Word of the Day

Cunctation “lateness; delay; tardy action” comes from Latin cunctātiō (inflectional stem cunctātiōn-), a derivative of the verb cunctārī “to delay, hang back.” Cunctārī is a derivative of the Proto-Indo-European root kenk-, konk- “to hang; hang back; vacillate.” The root appears in Sanskrit śáṅkate “(he) vacillates, doubts, fears,” Hittite kanki “(he) hangs.” In Proto-Germanic the original root konk- becomes hanh-, forming the transitive verb hanhan “to hang (e.g., a malefactor)” and the intransitive verb hanganan “to hang, be suspended, be in suspense.” Cunctation entered English in the second half of the 16th century.

Sacrosanct “extremely sacred or inviolable” comes directly from Latin sacrōsanctus, which more correctly should be a phrase sacrō sanctus “made holy by a sacred rite.” Sacrō is the ablative singular of the noun sacrum “sacred object or place; sacrificial victim; religious observance or rite.” Sanctus “secured by religious sanctions, inviolate” is an adjective use of the past participial of sancīre “to ratify solemnly, prescribe by law; consecrate.” The Romans liked everything nice and tidy, legal, watertight, and sacrōsanctus is just such a word. In the 500 years of the Roman Republic, the Tribunes of the People (Tribūnī Plēbis) defended the rights of the common people against the patricians, controlling the power of the magistrates, issuing vetoes right and left. The tribunes derived their power not from statute but from the oath that the plebeians swore to maintain the tribunes’ sacrōsanctitās, their sacrosanctity. Sacrosanct entered English in the 17th century.

Belvedere, “a building, or architectural feature of a building, designed and situated to look out upon a pleasing scene,” comes straight from Italian belvedere “beautiful view,” a compound of bel, bello “beautiful” (from Latin bellus “pretty, charming”) and the infinitive vedere “to see” (from Latin vidēre), here used as a noun meaning "view or sight." In Italian architecture a belvedere is an upper story, or part of one, or even a small tower or kiosk that is open to the air on at least one side, affording a pleasing view and an opportunity to enjoy the cool air of the evening. Belvedere entered English in the first half of the 16th century.

Shivoo “a loud party” is an Australian colloquialism of uncertain origin. An earlier spelling, shiveau, appears at the end of the 18th century in the U.K. The nearly 20 spelling variants, including chevaux and cheveaux, lead some scholars to suggest that the origin of shivoo may be from the French phrase chez vous “at your house.” The Australian spelling shivoo dates from 1881.

Paucity “smallness of quantity; scarcity; scantiness,” comes via Old or Middle French paucité from Latin paucitāt-, the inflectional stem of paucitās “smallness of quantity; scarcity; scantiness,” a derivative of the adjective paucus “few” (because of its intrinsic meaning, paucus is usually used in the plural). Paucus is also the source of Italian poco “a little,” i.e., the musical direction meaning “somewhat, a little,” and of poco a poco “little by little, gradually.” The Proto-Indo-European root underlying the Latin words is pau-, pōu-, pəu-, pu- (with still more variants) “few, a few, little, low,” which also usually is extended by consonant suffixes. Latin pau- with a suffixed -l forms the adjective paulus, paullus “little, small,” the Roman surname Paullus, and the English forename Paul. The variant root pu- with a suffixed -er forms the Latin noun puer “boy, child”; the diminutive of puer is puellus “a young boy,” and puella, the feminine of puellus, therefore means “girl.” The root pau- becomes the Proto-Germanic root faw-; its derived adjective fawaz “few, a little,” becomes fēawa, fēa in Old English, and few in modern English. Paucity entered English in the first half of the 15th century.