Word of the Day

Lebkuchen, “a hard Christmas cookie,” is a borrowing from German and is equivalent to Kuchen, “cake,” plus an element of unclear origin. Kuchen is related to English cake and the Word of the Day krumkake. The Leb- part may be related to Latin lībum, “flatbread, sacrificial cake,” which in turn could be the root of lībāre, “to pour an offering,” as in libation. Alternatively, the Leb- element may share an origin with German Laib and English loaf (and, by extension, lady and lord). Lebkuchen was first recorded in English in the late 1840s. EXAMPLE OF LEBKUCHEN USED IN A SENTENCE I searched bakery after bakery but could not find one that sold lebkuchen, whose uniquely nutty and spicy aroma I greatly missed.

Esculent “suitable for use as food” comes from Latin ēsculentus “edible, full of food,” which is equivalent to ēsca “food” plus -ulentus, an adjective-forming suffix roughly meaning “full of.” The element -ulent also appears in fraudulent (literally “full of deceit”) and opulent (“full of wealth”). Latin ēsca is derived from the verb edere “to eat,” which has two stems: ed-, as in edible (literally “eatable”), and es-, as in comestible (“eat up-able”). Esculent was first recorded in English circa 1620. EXAMPLE OF ESCULENT USED IN A SENTENCE They planned to bring a succulent salad made from a range of esculent greens they had foraged.

Brume, “mist or fog,” is a borrowing from French and comes via Provençal bruma from Latin brūma, “winter, winter solstice.” Brūma is ultimately a contraction of brevissima (diēs), “shortest (day),” which is the superlative of brevis, “short.” Brevis is the source of abbreviate and brevity as well as (by way of French) abridge and brief. In Latin, the superlative forms are often marked with -issimus; compare Italian bravissimo and generalissimo. Brume was first recorded in English in the first decade of the 19th century. EXAMPLE OF BRUME USED IN A SENTENCE With excellent timing, a brume arose from the sea on the solstice and spread inland, all as if to signal that winter had come.

Posole, “a soup of meat, hominy, mild chile peppers, and cilantro,” is a loanword from Mexican Spanish, in which it is also spelled pozole. Because of a phonological phenomenon called seseo, while c and z are pronounced in most dialects of European Spanish as “thuh,” they have merged with s in Latin American Spanish and become “suh.” Pozole comes from pozolli “hominy, maize-based stew” in Nahuatl, which only uses c and z, not s, to indicate the “suh” sound. Posole was first recorded in English in the 1690s. Learn more words of Nahuatl origin in English. EXAMPLE OF POSOLE USED IN A SENTENCE He prepared a large pot of posole, which he knew would help cure the post-holiday hangover.

Niveous comes from the Latin stem niv-, “snow,” which combines with the suffix -eous to form an adjective. Today, niv- survives as French neige, Italian and Portuguese neve, Romanian nea, and Spanish nieve, all meaning “snow.” Niv- is a distant relative of English snow, which has the s- that Latin lost thousands of years ago. Other examples include the English/Latin pairs slack and laxus (“loose”) as well as steer and taurus (“bull”). Niveous was first recorded in English around 1620. EXAMPLE OF NIVEOUS USED IN A SENTENCE With the previous day’s blizzard finally past, the children headed outside for an afternoon of frivolous play in their now niveous neighborhood.