Word of the Day

Bobèche, “a cupped ring that catches a candle’s drippings,” comes from French but is of uncertain origin. With that said, linguists have one prevailing hypothesis. The bob- part may be the same as the first element in Middle French bobine, “skein of thread,” which is the source of English bobbin. The -èche element could be based on an analogy with flammèche, “spark,” which comes from Old High German falawiska, “hot ashes.” Bobèche was first recorded in English in the late 1890s. EXAMPLE OF BOBÈCHE USED IN A SENTENCE Without a bobèche available, they carried the lit candles very carefully, dodging scalding drips of hot wax.

Shammes, “the candle used to kindle the candles in the Hanukkah menorah,” is a borrowing of Yiddish shames, which comes from Hebrew shammāsh, “server, attendant.” As we learned from the Word of the Day cherubic, many Hebrew nouns add -im to become plural, which is why one shammāsh in Hebrew becomes multiple shammāshim and one shammes in English becomes multiple shammosim. Though Hebrew shammāsh is easily confused with Shamash, an Assyrian and Babylonian sun god, the two are not related; while Shamash comes from a Semitic root meaning “sun,” shammāsh appears to come from Egyptian šmsw, “follower, servant.” Shammes was first recorded in English in the late 1940s. EXAMPLE OF SHAMMES USED IN A SENTENCE She had the honor of lighting the shammes and the first candle on the first night of Hanukkah.

Hauteur “arrogance” is a direct borrowing from French, in which it means “height.” Though hauteur and height resemble each other, they are not related; hauteur, from the French adjective haut “high,” comes from Latin altus, while height is equivalent to high plus -th (as in birth and warmth) in Old English. A close relative of English high in Frankish, another Germanic language, is hōh, and because of the influence of Frankish on the French language, the h from Frankish hōh influenced the spelling of French haut. Hauteur was first recorded in English in the 1620s. EXAMPLE OF HAUTEUR USED IN A SENTENCE When around larger canines, miniature dogs often display aggression and hauteur far beyond what their small stature would suggest is possible—or wise.

Deglutition comes by way of French from the Latin verb glūtīre, “to swallow.” Of a similar origin is glutton, “a person who eats excessively,” while the related Latin noun gula, “throat,” is the source of gullet and perhaps beagle—yes, the breed of dog. Despite the similar spelling, deglutition is not related to gluteus (a muscle), which comes from Greek rather than Latin, or to gluten, which comes from the Latin word for “glue.” Deglutition was first recorded in English in the 1640s. EXAMPLE OF DEGLUTITION USED IN A SENTENCE If you don’t drink some water before eating peanut butter, its sticky consistency may make deglutition rather challenging.

Androsphinx, “a sphinx with the head of a man,” is a compound of andro-, “man,” and sphinx, the mythical riddle-posing creature composed of a woman’s head, a lion’s body, and a bird’s wings. Andro- comes from Ancient Greek anḗr, “man,” which is the source of the names Alexander, Andromeda, and Cassandra. Sphinx comes from Ancient Greek sphínx, which is based on the verb sphíngein, “to hold tight,” perhaps after a sphinx’s storied tendency to strangle the poor souls who could not solve its riddles. The female equivalent of androsphinx should be “gynecosphinx” for etymological reasons, though numerous sources use the not-quite-yet-standardized “gynosphinx” instead. Androsphinx was first recorded in English in the first decade of the 17th century. EXAMPLE OF ANDROSPHINX USED IN A SENTENCE Though the sphinx in the Greek myth of Oedipus was a winged female, the Great Sphinx of Giza is a wingless androsphinx.