Word of the Day

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.

Shaman, “a person who acts as intermediary between the natural and supernatural worlds,” comes via German Schamane and Russian shamán from Evenki šamān. Evenki is an endangered language spoken in Siberia that belongs to the Tungusic family, another member of which may also be the source of the recent Word of the Day saber. A common claim is that, prior to Evenki, the word derived via Mandarin shāmén, “Buddhist monk,” or Tocharian B ṣamāne, “monk,” from Sanskrit śramaṇa-, “ascetic, monk.” Shaman was first recorded in English in the 1690s.

When delving into the history of horripilation, things become hairy rather quickly. The horri- part comes from a Latin verb meaning “to bristle,” and this verb is also the source of words such as horrendous, horrify, and horror. Unlike terror, which literally has to do with being frightened, the root of horror is all about hair standing on its end! In addition, the -pil- part of horripilation is a Latin stem meaning “hair.” Horripilation was first recorded in English in the 1650s. EXAMPLE OF HORRIPILATION USED IN A SENTENCE As the truck set off on the haunted hayride route, the riders experienced some horripilation in anticipation of the scares ahead. FUN FACT ABOUT HORRIPILATION The nervous system response that causes goosebumps is the same response that makes a cat puff up its tail or a porcupine puff out its quills when they are scared. Learn more fun facts at the Museum of Science.

Metamorphose “to undergo a change in form or nature” is a back formation from the noun metamorphosis “a complete change in form.” As we learned from the recent Word of the Day defenestrate, a back formation is a word created from another by cutting off a suffix (or what seems to be a suffix) from the older word, such as the verb edit from the noun editor. The noun metamorphosis is a compound of the combining forms meta- “after, beyond” and morph- “form, structure,” which come from Ancient Greek metá “between, after” and morphḗ “shape,” respectively. Though linguists have tried to connect Ancient Greek morphḗ with its Latin equivalent, forma “form, model,” based on the words’ shared sounds, it remains unclear whether the resemblance is merely a coincidence. Metamorphose was first recorded in English in the 1570s.

Uraeus, “the sacred asp on ancient Egyptian headdresses,” comes from Late Greek ouraîos, of the same meaning. This ouraîos appears identical to Ancient Greek ouraîos, “of the tail,” but the two likely do not share a deeper origin; while ouraîos, “of the tail,” comes from ourá, “tail,” and is the source of the English combining form uro- (not to be confused with oûron, “urine,” the source of a different uro-), ouraîos, “uraeus,” comes from Egyptian y’rt, “rearing cobra,” which is also transliterated variously as iaret or jꜥrt. Though uraeuses is the standard plural, the alternative uraei appears in some texts. Uraeus was first recorded in English circa 1830.