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anosmia


I ran into this word today in the "Men's Health" section of the New York Times.
 
anosmia

PRONUNCIATION :


NOUN:
Loss of the sense of smell.


ETYMOLOGY:
New Latin : Greek an- , without; see a– 1+ Greek osm , odor.
OTHER FORMS:
an·os mic —ADJECTIVE

The American Heritage ®Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition.   2000.

09212003

 

ochlocracy

I ran into this word in Bernard Bailyn's wonderful book, The Origins of American Politics. His writing style features the use of more words, sometimes near synonyms, than always necessary, so I was able accurately guess the meaning, but the root of the first syllable was a mystery.


 
ochlocracy
 

NOUN:
Inflected forms: pl. och·loc·ra·cies


Government by the masses; mob rule.


ETYMOLOGY:
French ochlocratie , from Greek okhlokrati :okhlos , mob; see wegh- in Appendix I + -krati , -cracy

.
OTHER FORMS:
och lo·crat (kl-kr t) — NOUN
och lo·crat ic ,och lo·crat i·cal —ADJECTIVE
och lo·crat i·cal·ly —ADVERB  

The American Heritage ®Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition.   2000.

PS: A word related by the same root is ochlophobia: An abnormal fear of crowds.

09212003

Guitarron

Karen and I attended a family event early in the summer. One of the features was a mariachi band. The guitarron is my favorite instrument in this style of music.

 

"The heartbeat of the modern mariachi group is the Guitarron. The guitarron is a very large guitar-like instrument with a short neck, six strings, no frets on the fingerboard and a belly in the back. The guitarron appeared during the 1800's and 4 and 5 string versions also existed.


The guitarron is played two strings in occtave like the harp which gives a similar sound; The guitarron has come to replace the harp due to its' portability and louder tone. The modern guitarron is tuned to A-D-G-C-E-A with a range of about an octave and 1/2. The function of this chordophone in the mariachi group is to provide the bass line and to cue chord progress"

Text by Rene Benavidez.

Pictures and discussion from:The International Folk Culture Center web site (http://www.ifccsa.org/guitaron.html)

09212003

 

syncope

During a discussion with my doctor about how I had managed to fall on my head getting out of bed, he asked, "Have you had other episodes of syncope?" I was baffled and flashing back to my old linguistics days and couldn't think of a fast come back that would fit.
 
syncope
 
SYLLABICATION:
syn·co·pe
PRONUNCIATION :

NOUN:
1. Grammar The shortening of a word by omission of a sound, letter, or syllable from the middle of the word; for example, bos'n for boatswain. 2. Pathology A brief loss of consciousness caused by a temporary deficiency of oxygen in the brain; a swoon. See synonyms at blackout .


ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English sincopis , from sincopene , from Late Latin syncop n, accusative of syncop , from Greek sunkop , from sunkoptein , to cut short : sun- , syn- + koptein , to strike.


OTHER FORMS:
syn co·pal (s ng k-p l, s n-) , syn·cop ic (s n-k pk) — ADJECTIVE

The American Heritage ®Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition.   2000.

09212003

hyphema

Hyphema is a term used to describe bleeding in the anterior chamber (the space between the cornea and the iris ) of the eye.  It occurs when blood vessels in the iris bleed and leak into the clear aqueous fluid . Hyphemas are usually characterized by pooling of blood in the anterior chamber that may be visible to the naked eye.  The red blood cells of very small hyphemas are visible only with magnification.  Even the slightest amount of blood in the anterior chamber will cause decreased vision when mixed in the clear aqueous fluid.


Bleeding in the anterior chamber is most often caused by blunt trauma to the eye. It may also be associated with surgical procedures.  Other causes include abnormal vessel growth in the eye and certain ocular tumors.

http://www.stlukeseye.com/Conditions/Hyphema.asp

07302003

wanker


 This word came to our attention through repeated uses on a TV show that we have come to like, Keen Eddie.

It is set in London. Innumerable characters, of both sexes, uses this word, in reference to almost every sort of person and situation. You can guess the general drift of the dialogue:


NOUN:
Chiefly British Vulgar Slang 1. A person who masturbates. 2. A detestable person  

The American Heritage ®Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition.   2000.

 

PS: the Keen Eddie web site has a feature, "brit-speak definitions" that provides this wisdom about "wanker"

"wanker
all purpose insult"

07302003

defalcate

Manias, Panics, and Crashes; a history of financial crises by Charles P. Kindleberger (Wiley: New York 2000)

"Greed not only creates suckers to be swindled by professionals but also pushes some of the amateurs over the line into fraud, embezzlement, defalcation, and similar malfeasance." (p.76)

INTRANSITIVE VERB: Inflected forms: de·fal·cat·ed, de·fal·cat·ing, de·fal·cates
To misuse funds; embezzle.
ETYMOLOGY: Medieval Latin dfalcre, dfalct-, to mow, deduct : Latin d-, de- + Latin falx, falc-, sickle.

