Vocabulary and Etymology week 17

-ium

• a chemical element

• cation

Sodium

• a soft silver-white element that is found in salt, baking soda, and other compounds

op-

• against

• facing

Oppressive (adj.)

• burdensome, unjustly harsh, or tyrannical:

• causing discomfort by being excessive, intense, elaborate, etc.

• distressing or grievous:

Opponent

1.(n.)

• a person who is on an opposing side in a game, contest, controversy, or the like; 

adversary.

2.(adj.)

• being opposite, as in position.

• opposing; adverse; antagonistic.

• Anatomy. bringing parts together or into opposition, as a muscle.

Hadrian's Wall

 

Hadrian's Wall (Latin: Vallum Aelium), also called the Roman Wall, Picts' Wall, or Vallum Hadriani in Latin, was a defensive fortification in the Roman province of Britannia, begun in 122 AD in the reign of the emperor Hadrian. It ran from the banks of the River Tyne near the North Sea to the Solway Firth on the Irish Sea, and was the northern limit of the Roman Empire, immediately north of which were the lands of the northern Ancient Britons, including the Picts.

Girl with a Pearl Earring 

 

Girl with a Pearl Earring (Dutch: Meisje met de parel) is an oil painting by 17th-century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. It is a tronie of a girl with a headscarf and a pearl earring. The painting has been in the collection of the Mauritshuis in The Hague since 1902.

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

 

The Feeding of the 5,000 is also known as the "miracle of the five loaves and two fish", because the Gospel of John reports that five barley loaves and two small fish supplied by a boy were used by Jesus to feed a multitude. According to Matthew's Gospel, when Jesus heard that John the Baptist had been killed, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place near Bethsaida. The crowds followed Jesus on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food."

Jesus said they did not need to go away, and therefore the disciples were to give them something to eat. They said they only had five loaves of bread and two fish, which Jesus asked be brought to him. Jesus directed the people to sit down in groups on the grass. In Mark's Gospel the crowds sat in groups of 50 and 100, and in Luke's Gospel, Jesus' instructions were to seat the crowd in groups of 50, implying that there were 100 such groups.

ascertain (v.)

early 15c., "to inform, to give assurance," from Anglo-French acerteiner, Old French acertener "to assure, certify" (13c.), from a "to" (see ad-) + certain "sure, assured" (see certain). Modern meaning of "find out for sure by experiment or investigation" is first attested 1794. Related: Ascertained; ascertaining.

ascertainable (adj.)

1783, from ascertain + -able. Related: Ascertainably.

dormant (adj.)

late 14c., "fixed in place," from Old French dormant (12c.), present participle of dormir "to sleep," from Latin dormire "to sleep," from PIE root *drem- "to sleep" (source also of Old Church Slavonic dremati "to sleep, doze," Greek edrathon "I slept," Sanskrit drati "sleeps"). Meaning "in a resting situation" (in heraldry) is from c. 1500. Meaning "sleeping' is from 1620s.

dormer (n.)

1590s, originally "window of a sleeping room," from Middle French dormeor "sleeping room," from dormir "to sleep" (see dormant).

dormancy (n.)

1723; see dormant + -cy. Middle English had dormitation "sleep, sleeping" (mid-15c.)

dormitory (n.)

mid-15c., from Latin dormitorium "sleeping place," from dormire "to sleep" (see dormant). Old English had slæpern "dormitory," with ending as in barn.

burgeon (v.)

early 14c., "grow, sprout, blossom," from Anglo-French burjuner, Old French borjoner "to bud, sprout," from borjon "a bud, shoot, pimple" (Modern French bourgeon), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Vulgar Latin *burrionem (nominative *burrio), from Late Latin burra "flock of wool," itself of uncertain origin. Some sources (Kitchin, Gamillscheg) say either the French word or the Vulgar Latin one is from Germanic. The English verb is perhaps instead a native development from burjoin (n.) "a bud" (c. 1300), from Old French. Related: Burgeoned; burgeoning.

potentate (n.)

c. 1400, from Old French potentat and directly from Late Latin potentatus "a ruler," also "political power," from Latin potentatus "might, power, rule, dominion," from potentem (nominative potens) "powerful" (see potent).

disseminate (v.)

c. 1600, from Latin disseminatus, past participle of disseminare "to spread abroad, disseminate," from dis- "in every direction" (see dis-) + seminare "to plant, propagate," from semen (genitive seminis) "seed" (see semen). Related: Disseminated; disseminates; disseminating. Middle English had dissemen "to scatter" (early 15c.).

dissemination (n.)

