Word of the Day

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.

Paresthesia, “an abnormal sensation,” comes from New Latin, a revived variety of Latin used in scientific literature. In paresthesia, the -esthesia element means “capacity for sensation or feeling” and ultimately comes from Ancient Greek aísthēsis, “sensation, perception.” Ancient Greek ai becomes ae in Latin and either ae or e in English. This is why words such as esthetics and anesthesia are also spelled aesthetics and anaesthesia. Paresthesia was first recorded in English in the late 1850s. EXAMPLE OF PARESTHESIA USED IN A SENTENCE After sitting for so long, she winced from the paresthesia in her legs when she stood up.

Sitzmark “a sunken area in the snow made by a falling skier” is a loanword from German, in which it is a compound of sitzen “to sit” and Mark “mark, visible impression.” Sitzen is a close relative of English sit, and because t in English tends to correspond to d in other Indo-European languages, we can see the connection to the Words of the Day sedentary (from Latin sedēre, “to sit”) and sídh (from Old Irish síd, “fairy mound”). English mark and German Mark are indeed related and share an origin with demarcation, march, margin, margrave, marquee, and remark—but not with the month March or the name Mark. Sitzmark was first recorded in English in the late 1930s. EXAMPLE OF SITZMARK USED IN A SENTENCE Even the bunny slopes are riddled with sitzmarks left by aspiring skiers in need of a bit more practice.