The Words of the Week - Nov. 24

‘First lady’

Rosalynn Carter, the wife of former president Jimmy Carter, passed away last week, causing lookups for First Lady to spike.

Rosalynn Carter, transformative former first lady and mental health advocate, dies
— (headline) NPR, 19 Nov. 2023

We define First Lady as “the wife or female partner of the chief executive of a country or jurisdiction.” It can also be written in lowercase (first lady), and has additional meanings, such as “someone who is not the wife or female partner of a chief executive but who fulfills the public duties of a First Lady” or “the leading woman of an art or profession.”

FLOTUS is an abbreviation commonly used today for First Lady, standing for First Lady of the United States. FLOTUS is based on POTUS (an abbreviation of President of the United States) has been in use since the late 19th century, originating in a telegraphic code book. FLOTUS is considerably newer, appearing to have entered our language when the secret service used it in describing the woman who succeeding Rosalyn Carter in the role of First Lady, Nancy Reagan.

‘Cornucopia’

This word, which spikes in lookups every Thanksgiving, comes to English from the Latin cornu copiae (the literal meaning of which is “horn of plenty”). When cornucopia first began being used in English, in the beginning of the 16th century, it was with a definition very close to its Latin origin: “a curved, hollow goat's horn or similarly shaped receptacle (such as a horn-shaped basket) that is overflowing especially with fruit and vegetables (such as gourds, ears of corn, apples, and grapes) and that is used as a decorative motif emblematic of abundance.” The following century saw its meaning broaden, and it took on the sense in which the word is often found today: “abundance, an inexhaustible store.”

‘Assassination’

This week saw the 60th anniversary of the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th president of the United States, and searches for that word increased as a result.

What We Know and Still Don’t Know About JFK’s Assassination
— (headline) Time, 21 Nov. 2023

We define assassination as “murder by sudden or secret attack often for political reasons; the act or an instance of assassinating someone (such as a prominent political leader).” While there have been claims that Shakespeare coined this word (in Macbeth), it was in use for some decades before this.

…but where all treason, conspiracy, insurrection, assassination, empoisoment and utter destruction to the state is meant…
— Sir Thomas Smith, "Letter to Dr. Wilson," 11 April 1572

Assassination (and assassin) comes from the Medieval Latin word assassinus, which itself can be traced to the Arabic ḥashshāsh. This Arabic word means “worthless person,” or, more literally, “hashish user.

‘Broker’

Negotiations involving the possible return of a number of hostages abducted by Hamas and a temporary halt to armed hostilities have caused broker to appear in numerous newspaper headlines.

A hostage deal may have been brokered but the Israel-Gaza war is not over
— (headline) The Economist, 22 Nov. 2023

When used as a noun a broker is a negotiator, or intermediary; when used as a verb the word mean “to function as a broker in respect to : to arrange, settle, or control as a broker.” Broker is often found used in close relation to power; a power broker is “a person (as in politics) able to exert strong influence through control of votes or individuals.”

Words Worth Knowing: ‘Crapulent’

It is the day after Thanksgiving, and so there are perhaps a few readers who have recently eaten more food than is advisable. The fact that there is a word for how such people are feeling will likely not make any of them feel better, but we’re going to tell you about it anyway. Crapulent means “suffering from excessive eating or drinking.” The word comes from the Latin crapula (“intoxication”), and has been found in dictionaries since the 17th century (Edward Phillips defined it, rather poetically, as “glutted with meat, having taken a surfet” in 1658).

It had been a bad week for poor Alastair. He’d vomited after his stag night, then gone to work on the pig farm the following day, feeling crapulent.
— Jeremy Clarke, The Spectator (London, Eng.), 19 Aug. 2000