1640s, from Latin disseminationem (nominative disseminatio) "a scattering of seed, a sowing," noun of action from past participle stem of disseminare (see disseminate). Or perhaps a native noun formation from disseminate.

derive (v.)

late 14c., from Old French deriver "to flow, pour out; derive, originate," from Latin derivare "to lead or draw off (a stream of water) from its source" (in Late Latin also "to derive"), from phrase de rivo (de "from" + rivus "stream;" see rivulet). Etymological sense is 1550s. Related: Derived; deriving.

prerogative (n.)

"special right or privilege granted to someone," late 14c. (in Anglo-Latin from late 13c.), from Old French prerogative (14c.), Medieval Latin prerogativa "special right," from Latin praerogativa "prerogative, previous choice or election," originally (with tribus, centuria) "unit of 100 voters who by lot voted first in the Roman comita," noun use of fem. of praerogativus (adj.) "chosen to vote first," from praerogere "ask before others," from prae "before" (see pre-) + rogare "to ask, ask a favor" (see rogation).

nepotism (n.)

"favoritism shown to relatives, especially in appointment to high office," 1660s, from French népotisme (1650s), from Italian nepotismo, from nepote "nephew," from Latin nepotem (nominative nepos) "grandson, nephew" (see nephew). Originally, practice of granting privileges to a pope's "nephew" which was a euphemism for his natural son.

dearth (n.)

mid-13c., derthe "scarcity" (originally used of famines, when food was costly because scarce; extended to other situations of scarcity from early 14c.), abstract noun formed from root of Old English deore "precious, costly" (see dear) + abstract noun suffix -th (2). Common Germanic formation, though not always with the same sense (cognates: Old Saxon diurtha "splendor, glory, love," Middle Dutch dierte, Dutch duurte, Old High German tiurida "glory").

internecine (adj.)

1660s, "deadly, destructive," from Latin internecinus "very deadly, murderous, destructive," from internecare "kill or destroy," from inter (see inter-) + necare "kill" (see noxious).

Considered by OED as misinterpreted in Johnson's Dictionary [1755], which defined it as "endeavouring mutual destruction," but a notion of "mutually destructive" has been imported into the word in English because in English inter- usually conveys the idea of "mutual." The Latin prefix is said to have had here only an intensive sense; "the Latin word meant merely of or to extermination ... without implying that of both parties" [Fowler].

tyro (n.)

1610s, from Medieval Latin tyro, variant of Latin tiro (plural tirones) "young soldier, recruit, beginner," of unknown origin.

sophistry (n.)

"specious but fallacious reasoning," mid-14c., from Old French sophistrie (Modern French sophisterie), from Medieval Latin sophistria, from Latin sophista, sophistes (see sophist). "Sophistry applies to reasoning as sophism to a single argument" [Century Dictionary].

-faction

word-forming element making nouns of action from verbs, from Latin -factionem (nominative -factio), from facere "to make" (see factitious).

factitious (adj.)

1640s, "made by or resulting from art, artificial," from Latin facticius/factitius "artificial," from factus "elaborate, artistic," past participle adjective from facere "to make, do; perform; bring about; endure, suffer; behave; suit, be of service" (source of French faire, Spanish hacer), from PIE root *dhe- "to put, to set, to do" (source also of Sanskrit dadhati "puts, places;" Avestan dadaiti "he puts;" Old Persian ada "he made;" Hittite dai- "to place;" Greek tithenai "to put, set, place;" Lithuanian deti "to put;" Polish dziać się "to be happening;" Russian delat' "to do;" Old High German tuon, German tun, Old Saxon, Old English don "to do;" Old Frisian dua, Old Swedish duon, Gothic gadeths "a doing;" Old Norse dalidun "they did"). Related: Factitiously; factitiousness.

encomium (n.)

