Larry's Pretty Good Word of the Day

otalgia (oh-TAL-ee-juh, oh-TAL-juh) - n. (med.) earache.


The technical medical jargon for a pain in the ear. Borrowed in the 1650s from Latin, from Greek ōtalgía, from ōt-, combining form of ous, ear + -algia, from algos, pain.

---L.

thagomizer (tha-goh-MEYE-zuhr) - n. (inf.) the collection of spikes on the end of the tail of stegasaurid dinosaurs.


Coined in 1982 by Gary Larson in a The Far Side cartoon, and since adopted by many paleontologists, especially in informal contexts -- Wiktionary has a selection of citations. Ostensibly named after "the late Thag Simmons."

Posted today in honor of a knitted dragon that has one.

---L.

agley (uh-GLEE, uh-GLEY, uh-GLEYE) - adj., askew, awry, wrong.


Scots dialect, but generally known through Burns: "the best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley." From a-, not + gley, to squint (from Middle English glien, possibly of Scandinavian origin), coined in the 1780s.

---L.

lek (LEK) - n., a place where male animals gather for display and courtship behavior; the act or practice of so gathering.


Also, a currency of Albania, but that's not important right now. First attested in English in 1871, probably borrowed from Swedish, from a root with a sense of "to play."

---L.

ictus (IK-tuhs) - n., (pros./mus.) a metrical or rhythmical stress as contrasted on the one hand with an unstressed syllable/note and on the other with the stress accent on words; (pros.) a mark indicating same; (physio.) the pulse; (physio.) a sudden attack, blow, stroke, or seizure.


Borrowed around 1700 from Latin, from icere, to strike, plus -tus suffix of verbal action.


By way of noting that posting is likely to be sporadic next week due to offline obligations. Things should clear up again after that, though.

---L.

zeitgeber (DZEYET-gey-ber) - n., an environmental cue, as the start or end of daylight, that provides the stimulus for setting or resetting a biological clock of an organism.


More usually it's a natural event, but it can be social, such as children coming home from school, as long at its a daily thing. Coined in 1954 in German by Jürgen Aschoff, a founder of the field of chronobiology, and ported over to English when he used it in a 1964 paper -- literally, "time-giver."

---L.

incunabulum (in-kyu-NAB-yu-luhm) - n., a book or broadsheet printed in Europe with moveable type before 1501; an artifact of an early period (of something).


Better known in its plural form, incunabula. Sometimes known by its fully anglicized form, incunable. Borrowed around 1830 from New Latin incūnābulum, which was repurposed in 1639 from Latin incūnābula, swaddling clothes, earlier straps that hold a baby in a cradle, from in- + cūnābula, cradle and by extension infancy.

---L.

billon (BIL-uhn) - n., an alloy of a precious metal with a larger amount of a less valuable metal.


Such as a little silver in a lot of copper, which is often used for coins of a small denomination. Borrowed in the 1720s from French, debased metal, originally ingot, from Middle French bille, log (cognate of billet) + -on, a noun suffix.

---L.

luxate (LUKS-ayt) - v., to put (a shoulder, knee, and so on) out of joint, dislocate.


The technical medical term. Borrowed around 1620 from Latin luxātus, past participle of luxāre, to put out of joint, cognate of Greek loxós, oblique.

---L.

cucumiform (kyu-KYU-mi-fawrm) - adj., having the shape of a cucumber.


That is, cylindrical and tapering at both ends, either straight or curved. Its use today seems largely confined to microbiology and mycology. Borrowed around 1826 from New Latin, coined in 1791 from Latin roots cucumis, cucumber, + -form, shape. An earlier (as in coined in 1703) alternate form was cucumeriform.

And that is the c-week that was. Tune in next week for another round of the regular mix.

---L.