Word of the Day

Dolmen “a structure consisting of upright stones capped by a horizontal stone” is possibly a borrowing from Cornish, the Celtic language once spoken in Cornwall, a region of southwest England. Beyond this point, the history of dolmen becomes muddled; the word could be a corruption of tolmên, as used in William Borlase’s 1754 collection of essays Antiquities, Historical and Monumental, of the County of Cornwall, in which Borlase implies that the word derives from a local name, mên an tol or maen tol “the holed stone,” corresponding to Cornish toll “hole” and men “stone.”  Dolmen was first recorded in English in the late 1850s.

Scrimp “to be sparing or frugal” is likely a borrowing from a Scandinavian language such as Danish, Norwegian, or Swedish, all of which descend from Old Norse. Both English and Old Norse are Germanic languages, but despite their close relationship, they diverged about 2,000 years ago, and this time apart resulted in many sound changes. Two common changes were the shifts from k to ch and from sk to sh, which happened in English but not in Scandinavian languages. This means that, when the Vikings invaded Great Britain and many Old Norse words entered English, English terms had to compete with their Norse cognates, resulting in church and kirk, shirt and skirt, and sharp and scrape. Though it entered English centuries after the Viking invasion, the Scandinavian word scrimp was originally a cognate of the English word shrimp; both derived from a Germanic verb meaning “to contract, shrink,” and while shrimp continued to refer to physical size, scrimp shifted to refer to money. Scrimp was first recorded in English in the early 1700s.

Aureate “golden or gilded” comes from Latin aureus “golden,” from aurum “gold.” The further etymology of aurum is uncertain, but there are two competing theories—one with a phonological similarity that lacks a semantic resemblance and the other with a semantic similarity that lacks a phonological resemblance. Aurum may be connected to aurōra “dawn,” from a Proto-Indo-European root, ausōs-, of the same meaning, from the root aus- “to shine”; the definition would have shifted from “shining thing” to “gold.” If this theory were true, aurum would be related to Eos, the Greek goddess of the dawn known for her rosy-tipped fingers, as well as to east and Easter, originally a Germanic goddess of springtime. An alternative theory connects aurum to aes “brass, bronze, copper,” from the Proto-Indo-European root ayos- “metal,” which is also the source of English ore. Aureate was first recorded in English in the early 1400s.

Cordial “courteous and gracious” derives via Middle English from Medieval Latin cordiālis, from Latin cor (stem cordi-) “heart” and the adjectival suffix -ālis. Cor survives today in English terms such as accord, concord, discord, and record, which were borrowed directly from Latin, and courage, which was borrowed from French. The Proto-Indo-European root that gave rise to cor is kerd- “heart,” which is also the source of English heart and Ancient Greek kardía (as found in cardiac and cardiovascular). Cordial was first recorded in English in the late 1300s.

Rout “a defeat attended with disorderly flight” derives via Anglo-French from Old French route “fraction, detachment,” from Latin rupta “(having been) broken.” Rupta is the feminine past participle of the verb rumpere (stem rupt-) “to break,” which is the source of words such as abrupt, interrupt, erupt, and bankrupt. The Latin phrase rupta via “broken road” is the ultimate source of route, a type of roadway or course. Rumpere derives from the Proto-Indo-European root reup- “to break; snatch.” Rout was first recorded in English in the early 1200s.