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• parsimony •

Pronunciation: pahr-sê-mo-nee • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun, mass

Meaning: 1. Frugality, husbandry, economy, the judicious, even sparing use of resources. 2. Tight-fisted stinginess.

Notes: The adjective of this Good Word is parsimonious [pahr-sê-mo-ni-ês] and the adverb, parsimoniously. A penurious person is usually stingy because of poverty. A parsimonious person is simply judicious in spending habits. The Law of Parsimony, on the other hand, also known as Occam's Razor, is a preference for the simplest explanation of the largest array of facts. Occam's Razor cuts off the superfluous. In short: it is best to explain the most you can with the fewest words—it's the law!

In Play: Today's Good Word reflects an attitude that often goes out the window. Edmund Burke once wrote, "Mere parsimony is not economy.... Expense, and great expense, may be an essential part in true economy." In other words, keep an eye on the long term. It is the case that today's word is not ineluctably wedded to finances: "Mom, don't be so parsimonious with the mashed potatoes; I'm a growing boy!"

Word History: Today's Good Word was taken from French, which got it from Latin parsimonia "parsimony". The Latin noun is built on parsus, the past participle of parcere "to be sparing". The root is probably related to the Greek word sparnos "rare, uncommon" and English spare. It is also tied to Latin parvus "small" and paucus "few." (We should not be parsimonious with our gratitude to Katy Brezger for suggesting today's very Good Word.)

I keep trying to put the stress on the i for some reason, even though that makes it sound like some kind of herb. Perhaps it's carry-over from a fruit I've never had, persimmon?

Parsley perhaps? I am very familiar with persimmons which I will at absent a better choice. The black persimmon of Texas and Mexico are said to be edible also, but we always let them fall from the trees to be eaten by the coyotes. As for parsimony, I nominate it as number 8 among the 7 deadly sins.

Slava, perhaps your stress is caused by the pronunciations of “Parsippany” (that city in northern New Jersey) or “simony” (that important revenue center of the medieval Roman Catholic Church.)

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More seriously, today’s good word reminds me of a wise comment of the late Christopher Hitchens, an exquisite practitioner of the English language. He was also an outspoken opponent of political correctness, or what today might be called woke-ness.

A few years ago a language panic spread over the use of the word “niggardly” because of the (wrong-headed) belief that the word had a racist etymology. That belief, of course, was based on a fallacious folk etymology; in fact, “niggardly” is a Germanic, not a Romance word.

But Hitchens was practical, and did not want to distract audiences over irrelevant academic footnotes relating to etymology. He withdrew “niggardly” from his vocabulary and replaced it with “parsimonious.”

It was while giving a speech in Washington, to a very international audience, about the British theft of the Elgin marbles from the Parthenon. I described the attitude of the current British authorities as "niggardly." Nobody said anything, but I privately resolved — having felt the word hanging in the air a bit — to say "parsimonious" from then on. [Christopher Hitchens, "The Pernicious Effects of Banning Words," Slate.com, Dec. 4, 2006]

Yes, a great Hitchens story, that one.

Interesting that the word 'thrifty' doesn't crack a mention in this discussion. Parsimony and thrift are near identical in meaning aren't they?

Being thrifty may imply a level of parsimoniousness, but I don't believe it ever carries any sense of the second meaning of mean-spiritedness.

Mr. Spellcheck dislikes both those "-ness" words, by the by.

Good point, Slava. Mind you, I am not comfortable using parsimony for tight-fisted or mean, even if such use is condoned by the Good Doctor.