"discriminating expression of approval," 1580s, from Late Latin encomium, from Greek enkomion (epos) "laudatory (ode), eulogy," from en "in" (see en- (2)) + komos "banquet, procession, merrymaking" (see comedy).

encomiast (n.)

c. 1600, from Greek enkomiastes "one who praises," from enkomiazein, from enkomion (see encomium). Related: Encomiastic (1590s).

obloquy (n.)

mid-15c., "evil speaking," from Late Latin obloquium "speaking against, contradiction," from Latin obloqui "to speak against, contradict," from ob "against" (see ob-) + loqui "to speak," from PIE *tolk(w)- "to speak" (see locution). Related: Obloquious.

hyperbole (n.)

"obvious exaggeration in rhetoric," early 15c., from Latin hyperbole, from Greek hyperbole "exaggeration, extravagance," literally "a throwing beyond," from hyper- "beyond" (see hyper-) + bole "a throwing, a casting, the stroke of a missile, bolt, beam," from bol-, nominative stem of ballein "to throw" (see ballistics). Rhetorical sense is found in Aristotle and Isocrates. Greek had a verb, hyperballein, "to throw over or beyond."

munificent (adj.)

1580s, back-formation from munificence, or else from Latin munificent-, stem of munificus "bountiful, liberal, generous," literally "present-making," from munus "gift or service; function, task, duty, office" (see municipal). Latin munificare meant "to enrich."

prevarication (n.)

late 14c., "divergence from a right course, transgression," from Old French prevaricacion "breaking of God's laws, disobedience (to the Faith)" (12c., Modern French prévarication) and directly from Latin praevaricationem (nominative praevaricatio) "duplicity, collusion, a stepping out of line (of duty or behavior)," noun of action from past participle stem of praevaricari "to make a sham accusation, deviate," literally "walk crookedly," in Church Latin, "to transgress," from prae "before" (see pre-) + varicare "to straddle," from varicus "straddling," from varus "bowlegged, knock-kneed" (see varus). Meaning "evasion, quibbling" is attested from 1650s.

prevaricate (v.)

1580s, "to transgress," a back formation from prevarication, or else from Latin praevaricatus, past participle of praevaricari "to make a sham accusation, deviate," literally "walk crookedly;" in Church Latin, "to transgress" (see prevarication). Meaning "to speak evasively" is from 1630s. Related: Prevaricated; prevaricating.

charisma (n.)

"gift of leadership, power of authority," c. 1930, from German, used in this sense by Max Weber (1864-1920) in "Wirtschaft u. Gesellschaft" (1922), from Greek kharisma "favor, divine gift," from kharizesthai "to show favor to," from kharis "grace, beauty, kindness" (Charis was the name of one of the three attendants of Aphrodite) related to khairein "to rejoice at," from PIE root *gher- (5) "to desire, like" (see hortatory). More mundane sense of "personal charm" recorded by 1959.
Earlier, the word had been used in English with a sense of "grace, talent from God" (1875), directly from Latinized Greek; and in the form charism (plural charismata) it is attested with this sense in English from 1640s. Middle English, meanwhile, had karisme "spiritual gift, divine grace" (c. 1500).

charismatic (adj.)

1851, in Bible commentary and theology, in reference to the operation of the Holy Spirit and prophetic ecstasy in the early Church (from the use of Greek kharismata in Romans xii), from Latin stem of charisma + -ic. As a movement in modern Christian churches which believes in divine gifts of healing, etc., attested by 1936, reflecting the older sense of charisma.

genocide (n.)

1944, apparently coined by Polish-born U.S. jurist Raphael Lemkin (1900-1959) in his work "Axis Rule in Occupied Europe" [p.19], in reference to Nazi extermination of Jews, literally "killing a tribe," from Greek genos "race, kind" (see genus) + -cide. The proper formation would be *genticide.

Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aimed at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves. [Lemkin]

Earlier in a similar sense was populicide (1799), from French populicide, by 1792, a word from the Revolution. This was taken into German, as in Völkermeuchelnden "genocidal" (Heine), which was Englished 1893 as folk-murdering. Ethnocide is attested from 1974 in English (1970 in French).

genocidal (adj.)

1948, from genocide + -al (1). Related: Genocidally.