Word of the Day

Saber “a heavy, one-edged sword” is a borrowing of French sabre, earlier sable, from German Sabel (modern Säbel). Prior to German, the term either passed through a Slavic intermediary such as Polish szabla or came directly from Hungarian szablya. Note that the sz consonant pair is pronounced as “sh” in Polish but simply as “s” in Hungarian, and the Hungarian letter pair ly is pronounced as simply “y” as in "yes." Though the ultimate source of szablya is uncertain, the prevailing theory is an origin in a Tungusic language; compare sele “iron” and seleme “dagger” in Manchu, an endangered language in Manchuria. The languages of the Tungusic family are predominantly spoken in Siberia, with a few members spoken in northern China. Although efforts have been made to connect the Tungusic languages to the Mongolic and Turkic families (as we learned from the recent Word of the Day yurt), and even to Japanese and Korean, any relationship among these families is inconclusive. Saber was first recorded in English in the 1670s.

Communiqué “an official bulletin or communication” is a borrowing from French, in which it means “communicated” and is the past participle of the verb communiquer “to communicate.” Communiquer comes from Latin commūnicāre “to impart, make common,” based on the adjective commūnis “common,” which itself is likely related to mūnus (stem mūner-) “gift, duty” and immūnis “exempt from taxes” (compare English remunerate and immunity). The French suffixes -é and -i are used to mark past participles and derive from Latin -ātus and -ītus, which are preserved in English as -ate and -ite, in Portuguese and Spanish as -ado and -ido, and in Italian as -ato and -ito or -uto. Communiqué was first recorded in English in the early 1850s.

Saturnian “prosperous, happy, or peaceful” derives from the Latin adjective Sāturnius “of Saturn.” The mythological figure Saturn, known to the Romans as Sāturnus and considered an equivalent of the Ancient Greek figure Kronos (Latinized as Cronus), was a Titan and a god of agriculture. The positive aspects of Saturn’s reign, referred to as the “golden age,” are what give Saturnian its meaning. Though Saturnian shares an origin with saturnine, they are almost antonyms; saturnine means “sluggish, gloomy, taciturn” and derives its meaning from astrology, in which the influence of the planet Saturn is associated with negative personality traits (in contrast to the recent Word of the Day jovial). The name Sāturnus is likely of Etruscan origin—compare the name of the Etruscan god Satre—but has long attracted (false) folk etymology hypotheses, such as derivations from Latin satus “sown” or satis “enough.” Saturnian was first recorded in English in the 1550s.

Makai “toward the sea” is a loanword from Hawaiian, in which it is equivalent to ma, a particle indicating direction, and kai “ocean, sea.” The opposite of makai is mauka, comprising the particle ma and the noun uka “inland.” Because Hawaiian is a member of the expansive Austronesian language family, kai has cognates in languages spoken throughout the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Although the k and t sounds are allophonic in Hawaiian, meaning that they are variations of the same sound that only appear in certain contexts, the Hawaiian alphabet does not have the letter t and instead uses k regardless of a word’s pronunciation in a given dialect. This alternation between k, which is pronounced in the rear of the mouth, and t, which is pronounced near the teeth, is not as unusual as one might think; after all, in English, French, and Spanish alike, the letter c is pronounced either as k or s depending on the context. Makai was first recorded in English in the late 19th century.

Rebec “a Renaissance fiddle” is a borrowing by way of Middle French from Old French rebebe, with a phonetic alteration possibly because of the influence of bec “beak,” after the shape of the instrument. Rebebe derives from Arabic rabāb, the noun form of the verb rabba “to control, be master.” From the same Semitic root as rabba are the Hebrew- and Aramaic-origin terms rabbi, rabbinical, and rebbe, which all mean “master” or “my master” in their languages of origin. Despite the similarity in spelling, rebec is not related to the name Rebecca, which comes from a Semitic root meaning “to tie, join, connect.” Rebec was first recorded in English circa 1750.