Word of the Day
More about smaragdine
Smaragdine, “emerald-green in color,” comes via Latin smaragdus from Ancient Greek smáragdos, “emerald,” which may derive either by way of Sanskrit or directly from a Semitic source akin to Hebrew bāreqeth “gemstone, emerald.” Bāreqeth and its Arabic relative barq, “lightning,” come from a Semitic root roughly meaning “to flash, shine.” Because of a variety of regular sound changes, Latin smaragdus evolved into Old French esmeragde (also esmeralde) and was adapted into English as emerald. For fans of Disney or Victor Hugo, this Old French word is also the source of the name Esmeralda. Smaragdine was first recorded in English in the late 14th century.
EXAMPLE OF SMARAGDINE USED IN A SENTENCE
Because the ink was not yet dry on the drawing of the Emerald City, the artist left a smaragdine smear when he brushed his hand against the page.
More about rubricate
Rubricate, “to mark or color with red,” comes from Latin rūbrīca, “red ocher,” which is also the source of English rubric, “any established mode of conduct or procedure.” The shift in definition here is because rubric originally referred in English to a title or heading in a book that was written in red for easy distinction from the rest of the text (in black), and red ocher was ground to produce the pigment once used in red ink. Rūbrīca comes from ruber, which is one of multiple Latin words for “red,” as we learned from the Word of the Day rufescent. Rubricate was first recorded in English in the 1560s.
EXAMPLE OF RUBRICATE USED IN A SENTENCE
Looking at the old tome through the display case glass, she imagined the scribe who painstakingly rubricated all of the chapter headings.
precocity
noun
the state of or tendency to be flowering, fruiting, or ripening early, as plants or fruit.
More about precocity
Precocity, “the state of ripening early,” ultimately comes from Latin praecox, “early ripening,” from the verb praecoquere, “to bake early, ripen early.” The prae- element means “before” and is the ancestor of English pre-; Latin ae often becomes English e, as we also saw in the Word of the Day preternatural. The verb coquere, “to cook,” is the source of numerous words in English, whether from Latin directly (concoct), by way of French (biscuit, charcuterie, cuisine), via Italian (ricotta, terra cotta), through Old English (cook, kitchen), or using another route entirely (apricot). Precocity was first recorded in English in the 1630s.
EXAMPLE OF PRECOCITY USED IN A SENTENCE
After centuries of hybridizing the plant, the strawberry is now widely known for its precocity.