, its appearance in English predates the Scout Movement by about 40 years. One proposal is that jamboree is an elaboration of jam in the sense “a mass of people or things pressed tightly together,” perhaps on the pattern of the recent Word of the Day shivaree. Note that the sense “a gathering of jazz musicians” of jam isn’t attested until the late 1920s, so this definition could not be the root behind jamboree, which was first recorded in English in the early 1860s. EXAMPLE OF JAMBOREE USED IN A SENTENCE The 48-hour period that Boxing Day, Christmas, and Kwanzaa all share is ample cause for celebration, but this year’s overlap with Hanukkah as well is what warrants a nationwide jamboree!