Word of the Day

Melancholic “disposed to or affected with intense sadness or low spirits” derives via Late Latin from Ancient Greek melancholía “condition of having black bile,” equivalent to melās “black” and cholḗ “bile, gall.” Black bile was one of the four humors (along with blood, phlegm, and yellow bile) that were once believed to affect temperament, and an excess of black bile was once believed to cause low, negative feelings. Melancholy came to refer to this excess of black bile and then to the feelings that this excess was believed to cause. Though we use depression today to indicate prolonged sadness, historical figures who struggled with depression, such as Abraham Lincoln, were described in their time as melancholic. Melancholic was first recorded in English around the turn of the 14th century.

Vendetta “a prolonged and bitter feud” is a borrowing from Italian, derived from Latin vindicta “vengeance,” from vindex “defender,” which is also the source of avenger, revenge, vengeance, and vindicate. Vindex is likely a compound of vīs “energy, force” and the agentive suffix -dex, roughly meaning “shower, proclaimer.” Vīs is the source of vim (as in the phrase vim and vigor), violate, and violent—all of which literally pertain to a demonstration of strength or force—while the suffix -dex is related to the verbs dicāre “to proclaim, assign” (compare abdication, dedicate, and predicament) and dīcere “to say, tell” (compare dictionary, valedictorian, and verdict). Vendetta was first recorded in English in the early 1850s.

Bellwether “a person or thing that shows the existence or direction of a trend” is a compound of bell, the instrument, and wether, a castrated male sheep. A bellwether was originally a wether that led the rest of a flock and wore a bell around its neck; from there, bellwether broadened to figuratively refer to a trendsetter, as within an industry, and then shifted once more to indicate something that demonstrates that a trend exists. Wether has nothing to do with the atmosphere or the climate; it derives instead from a Proto-Indo-European root that is also the source of veal (from Latin vitulus “calf”) and veterinarian (from Latin veterīnae “beasts of burden”). Bellwether was first recorded in English in the early 1400s.

Maringouin “mosquito” is a borrowing from Louisiana French. Although Louisiana has been part of the United States for over 200 years, from its time as part of the former French Empire, it has retained its own dialect of French, which has incorporated vocabulary from English, Spanish, and Indigenous American languages. Unlike many words that Louisiana French has borrowed from local Indigenous languages, maringouin is allegedly a borrowing by way of standard French marigoin from mbarigui in Tupi, an extinct language once spoken in what is now Brazil. On what is now São Luís Island in the Brazilian state of Maranhão, the French briefly had a colony in the early 1600s, and it was during this period that author Claude d’Abbeville noted the potential connection between maringouin and Tupi; however, the use of maringouin in French predates d’Abbeville’s text by about 50 years, which casts doubt on this connection. Maringouin was first attested in French in the mid-1500s and appeared in English in the early 1800s.

Busk “to entertain on the street or in a public place” is of unclear origin, though there are multiple theories. One hypothesis is that busk is a borrowing from Polari, a type of English slang that developed in the 1700s. Polari was popular among theater workers, circus performers, sailors, and the gay community, and derived much of its vocabulary from Italian and other Romance languages. If busk was borrowed from Polari, it could derive from an Italian verb such as buscare “to procure, get, gain,” which itself was a borrowing from Spanish buscar “to look for, seek,” also of unclear origin. Busk was first recorded in English in the early 1850s.