Word of the Day

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.

Elytron “one of the pair of hardened forewings of certain insects” is a borrowing by way of New Latin from Ancient Greek élytron “covering.” The ending -on in Ancient Greek is a common marker of neuter nouns, and these nouns swap the -on in their singular forms for -a in the plural. This pattern still exists today in English among many (though not nearly all) words of Ancient Greek origin that end in -on; one criterion becomes two or more criteria, and one phenomenon becomes two or more phenomena. The Latin equivalent of the -on ending is -um, as in one curriculum vs. two or more curricula and one millennium vs. two or more millennia. Elytron was first recorded in English circa 1750.

Inveigle “to entice or lure” derives by way of Anglo-French from Old French avogle “blind” (compare modern French aveugle). Avogle, in turn, comes from a Vulgar Latin term reconstructed as aboculus “eyeless,” from the phrase ab oculīs “without eyes.” This phrase is considered to be a calque based on a phrase meaning “without eyes” in another language, such as Gaulish or Ancient Greek. A calque, also known as a loan translation, is a word or phrase that is literally translated when borrowed from one language into another. One famous literary calque appears in the series The Lord of the Rings; author J. R. R. Tolkien created the name Bag End as a calque of the French term cul-de-sac, which means “bottom of the bag.” Inveigle was first recorded in English circa 1480.

Palingenesis “rebirth” derives from Ancient Greek pálin “again” and génesis “origin, source.” Pálin appears in several other English words that pertain to doubling or redoing, such as palimpsest “a parchment from which writing has been erased to make room for another text” and palindrome “a word or phrase reading the same backward as forward.” Common palindromes include the words kayak, level, racecar, and rotator as well as phrases such as “Madam, I’m Adam.” Génesis, the source of English genesis, has three important cognates that have also found their way into English. The first is Latin gēns (stem gent-) “race, people,” which gives rise to English gentle and gentry. The second is Sanskrit jāti “birth; class,” which was borrowed into English as jati, another term in Hinduism for “caste.” The third is Old English gecynd “nature, race, origin,” which exists today as kind “​​a class or group of people.” Palingenesis was first recorded in English circa 1620.