Word of the Day

Vanguard “the forefront in any movement” comes from the same source as the recent Word of the Day avant-garde: the Middle French terms avant “to the front” and garde “guardianship.” Avant, which means “before” in modern French, comes from Latin ab ante, literally “from before.” The preposition ab “from” can be found in numerous English words that signify movement away from something, such as abduct (literally “to lead away”) and abstain (“to hold back”), while ante “before” appears in antechamber (“before a room”) and antediluvian (“before a flood”). Middle French garde is related both to English guard and ward, as the w sound in Germanic languages corresponds to g or gu in French; compare the recent Word of the Day guerdon. Vanguard was first recorded in English in the 1480s.

Engarland “to encircle with a wreath of flowers” is a compound of the prefix en- and the verb garland. As we learned from the recent Word of the Day enkindle, en- alerts English speakers that the verb it is attached to will take a direct object. The odd thing here is that garland already takes direct objects, so the prefix en- in engarland is redundant, kind of like saying “added bonus,” “free gift,” or “unexpected surprise.” Garland is a borrowing from Old French garlande “wreath,” which is of unclear origin but may derive from the word for “wire” in Frankish, a now-extinct language closely related to English and German that was very influential on French. Garland can also appear as a surname, but one of the name’s most famous bearers, Judy Garland, took it as a stage name after her family name of Gumm proved less than desirable for show business. Engarland was first recorded in English circa 1580.

Capoeira “a Brazilian dance form incorporating martial arts elements” is a loanword from Brazilian Portuguese that is of uncertain origin. One hypothesis is that capoeira is one and the same as capoeira “cultivated area that has reverted to forest,” with the change in definition because of the dance form’s origins in gatherings among people living in rural areas. If true, this would make capoeira a derivative of the words kaá “forest, scrub” and puera “that once was” in Tupi, a language once spoken in what is now northern Brazil. Alternatively, instead of a connection to Tupi, capoeira may come from kapwila “a blow, beating” in Mbundu, a Bantu language of southern Angola. Capoeira was first recorded in English in the late 1920s.

Ubi sunt “a poetic motif emphasizing the transitory nature of life” is a borrowing from the Medieval Latin phrase ubi sunt (quī ante nōs fuērunt) “where are (those who were before us).” The modern Romance equivalents of Latin ubi sunt “where are” include French où sont and Italian dove sono, with où and dove descended from ubi “where” and sont and sono derived from sunt “(they) are.” The translations of Latin ubi sunt in Portuguese and Spanish are onde estão and dónde están; the differences here are because onde and dónde descend instead from Latin unde “from where” while both Portuguese and Spanish use estar (from Latin stāre “to stand”) to mean “to be'' when indicating location or state. Ubi sunt was first recorded in English in the early 1910s.

Jubilant “showing great joy” comes from the Latin verb jūbilāre “to shout for joy, whoop.” Though the origin of jūbilāre is uncertain, the most popular hypothesis is that the word is based on an ancient Indo-European exclamation of joy resembling “yu” (compare Ancient Greek iūgḗ “howling”), perhaps on the pattern of sībilāre “to hiss,” as in sibilant, which describes consonants such as s and z. Despite the similar spelling, jubilant is not related to the noun jubilee “the celebration of an anniversary”; instead, jubilee, from Latin jūbilaeus, was adapted from Ancient Greek iōbēlaîos, with the vowel changes because of the influence of jūbilāre. While jubilant appears to be of Indo-European origin, jubilee ultimately derives from Hebrew yōbhēl “ram, ram's horn, trumpet.” Jubilant was first recorded in English in the 1660s.