Word of the Day

Xebec “a small, three-masted vessel” is an alteration of chebec, which comes by way of French from either Catalan xabec or obsolete Spanish xabeque, from Arabic shabbāk, a small type of ship. In modern Spanish, the older form xabeque is now spelled jabeque; the version with an initial x reflects the earlier use of x to make the “sh” sound, which eventually shifted to the “h” sound. While many Spanish terms that once contained the “sh”-sounding x have since shifted to the modern Spanish “h”-sounding j (such as Don Quixote, which is spelled Don Quijote in modern Spanish), this x—with the modern “h” pronunciation—still exists today in place names such as México, Oaxaca, and even in Bexar, the county in Texas where San Antonio is located. Xebec was first recorded in English in the 1750s.

Sídh “a mound or hill in which fairies live” is a borrowing from Irish Gaelic, from Old Irish síd, of the same meaning. The ultimate source of sídh is the Proto-Indo-European root sed- “to sit,” with derivations including English sit, set, and saddle as well as Latin sedēre “to sit” (compare sedentary and sediment). Though sídh literally refers to fairy mounds, it also frequently appears in reference to fairies themselves. This process is called metonymy (from meta- “beyond” and -onym “name”), in which a word for one thing is used figuratively to refer to a related concept or entity. Just as sídh can refer figuratively to fairies as well as literally to their home, “the White House” can refer figuratively to the president of the United States as well as literally to the building located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Sídh was first recorded in English in the 1790s.

Pruinose “covered with a frostlike bloom or powdery secretion” comes from Latin pruīnōsus “frosty,” from pruīna “frost” and the adjectival suffix -ōsus “full of, consisting of.” Pruīna and frost are in fact distantly related; just as we learned from the recent Word of the Day corvine that Latin c often corresponds to English h (compare cor/heart and caput/head), Latin p often corresponds to English f. This pattern can also be seen in pairs such as Latin pater and English father, Latin paucus and English few, Latin pēs and English foot, and English farrow “litter of pigs” and Latin porcus “pig.” Pruinose was first recorded in English in the 1820s.

Mystique “a framework of ideas endowing a person with profound meaning” is a borrowing from French and is cognate to English mystic. Both mystic and mystique derive by way of Latin from Ancient Greek mýstēs “initiate into the mysteries”; mysteries, in this context, are sacred rites and customs only known to a small, select group of people—much like how only one person or a few people know the facts behind a mystery. Mýstēs comes from the verb myeîn “to initiate, teach,” from the similarly spelled verb mýein “to close (the lips or eyes).” The implication here is that, when new initiates are exposed to the mysteries, they will stay close-lipped about what they see. Mystique was first recorded in English in the early 1890s.

Whigmaleerie “a whimsical or fanciful ornament or contrivance” is a noun from Scots, a language that is spoken today by over one million people in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Scots is not the same as Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic language closely related to Irish Gaelic; instead, Scots and modern English both descend from Middle English and diverged approximately 800 years ago. Whigmaleerie, earlier figmalirie, is most likely a fanciful and elaborate invention based on common elements in expressive words. The initial fig- could be based on Scots fig “to move briskly” (perhaps related to fidget), while the medial -ma- could be inspired by the similar-sounding syllable in words such as rigmarole and thingamabob. Whigmaleerie was first recorded in English in the 1720s.