OTHER FORMS: defal·cation (dfl-kshn, -fôl-, dfl-) —NOUN
de·falcator —NOUN

(The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.via bartleby.com)

11/16/02

alembic

Wall St. Journal 8/14/02 - in an article by William McGurn, "Just Don't Call It 'Scotch'":

" How many Jack Daniel's or Johnny Walker drinkers, I wonder, appreciate that they owe their favorite tipple to the Irish monks, who in the sixth century brought back from the Middle East the alembic used to distill perfumes but soon adapted it to much more felicitous use?"


ALEMBIC

NOUN: 1. An apparatus consisting of two vessels connected by a tube, formerly used for distilling liquids. 2. A device that purifies or alters by a process comparable to distillation.
ETYMOLOGY: Middle English alambic, from Old French, from Medieval Latin alembicus, from Arabic al-’anbq : al-, the + ’anbq, still (from Greek ambix, cup)1

 

2
3

4

8/29/02 (revised 12/3/02 with addition of Edison Alembic picture)

 

terne coated stainless steel

I saw this term at an architectural exhibit concerning the new American Folk Art Museum building in New York City. It was used to described the exterior wall covering for one portion of the building.

The term "terne" refers to an alloy of lead and tin that is applied to various steels for corrosion resistance. Typically the portion of tin is approximately 15%. It serves as a wetting and bonding agent to provide good adhesion for the lead to the underlying steel. Terne here is borrowed directly from the French and means "dull".

When applied to stainless steel the chief appeal of the terne coating is the fact that it tarnishes to a dull grey color within a year of exposure to weather. Thus you get the tremendous life and low maintenance of stainless without the accompanying shiny appearance.

Follansbee, a company in West Virginia, produces specialty coated carbon and stainless steel architectural cladding materials. Their site (opens in a separate window) is interesting on this topic.

(05/16/02)

 

On a recent visit to New York I happened by the now completed American Folk Art Museum and examined the exterior wall. Here is a picture of the terne coated stainless steel. The weathering process has not yet produced the "dull" finish.

(07/24/02)

 

zucchetto

Seen in an article in the New York Times (05/11/02) about Cardinal Bernard Law describing his head gear.

NOUN: Inflected forms: pl. zuc·chet·tos or zuc·chet·ti (-t)
A skullcap worn by certain Roman Catholic clerics, varying in color according to rank.

ETYMOLOGY: Italian, variant of zucchetta, diminutive of zucca, gourd, head. See zucchini.

(The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition.  2000) (051502)

More here from the Catholic Encyclopedia (opens separate window)


yarmulke

Seeing the word zucchetto (above) reminded me of the Jewish tradition of covering the head with a yarmulke.

VARIANT FORMS: also yar·mel·ke
NOUN: A skullcap worn by Jewish men and boys, especially those adhering to Orthodox or Conservative Judaism.
ETYMOLOGY: Yiddish, from Polish and Ukrainian yarmulka, possibly from Turkish yamurluk, rain clothing, from yamur, rain.

(The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition.  2000) (051502)



Pull Quote

"....my editing work includes basic grammar checking, improving the clarity of the writing, identifying pull quotes, and so on." (Linda Larson, editor of Spare Change speaking of her work on the paper)

A pull quote is a snippet taken from the article and placed in larger type and perhaps in a box within the boundaries of the article. The purpose of the pull quote is to entice the reader to in fact read the article; thus, the quote "pulls" the reader in.

(4/23/02)

 

Raclette

".... few were moved to put down their bratwurst or raclette to applaud." (Wall St. Journal 2/28/2002 front page article, "William Tell Overture: Swiss Enlist Heroes in Fight Over the UN"

NOUN: 1. A Swiss dish consisting of cheese melted and served on boiled potatoes or bread. 2. A firm cheese used in making this dish.
ETYMOLOGY: French, from racler, to rake, scrape, from Provençal rasclar, to rake, from Old Provençal, from Vulgar Latin *rsculre, from *rsculum, diminutive of Latin rstrum, rake. See rd- in Appendix I.

(The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition.  2000)

(3/4/2002)

Protist

"Any of various complex one-celled organisms of the kingdom Protista, that have nuclei and organelles and that are either free-living or aggragated into simple colonies: includes the protozoans, slime molds, and eukaryotic algae. From Latin protista and Greek protistos, the very first." (Random House Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 1997).

This word came to my attention via third grade homework for my nephew Parker. Boy, if he is learning words like this in third grade, I guess Ed and Meredith can stop saving the money for Harvard!

(3/1/2002)

Podology

"They relocate sources according to social (i.e. demographic, political, and geopolitical) and natural (i.e. climatological, podological, and geological) attributes as these relate to the material requirements of the reproduction and extraction of the raw material and to the spatial, topographic, and hydrological determinants of the cost of access and transport."

(from a manuscript dated 02/12/02, Matter, Space, Energy, and Political Economy; The Amazon in the World System by Stephen G.Bunker)

Based on a Google search of the Web, podology is widely used as a synonym for podiatry. The root "pod" is clearly from Greek for foot. Podological is similarly used pretty exclusively to refer to feet, not excluding horse's hooves and others.

What are we to make of Bunker's usage here? Given the context, I would read this to refer to the characteristics of terrain with regards to ease of traverse. For instance, many rural residents of northern areas of the US refer to the period in the spring before the ground dries out as the "muddy season". During this period, excepting high ground and paved surfaces, moving about is a podological nightmare.

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