Word of the Week

At church last week I was joking with my son about something and declared it "Beyond the pale." At which point he, of course, asked what in the world that meant. Hmm. Good question. This being me, I immediately pulled up etymonline.com (so not cool, Mom) and looked up...

Since last week we looked into peach, I thought it would be fun to move to an autumn fruit this week and explore the history of the word apple. Apple is from Old English, which means it's been around pretty much forever. But it didn't always mean that specific fruit...

So, funny story. When we moved from our old house to one on my mother-in-law's property, my daughter was distraught over leaving the beautiful old weeping cherry tree we had at the other house. So her grandmother promised to plant her one here. And so she did...or so...

We're all familiar with the word stamina, meaning "strength to resist, endurance." But did you know that it comes from the Latin word for "threads"? The Latin, in turn, is from the Greek stemon...a thread. Specifically, the thread that the three Fates spun, measured...

Did you know that our word enigma actually comes from the Greek word for "fable"? I hadn't! But apparently so. Said Greek word is ainos. And since a fable is a tale whose meaning/message has to be puzzled out, ainos let to a verb ainissesthai, which means (go figure)...

It took a while for summer weather to really take hold for us this year in West Virginia...but man, it's been full force in August! Heat and humidity all around--which we frequently describe as balmy. Which, as it turns out, probably isn't actually a good word for it,...

This kind of qualifies as a head slap moment, LOL. So even as kid, I noticed how close pastor sounds and looks to pasture. And the fact that pastoral means "having to do with country life" was something I learned a long time ago. But I never actually paused to wonder...

A couple years ago, I remember reading to the kids about Commodore Matthew C. Perry's visit to Japan in 1854, and how it opened Japan to trade with the US for the first time. But I didn't realize that the word tycoon came directly from this visit! During Perry's...

If you saw my post a few weeks ago on excruciating/crucifixion, you might just look at the word crucial and say, "Well, huh. That has that cruc root in it too!" And you'd be right. Crucial also has the same root, which literally means "cross" in Latin. But in the case...

Did you know that the word adept is linked to alchemy? Yeah...neither did I. Adept is from the Latin adeptus, literally meaning "having attained" and was introduced into English in the Middle Ages among alchemists. If you showed particular knowledge of this art, you...

When I think about Roman tax collectors, I admit that most of what I know has been gleaned from the Gospel passages dealing with them, LOL. But did you know that tax collectors in Roman days would collect all the taxes in baskets woven from rushes? The Latin word for...

This seems like a nice word for the middle of summer, doesn't it? We know it as meaning "lazy, languid." Not always a good thing, but on a summer day, you might be inclined to give it less negative connotation, right? This word has a fun history, though! It dates to...

We all know what an anthology is, right? A collection of pieces by various writers or artists (or by a single author) all gathered into one volume. I'd never paused to think about how old these are, but in fact, the English word anthology as a collection of poems...

A quick but enlightening word choice this week. Did you know that the word excruciating is linked directly to crucifixion? If you're like me, you'd never paused to think about it, but as soon as you see the two words side by side ~ excruciating | crucifixion ~ you see...

One of my very first Words of the Week was the word cleave. I've long found it interesting that the word has two meanings, which are opposite each other: Cleave, definition 1 - to divide, to split, to cut Cleave, definition 2 - to stick, cling, adhere to something...

Why? Because I'm a big fan of cheese...and I happened across the word when browsing through etymonline.com (why yes, I browse etymology sites. Doesn't everyone?? LOL) and realized I had no idea of the history of either the word or the food. The English word for cheese...

This week I'm mixing it up just a wee bit and referring you to another fun blog post that explores the origins of 9 common English sayings. Language is such a fascinating area of study, and each has its own unique, complex set of intricacies that makes it difficult...

Okay, when I say truffle, I mean the chocolate. Period. At least in terms of things I'd like to put into my mouth. 😉 But I am, of course, also aware of the fungus sold for ridiculous amounts of money that answers to the same name. And I've wondered why these two very...

No one wants to be ostracized, right? It's a banishment, or a more metaphorical exclusion. Either way, not good. But it has a looooong history. Ostracize actually comes from the Greek word ostrakon--a piece of broken pottery. See, back in the day in Athens, someone...

This ranks as another of those words that surprised me! I've long known that people used to call small portraits miniatures--but what I didn't realize was that the "small" part wasn't the root of the word. In fact, the word miniature comes from the Latin miniare,...

No, I'm not advocating one of anything. 😉 I just read the history of the word in my son's vocab book and thought I'd share. Do you already know the history of this one? I think I've probably heard it before, and I had a vague recollection that it was a name, but the...

This is one I've never thought to look up the meaning of before! But it appeared in my son's vocabulary book, so I'll happily soak up the knowledge. 😉 Opportunity comes to us via French, directly from Latin. It means, in all those languages "fitness, convenience,...

I always find it interesting when a word with different meanings comes, in fact, from different root words. Such is the case with scale. Though that single English word can mean many different things--fish's scale, or a scale that builds up on something; to scale a...

So mediocre has meant the same thing since it entered English round about 1580: "of moderate quality, neither good nor bad." But I'd never really looked it up to realize where it comes from. Medi- of course means "middle" or "halfway" in Latin, which we know from...

Yet another homeschool-inspired Word of the Week--this one from my daughter, who bounced out to the kitchen the other day to say, "Do you know where the word sinister comes from?" To which I replied, stopping what I was doing, "No! Tell me!" And so she did. 😀 (I adore...

