Word of the Day

Wintle “to tumble over; capsize” is a Scottish English verb derived from early Dutch/Flemish windtelen “to revolve” (compare modern Dutch wentelen, of the same meaning). The verb windtelen is a frequentative of winden “to wind,” which makes wintle a close relative of the recent Word of the Day selection wynd; both wintle and wynd come from a Germanic source roughly meaning “to twist.” A frequentative is a type of verb that expresses repetition of an action, and while English no longer creates its own frequentatives, we used to add the suffix -le to mark this aspect. Just as winden becomes the frequentative windtelen, English scuff, sniff, and spark become scuffle, sniffle, and sparkle. Wintle was first recorded in English circa 1780.

Kinesthetic “needing to move” is a compound of the Ancient Greek verb kīneîn (stem kīnē-) “to move, set in motion” and esthetic, the adjective form of the English noun esthesia “capacity for sensation or feeling.” The verb kīneîn is also the source of terms such as kinetic, a type of energy, and telekinesis, the superhuman ability to move objects with one’s mind. The noun esthesia ultimately derives from the Ancient Greek verb aisthánesthai (stem aisthë-) “to perceive,” which is the root of terms such as aesthetics, the philosophy of beauty, and synesthesia, the instinctive visualization of colors when hearing sounds. Kinesthetic was first recorded in English in the late 1870s.

Distelfink “a stylized bird motif traditional in Pennsylvania German art” is an adaptation of the Pennsylvania Dutch word dischdelfink “goldfinch,” a compound of dischdel “thistle” and fink “finch.” Although it contains the word Dutch, Pennsylvania Dutch is in fact a dialect of German, which is why it is also known as Pennsylvania German. A common misconception is that Dutch appears in this dialect’s name as an anglicized form of the German word Deutsch “German,” but in fact, the use of Dutch here reflects an archaic definition in English: “continental Germanic.” Distelfink was first recorded in English in the 1930s.

Haphephobia “an extreme fear or dislike of touching or being touched” is a compound of the Ancient Greek noun haphḗ “a touch” and the combining form -phobia “fear,” from Ancient Greek phóbos. Haphḗ is a derivative of the verb háptein “to grasp, sense,” which is also the source of the adjective haptic “of or relating to touch.” Ancient Greek has two letters similar to English P: pi, which represents the “p” sound in spin, and phi, which represents the aspirated “p” sound in pin. Because pi and phi are pronounced similarly, many Greek verbs containing a “p” sound regularly alternate between pi and phi across tenses and forms, which is how the verb háptein, spelled with a pi, leads to the noun form haphḗ, spelled with a phi. Haphephobia was first recorded in English in the early 1890s.

Perilune “the point in a lunar orbit that is nearest to the moon” is a compound of the combining form peri- “about, around, near” and the element -lune “moon.” Peri-, from Ancient Greek perí “about, around,” is a common fixture in words related to closeness, such as perimeter and periphery, and in perilune, it is combined with -lune on the pattern of perigee “the point in an orbit that is nearest to the earth” (using Ancient Greek gaîa or gê “earth”). Unlike perigee, perilune features a Latin-origin element, -lune (from Latin lūna) to mean “moon”; if this element were derived instead from Ancient Greek selḗnē “moon” to better match perigee, we would be saying something like “periselene” instead! Perilune was first recorded in English in the late 1950s.