Word of the Day

Rhotacize, “to change a sound to an r,” is the verb form of rhotacism and is based on the Greek letter rho, on the pattern of iotacism. Similar to the recent Word of the Day muon, Ancient Greek rhô comes from Phoenician rōš, “head,” a cognate of the Hebrew letter rēsh. Phoenician rōš has relatives in several Afro-Asiatic languages, including Amharic ras, as in Rastafarian; Hebrew rōsh, as in Rosh Hashanah; and Arabic ra’s, as in Ra’s al Ghul, a comic supervillain whose name translates as “Head of the Demon.” All Ancient Greek words containing rho are transcribed in English with -rh- because the Greeks once pronounced the “ruh” sound with a “huh”-like breathiness called aspiration. Rhotacize was first recorded in English in the early 1960s. EXAMPLE OF RHOTACIZE USED IN A SENTENCE English speakers have permanently rhotacized many s and z sounds over the past 2,000 years, with ancient Germanic auso, haso, and wēz- becoming modern English ear, hare, and were.

Bazaar, “a marketplace,” comes via Italian bazarro from Persian bāzār, “market.” The bā- part of this term (earlier wā-, vaha-) likely comes from a root meaning “to buy, sell” and is a distant relative of Latin venum, “for sale” (compare venal and vendor), while the -zār element (earlier -carana) may come from the same movement-related root as found in chakra (from Sanskrit), cycle (from Ancient Greek), and wheel (from Old English). Take care not to confuse bazaar with bizarre, “unusual, odd,” from Italian bizzarro, “quick to anger,” of uncertain origin. Bazaar was first recorded in English in the 1590s. EXAMPLE OF BAZAAR USED IN A SENTENCE Merchants came from far and wide, trekking miles across the mountains and deserts, to sell their wares at the bazaar.

Samhain, “an ancient Celtic winter festival,” is a borrowing from Irish Gaelic. In Irish Gaelic, the consonant pair mh is often pronounced as “oo” or “wuh,” which is why the standard English pronunciation of Samhain is “sah-win”—and, unlike what certain supernatural-themed TV series have claimed, is not “sam-heyn.” Samhain comes from Old Irish samain, which some linguists have proposed is a distant relative of English summer. Though it may be folk etymology, a similar proposal is that samain comprises Old Irish sam, “summer” (compare modern Irish Gaelic samhradh), and perhaps fuin, “setting, end.” Perhaps instead of a summery connection, samain comes from a root meaning “together” or, by extension, “assembly, gathering.” Samhain was first recorded in English in the late 1880s. EXAMPLE OF SAMHAIN USED IN A SENTENCE As the nights grew longer and chillier in Ireland, though snow had yet to fall, the winter festival Samhain was fast approaching.

Preternatural, “out of the ordinary course of nature,” comes from Medieval Latin praeternātūrālis, of the same meaning, which is based on the Latin phrase praeter nātūram, “beyond nature.” Praeter, “beyond,” is the comparative of prae, “before,” giving praeter the literal sense of “more before,” and it appears in English as the element preter- in words such as preterit (“gone beyond”). Nātūram is the direct object of nātūra, “nature, conditions of birth, quality,” which is based on the verb nāscī (stem nāt-), “to be born.” Nāscī, in turn, is the source of cognate, innate, nascent, native, prenatal, puny, renaissance, and the name Natalie. Preternatural was first recorded in English in the 1570s. EXAMPLE OF PRETERNATURAL USED IN A SENTENCE The artist had a preternatural knack for using color, texture, and shading to create haunting images.

Pishogue, “an evil spell,” is adapted from Irish Gaelic piseog, “charm, spell,” from Middle Irish piseóc or pisóc. Though these words are of uncertain origin, some linguists have suggested a derivation from Latin pyxis (stem pyxid-), “box, medicine box.” Pyxis is a borrowing from Ancient Greek pyxís, “box,” which is also the source of English box as well as its French synonym boîte. The linguistic community is divided over the source of pyxís, with some advocating for an origin in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) and others suggesting an origin in the ancient Italian peninsula, specifically from a lost language that must predate Latin. Pishogue was first recorded in English in the 1820s.