[what]: QUIXOTRY
[check]: Tagi: jocular, don quixote
[date]: 2009-10-02
[time]: 13:00:15

The word is a variation of 'quixotism' which can best be translated as 'making visionary schemes'. It is most prorably derived from the adjective 'quixotic' meaning appertaing to Don Quixote, the (in)famous hero of the famous novel 'Don Quixote de la Mancha' (1605) ;) The adjective means: 'not well thought of, random, impractical, unreasonable or ungrounded' and is most often applied to the word 'plan'. Quixotry, therefore, is the main idea behind it.

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[what]: MISCEGENATION
[check]: Tagi: dinah craik, olive
[date]: 2009-04-27
[time]: 14:32:29

I have encountered the word on the back cover of book by Dinah Craik entitled "Olive". The jacket copywriter focuses on the perplexing but pivotal problem of racial prejudice and tolerance in Victorian Britain. The word that drew my attention stands for the process of interbreeding of different races or among people having different racial backgrounds. It can also be used in a more metaphoric sense as a synonym for hybridisation. Though clear in meaning, the word is not widely used nowadays. Perhaps because of us having a much more tolerant society?

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[what]: PYRETIC
[check]: Tagi: synonyms, father brown stories, g. k. chesterton, whodunit
[date]: 2009-03-26
[time]: 14:39:45

The above word may not be obscure to a native speaker of English. The entry is, therefore, addressed to those who learn English as their second tongue. The word is a synonym of 'febrile' which stands for: pertaining to fever or cause by it. I have encountered the word 'febrile' in "Father Brown Stories" by G. K. Chesterton and so it became the inspiration to create this note on the more sophisticated and much more rare locution 'pyretic'.

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[what]: (KNICK –) KNACKATORY
[check]: Tagi: french, synonyms
[date]: 2009-02-20
[time]: 14:08:30

The locution is of French origin, videlicet: it is a reduplication of 'knack' which stands for a toy or a trifle. The word can be written the way it is in the headline: knick-knackatory or just knackatory. It stands for a shop when one can purchase trifles and other trinkets. Interestingly enough, there is a rare and obsolete word for gewgaws and gimcracks, to wit: finnimbrun. Dictionary to which I was referring [link] claims the word is 'of arbitrary formation' and so it seems. Let's then visit the nearest knick-knackatory, shall we?

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[what]: PAROEOMIOGRAPHER
[check]: Tagi: latin
[date]: 2009-02-17
[time]: 12:14:37

Aka paramiographer is a Latin-based word appertaining to a person who coins proverbs or to a collector of them. The original Latin locution is: paroemiographus. Today's description is short, concise and pithy, just as are proverbs :)

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[what]: HOBBLEDEHOY
[check]: Tagi: vanity fair, william makepeace thackeray
[date]: 2009-01-18
[time]: 18:47:41

The above word, though it does not look awkward per se, does refer to an awkward character, viz. a gawky and gangling adolescent boy. Even though dictionaries claim that the word is 'of unknown origin' I venture to propound a theory that the locution is connected with the word 'to hobble', which, though is more connected with elderly people, still appertains to certain clumsy gait. Hobbledehoy, indeed, does refer to a young, lanky individual of awkward deportment, thus the word 'to hobble' (meaning 'to limp') may have been the source of the coinage in question. I have encountered the above expression in 'Vanity Fair. A Novel Without A Hero' penned by William Makepeace Thackeray, which, surprisingly enough, is not peopled by hobbledehoys but is virtually teeming with drop-dead gorgeous gentlemen. I thoroughly recommend it!

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[what]: ETRENNES
[check]: Tagi: festivals, french
[date]: 2009-01-13
[time]: 15:09:13

Though we are in the very middle of January we probably still remember the merrymaking and the overall ambiance of the New Year's Eve, provided the potation of alcoholic beverages does not hinder us ;) The word of today is tightly connected with this festival. Etrennes stand for presents which people exchange because of the New Year coming. This custom is not prevalent in all European countries, but in some of them the tradition is very deeply rooted, indeed. English language does not have a single word standing for this particular object, so it borrowed this petit French locution. Have you given your etrennes this year?

