Words of the Week - March 4

’Huddle’

A number of news organizations described Vladimir Putin as huddling with advisors and generals last week, and many wondered if this was the right word, given his lack of proximity to those with whom he was supposedly huddling.

Russian President Vladimir Putin huddled with officials to discuss the economic turmoil amid his invasion of Ukraine.

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— ABC News (@ABC) February 28, 2022

We offer a number of definitions for huddle, most of which entail a certain degree of closeness, such as “to crowd together,” “to draw (oneself) together,” and “to wrap oneself closely in.” It should be noted that we also define the word, used as an intransitive verb, as “to hold a consultation.”

’DEFCON’

DEFCON was much in the news last week as well, after Russia was reported to have raised their state of nuclear readiness.

The heightened alert, which is still several steps short of a full-blown “DEFCON” situation, came even as Ukraine agreed to unconditional talks with Moscow after three days of holding out against Russian forces seeking to overrun Kyiv and Kharkiv, its two major cities.
— Chidanand Rajghatta, The Times of India, 27 Feb. 2022

DEFCON is “any one of five levels of U.S. military defense readiness that are ranked from 5 to 1 according to the perceived threat to national security, with 1 indicating the highest level of perceived threat.” While it is not uncommon for people to assume that the higher numbers designate a state of greater urgency, this is not the case. DEFCON is a coinage of the U.S. military, in use since 1959. It is a compression of the words "defense condition."

’Yacht’

In a bit of etymological irony, a word whose origins mean "hunting ship" was itself being hunted this week, as a number of countries decided to seize yachts owned by wealthy Russians.

Russian oligarchs' yachts seized in Europe, others harbouring in Maldives
— (headline) Reuters, 3 Mar. 2022

Yacht may be traced to the Middle Low German jacht, itself short for jachtschip (the word with the aforementioned meaning of “hunting ship”). We define yacht as “any of various recreational watercraft” and specify that this may include such as “a sailboat used for racing” or “a large usually motor-driven craft used for pleasure cruising.”

’Klepto-‘

In related news, klepto also spiked in lookups, following the announcement that the U.S. had formed a task force with this as part of its name, to seize things such as yachts.

US launches ‘KleptoCapture’ task force against Russian oligarchs
— (headline) Al Jazeera, 2 Mar. 2022

Klepto, which comes from the Greek kleptein, meaning “to steal,” is often encountered functioning as a combining form, with the meaning of “stealing, theft.” It tends to appear at the beginning of words such as kleptomania (“a persistent neurotic impulse to steal especially without economic motive”) and kleptocracy (“government by those who seek chiefly status and personal gain at the expense of the governed”), although it may also appear at the end, as with biblioklept (“one who steals books”). Klepto may also function as a noun, as a shortened form of kleptomaniac (“a person evidencing kleptomania”).

When a wealthy woman is caught stealing, she’s a klepto, when a poor person is caught, she’s a thief.
—Newsday (Long Island, NY), 12 Dec. 1951

’Iron curtain’

Another word thrust into prominence as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is iron curtain.

A new Iron Curtain? How Russia’s invasion will reshape the world.
—(headline) The Christian Science Monitor, 2 Mar. 2022

Iron curtain, in modern use, is often found used in the sense of “a political, military, and ideological barrier that cuts off and isolates an area,” and specifically referring to one formerly isolating an area under Soviet control. In such cases it is often capitalized. The word may also refer generally to “an impenetrable barrier,” a sense that dates back to the beginning of the 19th century. This predecessor of this sense is a literal meaning, as iron curtain were initially developed in the 18th century, for use in the theater.

The Iron Curtain, which is of sufficient thickness to prevent the communication of fire, from the stage to the audience, is in two pieces, which are supposed to weigh 4,500 wt.
— The North American (Philadelphia, PA), 13 Nov. 1798

Our Antedating of the Week

Our antedating of the week is debacle, a word which in modern parlance is used to mean “a great disaster,” “ a complete failure,” or “a violent disruption (as of an army).” However, when the word entered into English (from the French noun débâcle, which comes from the verb débâcler, meaning "to clear," "to unbolt," or "to unbar”) it referred to a tumultuous breakup of ice in a river, or to the flooding produced by such a breakup. Our earliest record of this use had previously come in 1802, but recent findings show that we’ve had debacles since at least 1795.

If, again, this mound had been formed of rock, like what remains of those mountains, in that case, the catastrophe, which this author has suggested as the cause of that destruction, would have been ineffectual to procure that end; for, though such a debacle might have carried away a great mass of loose materials, it could not have moved a mound of solid rock.
— James Hutton, Theory of the earth, 1795