Word of the Day

Muliebrity “womanly nature or qualities” derives from Late Latin muliēbritās “womanhood,” from mulier “woman.” Mulier is of uncertain origin, though the most common theory connects the noun to the comparative adjective mollior “softer,” from mollis “soft, calm, gentle,” the source of the English verb mollify “to soften in feeling or temper.” Mulier was one of four primary Latin words that evolved into the terms for “woman,” “lady,” or “wife” in modern Romance languages; while mulier became Portuguese mulher and Spanish mujer, Latin fēmina “woman” became French femme and Spanish hembra, Latin domina “lady, mistress (of a household)” became French dame and Spanish doña, and Latin senior “older” became Portuguese senhora and Spanish señora. Muliebrity was first recorded in English in the late 1500s.

Serotinal “pertaining to or occurring in late summer” describes the midpoint that neither estival “pertaining or appropriate to summer” nor autumnal “belonging to or suggestive of autumn” can completely cover. The term derives from the Latin adverb sērō “late,” from the adjective sērus “late, slow, tardy.” Sērō and the feminine form of sērus, sēra, later became the sources of the word for “evening” in many Romance languages, such as French soir, Italian sera, and Portuguese serão. Serotinal was first recorded in English in the late 1890s.

Iridescent “displaying a play of lustrous colors like those of the rainbow” is a combination of the Ancient Greek word îris (stem irid-) “rainbow” and the Latin inceptive infix -sc- “the process of becoming.” In Greek mythology, Iris was the goddess of rainbows and sometimes functioned as the messenger of the gods, serving as a link between the heavens and the mortal realm, similar to the rainbow bridge Bifrost in Norse mythology. Îris is often considered to derive from the Proto-Indo-European root wei- “to turn, twist,” which is also found in wire (from Old English) and Latin vītis “vine,” but other linguists have proposed a pre-Greek origin. Iridescent was first recorded in English in the 1790s.

Freebooter may appear to be an English-language compound, but in fact, it’s Anglicized from the Dutch term vrijbuiter, a combination of vrij “free” and buit “booty”—a compound word about treasure that is well suited for a pirate-related term. Buit and its English cognate booty derive from a Germanic source meaning “exchange” or “sharing of the spoils.” Freebooter has one other relative in English, and an unexpected one: filibuster, in the historical sense of “unauthorized military adventurer.” While freebooter is a direct borrowing from Dutch, plus a spelling change, filibuster is a borrowing of Spanish filibustero, one of several words meaning “pirate,” via French from the same Dutch term, vrijbuiter. Freebooter entered English in the late 1500s.

Yore has a long history in the English language, first appearing as geāra in Old English. While its origin is uncertain, a popular theory is that geāra comes from the same source as the phonetically similar word year (Old English gēar). If true, this means that yore and year derive from the Indo-European root yēr- “year,” which is also the origin of Yiddish yor (as in Yahrzeit, the anniversary of a relative’s passing) and Ancient Greek hṓrā “part of a year, time of day,” the source of horoscope. Hṓrā was borrowed into Latin as hōra “hour,” which is the source of the words for “hour,” “now,” “still,” and “again” in many Romance languages.