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[what]: PACHYDERMATOUS
[check]: Tagi: thomas hardy, tess of the d'urbervilles
[date]: 2008-12-08
[time]: 16:57:45

I happened to encounter the above word wile perusing Thomas Hardy's novel 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles'. This whimsical-looking locution interested me, though I did not have time to look up its meaning, not to say origin. Now I have. The word is, again, an obscure synonym for: thick-skinned, insensitive, callous or indurate. Literarily taken it means: related to, or characteristic of a pachyderm; pachyderm being one of large, thick-skinned :) hoofed mammals such as elephant, rhinoceros, or hippopotamus. The expression is derived from an old Greek word pakhudermos meaning thick-skinned. The Greek word was adopted to Latin lexis (Pachydermata) and is now an obsolete order name for pachyderms. It is interesting to add that there are actually three adjectives derived from the Greek root standing for the very same thing, and they are as follows: pachydermal, pachydermic and the aforementioned pachydermatous. Finally, a scintillating photo of pachyderms ;) Enjoy!

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[what]: EINFUHLUNG
[check]: Tagi: preternatural, german
[date]: 2008-11-05
[time]: 14:27:36

The word is German, but as far as I know, there does not exist any single English expression which would be synonymous with it. It means being so close and intimate that one is able to read each other's mind, understand their motives instantly without them being told. I believe there aren't many single words in other languages that stand for this thing. It's a prety much unique idea to be expressed via one word. Good to know, though German.

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[what]: DYBBUK
[check]: Tagi: preternatural, yiddish, jewish
[date]: 2008-10-04
[time]: 12:03:51

Dybbuk is of Yiddish origin (dibek), which comes from a Jewish locution meaning 'attachment'. Indeed, the word has much to do with the idea of attachment. Dybbuk, according to Kabbalach and European Jewish folklore, is a dislocated soul of a dead person who enters a body of a living person, therefore possessing them. Dybbukim are said to have escaped from Gehenna, which stands for hell. Others might have been turned away for such perpetrations that made them unfit to be even in such a place as hell. Suicide is one of them. The body of a living person inhabited by a dybbuk is also possessed by it. Dybbukim enter other people's bodies because they hadn't accomplished certain actions during their lifetime, and so they go back to finish them in their afterlife. Once they succeed, they leave the possessed body. Dybbuk accomplishes its goals alone or with help of another person. Bodies of the possessed have to be cleansed of such wandering souls of dead people and so there exist special rituals for that purpose. A rite of exorcism (for instance) was carried out frequently. Beliefs in those spirits were especially frequent in eastern Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries.

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[what]: LUFTMENSCH
[check]: Tagi: yiddish
[date]: 2008-09-26
[time]: 23:41:14

Lofty but lacking, dignified but destitute, proud though penniless. Do you happen to be one? The above word stands for any impractical fellow who has manifold reveries but no definite plans not to mention business ones. Such a contemplative person often does not have a steady (if any) income. Etymologically speaking, the expression is of Yiddish origin, videlicet: it was coined on the basis of the Yiddish locution: luftmentsh, which can be divided into two words: luft (meaning air) and mentsch (human being). Because of its foreign origin, the plural form is as follows: luftmenschen. The expression appeared around 1907, hence is relatively new. To recapitulate, we can use the word with regard to any supercilious and full of quixotic ideas and schemes person, who, notwithstanding, does not have a steady job, fixed plans, nor money.

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[what]: DETEUROGAMIST
[check]: Tagi: law
[date]: 2008-09-23
[time]: 11:14:29

The word stands for a person who re-marries leggally after their first spouse is dead. There also exists a synonym for the expression, viz. digamist. The word deteurogamist is considered obscure and is rarely used on a daily basis, in contrast to digamist which is a more frequently used locution. The word in question comes from another term, to wit: deteurogamy. It is a biological term standing for a secondary pairing of sexual cells (or nuclei) in lieu of direct copulation. It occurs in fungi, algae as well as higher plants. So, the idea of pairing for a second time is also present in this technical term. I am just curious how would a marriage of two deteurogamists be called? Puzzling, indeed.

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