Mix It Up!

Word of the Day: Cathect

cathect

PRONUNCIATION:

(kuh-THEKT)

MEANING:

verb tr.: To invest mental or emotional energy in an idea, object, or person. 

ETYMOLOGY:

Back-formation from Greek kathexis (the investment of emotional energy in something). Ultimately from the Indo-European root segh- (to hold) that is also the source of words such as victory (to hold in a battle), hectic, scheme, and scholar. 

USAGE:

"Mortimer divorced Jane Goodall's mother, Vanne, in 1950, consigning Jane to the fate of so many children who cathect with the animal kingdom to compensate for missing parents."

Judith Lewis; Observing the Observer: Jane Goodall, The Woman Who Redefined Man; Los Angeles Times; Nov 19, 2006. 

(From wordsmith.org)

Word of the Day: Polyhistor

 

A.Word.A.Day--polyhistor polyhistor (pol-ee-HIS-tuhr) noun, also polyhistorian A person of great or wide learning. [From Latin polyhistor, from Greek polyistor (very learned), from poly- (much, many) + histor (learned). Ultimately from the Indo-European root weid- (to see) that is also the source of words such as guide, wise, vision, advice, idea, story and history.] "For this extraordinary combination of clearness and ease will not come by observation, or even by reading the fourteen thousand books which constituted (Robert) Southey's library. Such a polyhistor, for variety, for excellence of matter and for excellence of form, it may be doubted whether any other language possesses." A.W. Ward, et al; The Cambridge History of English and American Literature: Putnam; 1907-21. (From Wordsmith.org)

Word of the Day: Cwm

 

cwm PRONUNCIATION: (koom) MEANING: noun: A steep bowl-shaped mountain basin, carved by glaciers. Also known as cirque.  ETYMOLOGY: From Welsh cwm (valley).  NOTES: The letter w works as a vowel in the Welsh language and it has given another such word (without a standard vowel aeiou, or y) to English: crwth (krooth) meaning crowd (an ancient Celtic stringed instrument).  USAGE: "By a process of elimination, which is a ticklish phrase to use about Soviet selection methods, the hordes of trainees will be reduced to about 150 fit to carry Stalin's name over countless crevasses, through the cwms, and along the cols -- to the very ultimate peak of the ultimate mountain." Cold War For Mount Everest?; The Sydney Morning Herald; Apr 21, 1952.  From Wordsmith.org

Word of the Day: Weltanschauung

 

weltanschauung PRONUNCIATION: (VELT-ahn-shou-oong) MEANING: noun: World view; philosophy of life; a framework through which to interpret the world.  ETYMOLOGY: From German Weltanschauung (world view), from Welt (world) + Anschauung (perception).  NOTES: When we bring in a word from another language, sometimes we borrow it and at other times make a loan translation. The word weltanschauung appears so useful that English has borrowed the original form and also made a loan translation: world view.  USAGE: "Gwyneth Paltrow summed up her weltanschauung thus: 'My life is good because I am not passive about it.'" Richard Dorment; Gwyneth Paltrow Feels Good -- And So Can You; Esquire (New York); Sep 16, 2009.  (From Wordsmith.org)

Word of the Day: Petrichor

 

Petrichor (PET-ri-kuhr) noun:

The pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a dry spell. [From petro- (rock), from Greek petros (stone) + ichor (the fluid that is supposed to flow in the veins of the gods in Greek mythology).  Coined by researchers I.J. Bear and R.G. Thomas.] "Petrichor, the name for the smell of rain on dry ground, is from oils given off by vegetation, absorbed onto neighboring surfaces, and released into the air after a first rain."  (Matthew Bettelheim; Nature's Laboratory; Shasta Parent [Mt Shasta, California]; Jan 2002.) "But, even in the other pieces, her prose breaks into passages of lyrical beauty that come as a sorely needed revivifying petrichor amid the pitiless glare of callousness and cruelty."  (Pradip Bhattacharya; Forest Interludes; Indianest.com; Jul 29, 2001.) (From wordsmith.org)