Word of the Day

Zhuzh (also spelled zhoosh) as a verb means “to make (something) more lively, interesting, and stylish.” It is a fairly recent slang term, first appearing in the mid-1960s in gay communities in the U.K. in the sense "to improve the look of one's clothing or outfit”; its current, more general sense dates from the mid-70s. The source of zhuzh, as with most slang terms, is problematic: zhuzh may be purely onomatopoeic, representing the sound of someone rushing around; it may be from Polari, a kind of British slang derived largely from Italian and used since the 18th century among theatrical and circus performers and in some gay and lesbian communities; finally, zhuzh may be from Romani zhouzhou “clean, neat.”

Hortatory comes from Late Latin hortātōrius “encouraging, cheering,” an adjective that first appears in St. Augustine’s Confessions (a.d. 397–400). Hortātōrius ultimately derives from the verb horī “to urge,” from a Proto-Indo-European root gher-, ghor-, ghṛ- “to like, take pleasure.” From the variant gher-, Oscan, an extinct Italic language related to Latin, has Herentateís súm (“I am of the goddess Venus,” i.e., “I am a dedication to Venus”). Gher- yields Sanskrit háryati “(he) takes pleasure”; ghṛ- yields Greek chaírein “to rejoice” and cháris “grace, favor.” Hortatory entered English in the second half of the 16th century.

Limn is not a misspelling of another word. It comes from the late Middle English verb lymne(n) (also limnen, liminen, limpnen, luminen) “to illuminate (a book, manuscript, or rubric),” a shortening of enlumine, from the Old French verb enluminer. Enluminer comes from Latin illūmināre or inlūmināre “to give light to, brighten, illuminate.” The root of the Latin verb is the noun lūmen (inflectional stem lūmin-) “light, radiance, rays of light,” from an unrecorded louksmen. Louksmen is derived from the common Proto-Indo-European root leuk-, louk-, luk- “white, bright,” which is also the source of Latin lūx (stem lūc-) “a light,” lūna “moon (from louksnā, which is also the source of Russian luná “moon”), Greek leukós “white, bright,” amphilýkē “twilight,” and Old English lēoht, līht (English light). Limn entered English in the first half of the 15th century.

The adjective vicarious comes from the Latin adjective and noun vicārius “substituting, taking the place of another; one who takes over for or from another, a replacement or successor." Vicārius is formed from the noun vicis (a genitive singular—the nominative singular does not occur) “a recurring occasion, a turn; an interchange or alternation,” and the adjective suffix -ārius, completely naturalized in English as -ary. Vicārius regularly becomes vicaire, vicar(e) in Old French, and vicar(e), vicair(e) in Middle English, with many meanings, including “one delegated with apostolic authority, such as a priest or the pope; a priest appointed to a parish in place of the regular priest or parson." Vicarious entered English in the 17th century.

Jubilee comes from Middle English jubilee, jeubile, from Old French jubilee, jubilé, from Late Latin (annus) jūbilaeus “(year) of jubilee,” from the Greek adjective iōbēlaîos, from the noun iṓbēlos “jubilee,” from the Hebrew noun yōbhēl “ram's horn, jubilee.” The change of the expected Latin spelling jōbēlaeus to jūbilaeus is due to the Latin verb jūbilāre “to shout for joy.” Jubilee first appears in John Wycliffe’s translation of the Bible in 1382.