Word of the Day

Estivate has two main senses: “to spend the summer at a specific place or in a certain activity” (as at the beach or in the mountains), and a zoological sense, “to spend a season in a dormant state, as certain reptiles and small mammals” (the “opposite,” as it were, of hibernate). Estivate comes from Latin aestīvātus, the past participle of aestīvāre “to reside during the summer.” Aestīvāre is a derivative of the adjective aestīvus “of or relating to summer; summery,” itself a derivative of the noun aestās “summer.” The Proto-Indo-European root behind the Latin words is ai- “to burn,” which is also the source of Latin aestus “heat, hot weather, hot season,” aedēs “dwelling place, abode, home” (because it was heated), and aedificium “a building” (English edifice). Two other derivatives, aedificāre “to erect a building,” and aedificātiō “the act or process of erecting a building; the building itself,” in Christian Latin developed the senses “to develop spiritually, improve the soul” (and “spiritual growth” for the noun), in current English edify and edification, which nowadays have nothing at all to do with the building trades. Estivate entered English in the first half of the 17th century.

Nonpareil as an adjective means “peerless, having no equal”; as a noun it means “a person or thing having no equal.” Nonpareil comes via the Middle English adjective nonparaille (also spelled nonpareil, nounparalle, nowimparaile) “unequaled,” from Old French nonpareil (and other variant spellings) “unrivaled, peerless.” French nonpareil is a compound of the negative prefix non- (from Latin nōn) “not” and the adjective pareil “equal,” from Vulgar Latin pāriclus, Late Latin pāriculus, a diminutive adjective and noun formed from Latin pār (inflectional stem pāri- “matching, equal, an equal”). Nonpareil entered English in the mid-15th century.

Vermilion “brilliant scarlet red (color; pigment),” comes from Middle English vermil(i)oun, vermilion(e) (there are nearly 20 spelling variants) “cinnabar, red dye,” from Anglo-French vermeilloun, vermiloun, from Old French verm(e)illon, vermillon “red lead, rouge, cinnabar.” The Old French forms are derivatives of vermeil, vermail, from Late Latin vermiculus “grub, scarlet worm (a cochineal insect that is the source of red dye), scarlet color,” a diminutive of vermis “worm.” Vermilion entered English in the late 13th century.

Tickety-boo, an informal adjective meaning “fine, OK,” is a British colloquialism of uncertain etymology. It may be an expressive alteration of “that's the ticket,” ticket here having its informal sense “the proper thing, advisable thing.” Or tickety-boo may be a holdover from the Raj, from Hindi ṭhīk hai “It’s all right,” or ṭhīk hai, bābū “It’s all right, Sir.” Tickety-boo entered English in the first half of the 20th century.

Prothalamion, “a song or poem written to celebrate a marriage,” is modeled on epithalamion “a song or poem in honor of a bride and bridegroom.” Epithalamion is the neuter singular of the Greek adjective epithalámios “bridal, nuptial,” literally “at the thalamus,” i.e., the inner chamber at the rear of a house, woman’s room, bedroom, storeroom. Epithalamia (plural of epithalamion) were traditional features in Greek weddings and were therefore a very ancient custom. The epithalamia of the Lesbian lyric poet Sappho, the Athenian comic playwright Aristophanes, and the tragedian Euripides were famous. Edmund Spenser coined prothalamion in 1597, apparently intending his coinage to mean "a song or poem celebrating an upcoming wedding," the Greek prefix pro- here meaning “before in time," not "before in space."