Next 10Awful, Scintilla, Amalgam, Bloviate, Fore, Warp and Woof, Gnomon, Smithereens, Schlemiel, Tautochrone
Awful [adj. AW-ful]
We're most familiar with the common meaning of awful -- unpleasant, disagreeable, or miserable. Example: "Helen was having an awful time camping. It was raining and her tent wasn't waterproof." This adjective can also mean inspiring fear or terror. Near synonyms to this sense include dire, appalling, terrible, and gruesome. Another, less common use of this word comes from its construction: two words (awe and full) compounded together. In this sense, awful can mean impressive and awe-inspiring. Awful is also used informally to provide emphasis. Example: "It can be awful cold here in the winter. You'll want to bring your wool socks." This word has been in use since the early 13th century. The Middle English version of the word was agheful or aueful and it was related to the Old English word egefull (dreadful).
Scintilla [n. sin-TIL-uh]
A scintilla is a speck, glimmer, or minute particle. Example: "His sister was furious. It did not help matters that he didn't show even a scintilla of remorse after breaking her favorite toy." Scintilla is a Latin word first used in English in the late 1600s. Near synonyms include iota, trace, and modicum. Scintilla, as well as the verb scintillate, ultimately come from the Latin scintillare (to send out sparks). To scintillate can mean to be animated, witty, or sparkling. A related word is tinsel (something that sparkles).
Amalgam [n. uh-MAL-gum]
There are two kinds of amalgam. One is a metallic mixture of mercury or gallium with other metals. Although mercury is liquid at room temperature, amalgam is usually solid but soft. Amalgams are used as fillings for teeth.
The other kind of amalgam is a combination of diverse elements, but usually not in a physical mixture. Example: "Flora's personality was an amalgam of strength, cheerful optimism, and patience."
English borrowed this word from Old French amalgame, which came from Latin. The ultimate ancestor was probably Greek malagma (soft mass), a word that is pronounced as if one has a soft mass in the mouth. Another word from the same root is malleable.
Bloviate [v. BLOW-vee-ayt]
To bloviate is to speak loudly, verbosely, and at great length, without saying much. It's an American word that was used by (and to describe) President Warren Harding, who was known for long, windy speeches. To bloviate is to engage in bloviation [n. blow-vee-AY- shun]. In the early nineteenth century, it was fashionable to create "latinized" words by adding Latin endings to ordinary words, giving them an enhanced sense of importance or formality. From blow (brag, boast) was created bloviate, to describe the extended, self-important speeches of certain political figures.
This word has gone in and out of fashion several times after mostly vanishing for the first half of the twentieth century. It is not found in most dictionaries, but is now heard again in the political arena, where such a word may live for years to come.
Fore [interj., adj. FOR]
When you're golfing, it's wise to watch out when you hear somebody yell "Fore!" It means there's a golf ball headed your way. The adjective sense of this word describes something that is located up ahead or toward the front, as in the nautical opposites, fore and aft. In every case, the word is short for before. It's originally from the ancient root per, which led to a wide variety of words about distance, direction, importance, and temporal sequence. These words include for, far, first, forth, former, from, proton, furnish, approach, probe, prove, private, and prime.
The golf warning came out of British military terminology. When troops were lined up for battle, the ranks would fire in sequence. When a line behind was to shoot, the commander would yell out "'ware before!." On hearing this, it was smart to kneel down if you were in front.
Warp and Woof
The warp and woof of something is its underlying structure, the base or foundation of its being. Example: "The great masses of individual consumers form the warp and woof of the American economy."
Although this expression dates back only to the 1800s, the two words of which it is made are very ancient, and both come from one of humanity's most ancient practices: weaving. In fact, it was in the textile industry that the words came together as a popular expression. The warp of a woven fabric is the yarn or thread that runs along the length of the fabric. The word is from Old English wearpan (to throw away), from an ancient root that also gave us reverberate, verbena, and rhombus.
The woof of a fabric is the fiber that runs across the fabric. The word is from Middle English oof, from Old English wefan (to weave), from an ancient root that was also the source of weave, web, weevil, wafer, waffle, wave, and wobble.
Gnomon [n. NO-mun]
The gnomon of a sundial is the part that sticks up and casts a shadow, showing what time it is. More generally, a gnomon is any kind of pointer that indicates a value by casting a shadow.
Another kind of gnomon is the shape left behind by removing a parallelogram (diamond) from a larger parallelogram with which it shares a corner. The two meanings are related because the shape of a sundial gnomon is often like a diamond with a smaller diamond taken out. The word comes through Latin, from the Greek gignoskein (to know). That root gave us many "knowing" words, including these:
gnosis: intuitive knowing of esoteric truths
agnostic: one who claims not to know
agnosia: inability to interpret sensory inputs (inability to know)
diagnosis: identification, interpretation, or description
Smithereens [n. smith-ur-EENZ]
If something is in smithereens, then it has been smashed into many tiny fragments. Example: "I was horrified to discover that my blue ming vase had been smashed to smithereens in the earthquake." This word is almost never seen in the singular form, although one might expect that one fragment would be a smithereen. The origin is Irish smidirin (little fragment), which is the diminutive of smiodar (fragment).
Several other Irish diminutives have made it into English, including the names Colleen, from Cailin (little girl) and Kathleen, from Caitlin. There is also poteen (illegally distilled Irish whiskey), from poitin (small pot).
More about the Irish language and its influence on English
Schlemiel [n. shluh-MEEL]
A schlemiel is someone who is a clumsy, unlucky bungler. Example: "After losing my fifth golf ball into the water hazard, I felt like a total schlemiel."
Schlemiel is one of a group of words beginning in sh- or sch- that were imported from Yiddish. It's from shlemil, a word whose origin is said to be in the Talmud, an ancient Jewish holy book. There, a man named Shelumiel is described, who experiences difficult times and never wins any battles.
Sometimes, along with schlemiel comes schlimazel, another word for an unlucky dolt, from Yiddish shlimazl (bad luck). Here are more words from Yiddish:
shlock: trash, cheap merchandise
schlep: carry, lug laboriously
schmaltz: over-sentimentality
schmooze: hang around talking and not working
schnook: someone who is easily fooled
schmuck: fool, heedless oaf
Tautochrone [n. TOT-uh-krone]
A tautochrone is a curve, shaped so that an object falling along it under the influence of gravity will reach the bottom after the same amount of time, no matter where it starts from. It's a U-shaped curve, with the ends higher than the center.
An inverted tautochrone is a cycloid, which is the curve traced by a point on the outside of a wheel as it rolls along the ground. The word comes from Greek tauto- (the same) and chronos (time). Here are more "sameness" words from tauto-:
tautology [n. tot-AW-luh-gee]: redundant explanation; meaningless proof that is true whether or not its component statements are true tautegorical [adj. tot-uh-GOR-ih-kul]: saying the same thing with different words (opposite of allegorical)
tautoousious [adj. tot-oh-OW-see-us]: absolutely identical
The mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange studied the tautochrone
Previous 10
