Word of the Day

: October 27, 2018

pamphleteer

verb pam-fluh-TEER

What It Means

1 : to write and publish pamphlets

2 : to engage in partisan arguments indirectly in writings

pamphleteer in Context

Though he is remembered today for his novels and essays, George Orwell was also known to pamphleteer for causes important to him.

"After the pamphlet wars between supporters of Louis XIII and Marie de Medicis, in 1618-19, several pamphleteers were sentenced to death, and the attempt to arrest unlicensed booksellers led many to flee the country. More broadly, the political chaos brought about by pamphleteering in France contributed to the absolutism of Louis XIV, who used the printing press as a tool of state control." — Stephen Marche, The New Yorker, 23 Apr. 2018

Did You Know?

Pamphlets—unbound printed publications with no covers or with paper covers—are published about all kinds of subjects, but our word pamphlet traces back to one particular document. It derives from the title of a short Latin love poem of the 12th century: Pamphilus, seu De Amore, which can be translated as "Pamphilus, or On Love." The name Pamphilus referred to a Greek god whose name means "loved by all." Following from this, the original pamphlets were handwritten poems, tracts, or treatises, often consisting of several pages bound together. Pamphleteer, which can be both a noun and a verb, combines pamphlet with the -eer suffix found in such words as engineer and puppeteer.