I ran so late into August that I decided to just put this post off and cover two months. That turned out to be a good idea, as August only yielded three interesting words. As my wife and I prepare for the birth of our second child (due late October), I am realizing more and more that I probably won’t finish the dictionary until the end of 2016. That puts the start of my reading journey at a full three years- far beyond my initial expectations.After giving up on my two-year goal, I hoped two and a half years would be enough. I have about 540 pages to go before I hit the supplemental material at the back of this dictionary, which should be an easier read. Considering I haven’t been averaging 50 pages a month for some time now, another full calendar year seems like the most logical conclusion.
P is the second-longest letter section in the dictionary. Don’t be surprised if it takes me two or more months to finish this one off.
Here are the interesting words from July and August:
MULTIPLICATION SIGN- This one baffles me. The word multiplication comes out of the 14th century. The actual “x” symbol for multiplication was introduced in the 1600s. This term didn’t come into existence until 1907. What the heck did they call the “x” before that? Did it just go unnamed for almost 300 years?
MUMBO JUMBO- This terms comes to us courtesy of the Mandingo peoples of western Africa. To them, Mumbo Jumbo was the term for a masked dancer who took part in religious ceremonies. For we English speakers, it began its life in our language meaning something superstitious in nature. Now it means gibberish. What a strange journey.
MUNDUNGUS- Any Harry Potter fans in the house? This one caught my eye because of the character Mundungus Fletcher from the Potter books. The word comes from butchered Spanish for a foul-smelling tobacco. How appropriate for that traitorous character. Also interesting is that Microsoft spell check doesn’t think mundungus is a real word.
MUSCAE VOLITANTES- My eye doctor just calls them floaters but now I know the technical term for the little translucent grayish spots I see every now and again.
NAG- I have to say that the Scandinavian languages have really produced some fascinating words that I would have otherwise assumed come from Latin or Germanic roots. The Dutch brought us the noun form for an old horse but those wily Scandinavians gave us the verb for petty fault-finding.
NAMBY-PAMBY- This term was originally a nickname for Ambrose Phillips. Not knowing who he was, I looked him up. He was a British poet and politician who lived from 1674 to 1749. Who liked to write sentimental pastorals. Some of his peers and other literary folk who were not so keen on the pastoral style mocked him with this nickname. Rough legacy.
NEANDERTHAL- I always assumed that the term Neanderthal had Latin origins. It’s actually named after the valley in Germany where the remains of pre-modern humans were found. That valley itself was named after Joachim Neander, a Calvinist pastor from the 17th Century who wrote the hymn “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation.” He died when he was only 30. His last name means “new man,” which boggles the mind because people actually found remains of a new form of prehistoric man in the valley named for him.
NERD- They still credit this word to Dr. Seuss. How cool is that?
NEWFANGLED- This word was newfangled in its popularity at one point but can you believe that was centuries ago? My dictionary dates it to the 14th century but MW online now places its origins to the 15th century. An oldie but goodie!
NONFLAMMABLE- This word is celebrating its centennial this year. Historically speaking, though, it’s still just a newfangled catchphrase.
NOR’EASTER- This term has been around for centuries, yet it does not appear in my dictionary. MW online even refuses to give it a formal definition. Instead, it just lists it as a variant of the word northeaster. Maybe it’s because I live in the Mid-Atlantic region, but I have never heard storm systems called northeasters before. Perhaps they shrug it off as dialectal but the term itself has been used for over 400 years. I find this omission shameful.
NUGGET- They can date it back to 1852 but there are no known root origins for this word. It feels like I haven’t seen a surprising unknown origin word in a while. Looking back through my posts, I see the last one that made my interesting words list was the word dude. I hope this doesn’t mean I’m going to come across a slew of these buggers again.
OAF- Another cool word of Scandinavian origin. I love these guys!
OCCIDENTAL- This one is actually cool to know. Every time I heard someone mention Occidental College, I wondered why they named it that because occidental sounds like accidental. As it turns out, occident means west. I’ve always know that orient and oriental refer to the east but now I know there is a corresponding term for the west. The Latin terms for north and south both start with A but must not have made an impression on me.
PAGE-TURNER- This phrase entered our language in 1972. I refuse to believe that books prior to 1972 were any less exciting. The young age of this term is just sad.
PAPER CLIP- My dictionary dated this term to 1919 but MW online now dates it to 1875, making the term 140 years old. Interestingly enough, the first paper clip bearing any kind of close resemblance to the ones we use today was not patented until 1877.
Page Count: 880/1600 (55.00%)
Countdown to the Letter Q: 110 pages