My daughter has been taking ballet since she was five, and it's safe to say she is a very enthusiastic fan of the art. 😉  A few weeks ago she asked me to look up where the word comes from, so of course, I obliged. Ballet comes to English from (shocker) French....

My daughter informed of this one, courtesy of her history book. =) So we all know jumbo as "very large." Even excessively large. But did you know it came from an elephant's name? I didn't! In the 1880s there was an elephant in the London zoo called Mumbo Jumbo...

Okay, this one is really cool, guys! I've long known that stationary (meaning "not moving") and stationery (meaning "writing materials") were homophones and that the one with the a was the adjective and the one with the e had to do with writing letters. But did you...

This is another one that comes courtesy of my son's vocabulary book. 😉 Let's look for a moment at the Latin word integer, which means "whole, complete." We see this root in quite a lot of English words. First, the word integer itself, which means "a whole number."...

The word campaign has been in English since the 1600s, arriving in our tongue from Latin, by way of French. In its early days, campaign was reserved for military courses of action. Why? Well, it's actually from the Latin word campus, which means "an open field."...

This is one of those that I probably could have figured out if I ever happened to pause and think about it...but which I'd never paused to think of until I saw it in my son's vocabulary book. 😉 So, we're probably all familiar with the root of disaster. Namely, aster,...

In my house, we often ask which words come first--the animals, or the people who share their traits. Like slug/sluggish, sloth/slothful etc. Well, in the case of slug, the trait definitely came before the critter! It comes from the Scandinavian word slugje, which...

We all know the liber words that have to do with "freedom": Liberty Liberate Liberally But what about Library? Is it so called because it's where you can get books for free? You might think so, but...no, actually. It's because in Latin, liber had two meanings: "free"...

My kids' vocabulary books have this section at the end of each lesson called "Fun and Fascinating Facts" about the words or roots in that week's list. This one comes courtesy of Rowyn's book--and is something I really did find fun and fascinating! So, puny. I know it...

This time of year, I do a fair amount of baking--love a little added warmth in the kitchen! And I have to say, one of my favorite things to bake is bread. I love the process of making it--kneading the dough, finding that perfect texture and moisture level, then...

So we all know what a companion is...but if you're anything like me, you've never paused to examine where the word came from. Com is Latin for "with." Okay...making sense so far. A companion is someone you're with. But I'd never stopped to realize that the panion part...

I know, I know, I'm a week late for this one. But on New Year's, my family asked what in the world this song means, so I figured it would be a great feature for my first Word of the Week post in January! I've never really looked too deeply into this song and the...

As the old year draws to a close, I always pray for a word for the new year. Something I ought to keep in mind through the coming months. Something God whispers to my spirit. Sometimes I get one. Sometimes I don't. For 2018, there was no word that stood out. And given...

'Tis the season to look up any Christmas-related words I haven't already done. 😉 Knowing that noel is French, I suppose I figured there wasn't much more to know about it, so I hadn't looked into this one before. But I decided it was time! For starters, I had no idea...

This is another word that my daughter came running out to show me in her history book. And one I found even more intriguing when I looked it up on my own, as etymonline doesn't, in fact, agree with said history book! So, according to A History of Us, the phrase...

We've been studying medieval history in our homeschool right now, which of course means learning about knights and the process they go through to become knights. Which naturally led to a question of where in the world the word dub came from. Dub has been around since...

I love learning things through my kids' school! A week or two ago, my daughter came out with her vocabulary book in hand to ask if I knew about the history of the word vignette. I'm not sure if I've ever heard this before, but it's a fun progression! So back in the...

Ever wonder why, when we're stymied and/or confused, we say we're stumped? I'd never really paused to wonder about this one, but my daughter learned this etymology in her history class and had to share, and it made me go, "Oh, of course!" As early as the 13th century,...

This one also comes courtesy of my daughter and her history book, which includes fun little snippets about what words got their origins in the time she's studying (a history book after my own heart!). I think I'd heard this one before, but I'd forgotten. Ever wonder...

In my house, this has become a bit of a joke. Not knowing--or pausing to ask--the origin of the phrase sleep tight, we just sort of assumed it was related to being tucked in. Rowyn, who likes to be tucked and covered, "sleeps tight." Xoe, who sleeps on top of her...

My October baking has inspired looking into this one. Why, exactly, do we say something's made "from scratch" if it doesn't use a mix? Maybe y'all know this already, since it's pretty simple, but I was clueless, LOL. In my head, I think it may have had something to do...

Writing war books as I for some bizarre reason seem to do quite a bit (built in conflict?), I occasionally find myself looking up terms that have to do with weapons, fighting, etc. And sometimes--like this time--I'm quite surprised by what I find! Apparently, I've...

This is one of the words I'd just never paused to think about. Auditorium. It was always just the place we went to in school when the whole school needed to meet. But last week my husband went, "Oh! I'd never looked at auditorium this way before. As in, auditory. Plus...

I know, I know. This seems like a strange choice of word for me to look up. 😉 But I had a moment last week when I was wondering how long the garden-hose type of thing had been in use, so I looked it up. As I do. And then was kind of amazed by the answer! Hose first...

This one is yet again at the request of my kids, who asked why in the world we abbreviate "dollar" with $. (They also asked why they sometimes have one line through it and other times two.) So...though it has been suggested by some historians that the $ is related to...