Word of the Day

Omnium-gatherum, “a miscellaneous collection,” has a pretty long history, considering its awkward etymology. A similar word, omnegadrium, occurs about 1430 in Middle English with the meaning “a miscellaneous collection of items in a manuscript.” Omnegadrium is a compound of the familiar Latin combining form omni- “all,” the Middle English verb gaderen “to assemble” (English gather), and the familiar Latin noun suffix -ium. Omnegadrium was re-formed to modern omnium-gatherum, which is a compound of Latin omnium “of all” (the genitive plural of omnis) and the pseudo-Latin word gatherum “a gathering,” formed from gather and the Latin noun suffix -um. Omnium-gatherum entered English in the first half of the 16th century.

Fantast, “a visionary or dreamer,” comes via German Fantast, Phantast (with the same meaning), via Medieval Latin phantasta, from Greek phantastḗs “an ostentatious person, boaster” (that is, someone who talks about their exaggerated fantasies). Phantastḗs ultimately derives from the verb phantázein “to make visible, present to the eye or mind” and phantázesthai “to become visible, appear.” Fantast entered English in the second half of the 16th century.

Wampish,“to wave (one’s arms) about; flop to and fro,” is an exclusively Scots word, first appearing in Sir Walter Scott’s The Antiquary, the third of his The Waverley Novels (1816). Wampish has no clear etymology and is probably of imitative or onomatopoeic origin.

The French adverb phrase au fond, “thoroughly; in reality; fundamentally,” literally “at the bottom, to the bottom,” has been in English for more than 200 years; yet its French pronunciation in English shows that it is still unnaturalized. The French phrase is composed of au “at the, to the,” from Old French al, which is a contraction of a le, from Latin ad “to” and illum “that” (illum and its relatives become the definite article in most Romance languages). The French noun fond “bottom, floor, background (for lacework)” comes from Latin fundus “bottom, base, depths, farm, country estate.” The Latin noun is the source of the verb fundāre “to lay a foundation,” which becomes fonder in Old French, founden, fonden, funden in Middle English, and found, i.e., “establish firmly,” in modern English. Au fond entered English toward the end of the 18th century.

The verb spangle, "to decorate with any small, bright drops, objects, spots, or the like," comes from the noun spangle, “a small, thin piece of glittering metal used for decorating cloths” or “a small, bright object or spot” (such as one of the stars on the Star-Spangled Banner), which is formed from the noun spang “a small, glittering ornament” and the diminutive suffix -le, as in bramble or thimble. Spang may come either from Middle Dutch spange, spaenge “brooch, clasp” or from Old Norse spǫng “clasp, buckle, spangle.” Spangle entered English in the first half of the 15th century.