Word of the Day

Zophorus “an architectural band decorated with animals,” also often spelled zoophorus, comes by way of Latin from Ancient Greek zōiophóros “bearing animals,” a compound of zôion “animal” and -phoros “bearing.” For more on zôion, compare the recent Word of the Day zooid. The element -phoros is the present participle of the verb phérein “to bear,” which is also the source of dysphoria, pheromone, the names Berenice and Christopher, and—far more distantly—the recent Word of the Day auriferous. Zophorus was first recorded in English circa 1560.

Arioso “in the manner of a melody” is a loanword from Italian, in which it means “songlike” and is a compound of aria “air, song” and -oso, an adjective-forming suffix meaning “-like.” Aria comes via Latin āēr from Ancient Greek āḗr “the lower atmosphere,” which is in contrast to aithḗr “the upper air,” the source of ether and ethereal (compare the recent Word of the Day empyrean). Though unconfirmed, āḗr may come from the same root as midair- or wind-related words such as aorta (from aortḗ “something carried”), artery (from artēria “windpipe”), aura (from aúrā “breath”), and meteor (from aeírein “to raise, lift”). Arioso was first recorded in English circa 1740.

Despite the similar spelling and identical pronunciation, the noun eagre “a tidal bore” is not related to the adjective eager “keen in desire.” While the adjective eager ultimately comes from Latin ācer “sharp,” the noun eagre (also agar, higre, hyger) has a peculiar and disputed history, with multiple competing ideas about its origin. It is possible that eagre somehow comes from Old English ēgor “flood” or Old Norse ægir “sea,” both of which are also of unclear derivation but may share a source with English island (from Old English īeg) and Latin aqua “water.” Eagre was first recorded in English in the 1640s.

Vaticinate “to foretell or predict” comes from Latin vāticinārī “to prophesy,” which is equivalent to vātēs “seer” and -cin-, a combining form of canere “to sing.” It is uncertain whether vātēs is the source of Vatican, but it is clear that vātēs is distantly related to Odin (from Old Norse) and Woden (from Old English, the namesake of Wednesday), who were the gods of wisdom and magic. Canere (stem cant-) is also the source of the recent Words of the Day cantillate and descant. In Latin, a often becomes i when stems are combined with prefixes to make new words; this is also how the stem cap- “to take” is the source of incipient (literally “taking in”) and principal (“first taker”). Vaticinate was first recorded in English circa 1620.

Sinistrorse “rising spirally in a counterclockwise manner” comes from Latin sinistrōrsus “turned leftwards,” which is a contraction of sinister “left” and versus “turned.” Perhaps because of avoidance of taboo words, although Latin sinister survives today as Italian sinistro, most Romance languages replaced their “left” words with borrowings from other languages. Portuguese esquerdo and Spanish izquierdo are either borrowed from Basque ezker “left” or derived from a pre-Indo-European language of the Iberian peninsula. Meanwhile, French gauche comes from a Germanic-origin verb meaning “to turn, veer.” Sinistrorse was first recorded in English in the late 1850s.