Dempsey and Firpo, 1924 Art: George Bellows
A.Word.A.Daywith Anu Garg
PRONUNCIATION:
MEANING:
noun: A knockdown blow.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin recumbere (recline, lie down again), from re- (back) + cumbere (to lie down), which also gave us incumbent, procumbent, and superincumbent. Earliest documented use: 1425.
Alice’s mad tea party, 1865 Art: John Tenniel
A.Word.A.Daywith Anu Garg
PRONUNCIATION:
MEANING:
noun: An absurd, illogical, or fantastical situation.
adjective: Absurd, dreamlike, fantastical, or illogical.
ETYMOLOGY:
After Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865), a children’s novel by Lewis Carroll. Earliest documented use: 1874.
NOTES:
In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice follows a rabbit down a rabbit hole into Wonderland, where she meets talking animals, vanishing cats, mad tea-partiers, murderous monarchs, and more.
When dealing with an Alice-in-Wonderland scenario, trying to apply logic will only make you mad as a hatter. Best to just embrace the absurdity before you lose your head over the details.
Another word coined after the book is Alician. Also see rabbit hole, a phrase Carroll did not coin literally, but one whose figurative life owes much to Alice’s tumble.
For words coined in the sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, see here. Also see micropsia, aka Alice in Wonderland syndrome.
A.Word.A.Daywith Anu Garg
PRONUNCIATION:
MEANING:
adjective: Marked by a breakdown of order into cruelty, chaos, and savagery.
ETYMOLOGY:
After Lord of the Flies (1954), a novel by William Golding. Earliest documented use: 1969.
NOTES:
In the novel, a group of English schoolboys are stranded on an uninhabited island after a plane crash. At first, they try to establish rules and live together peacefully, but their makeshift society descends into cruelty and savagery.
The title refers to Beelzebub, from Hebrew ba’al-zebub (lord of flies), the name of a Philistine god of the city of Ekron. In later Christian tradition, Beelzebub became identified with the prince of demons, or Satan.
universe
/ˈyo͞onəvərs/
The word universe comes from the Latin universum. It combines two root words: [1, 2, 3]
Literally, the term translates to “everything turned or rolled into one.” [1, 2]
Linguistic Journey
For a deep dive into the historical roots and various definitions of the cosmos, check out the Wikipedia Universe Definition page. If you are curious about older English roots and exact dates of usage, you can browse the Etymonline Universe Entry. [1]
First edition cover: Chatto & Windus / Wikimedia
PRONUNCIATION:
MEANING:
noun: A radically transformed world, situation, or era, especially one with both promise and peril.
ETYMOLOGY:
After Brave New World (1932), a novel by Aldous Huxley. Earliest documented use: 1933.
NOTES:
The world in Huxley’s dystopian novel is technologically advanced, but individual freedom has been traded for stability, conditioning, consumption, and chemical contentment. The future arrives with everything included except the user’s soul.
Huxley took the title of his novel from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, in which Miranda says:
“O, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O, brave new world,
That has such people in ‘t!”