From Latin, meaning not either…as in gender. A necessity when learning Latin, as there are three genders, as in German. I’ve wondered how, why and when for ages and still do not know the answer. Also, why words even have genders. Had this been the case in the original Indo European langauage? Did pr...

How did we go from a strap, meaning a band of leather to strapping, meaning tall and sturdy, robust?

This appears to be strictly a Germanic word. Both a noun and a verb. It means move with a rolling, thunderous sound. Think also of rumble seat, so called because it was directly over the wheels and that is where it was felt the most. But the I was thinking about the number of words that rhyme with r...

There was a slight cover of frost on the road this morning. I recalled a word from a poem we were forced to read in tenth grade English class. Rime. Meaning hoarfrost. Rarely used now except in northern England and Scotland. Is anyone able to confirm this? Does it still appear in German and Dutch?

From the Latin word, gladius, for sword. It’s no coincidence that the flower, gladiolus, is named this, as the leaves of the gladiolus, resemble the ancient Roman sword. The PIE root appears elsewhere.

This word appears to cover the gamut of Germanic languages. I was digging into the the relationship of sniff and snuff and landed on snout. All nose related. But that’s nuff…for now.

The Latin root, vocare, is a rich source of English words. Couple that with “ex” and you get something on the order of to call out. And evocative is a calling forth, that is, bringing strong images, memories, or feelings to mind. Whether good or bad, I suppose. Think of the smell of your mother baki...

I don’t know if fruit names are considered good words, but after watching a segment on You Tube, I just had to submit this word. My rudimentary Latin confirms that sing and wolf are root words for this fruit, which is so named, allegedly, because the hill town of Cantaloupe in Italy at one time, leg...

Bbeeton: funny. And his friends Devious and previous.

From french, and earlier from Latin. Weariness, irksome ness, disgust.

I was told this means leap year. I was skeptical and checked etymology. It was the Roman leap year which added a second six days before the Calends of March.

To block, hinder or thwart. From Scottish, meaning a person who sees poorly. As understood by me this was originally used in golf when an opponents ball blocked the hole. I guess the other player couldn’t see the hole well enough so he was stymied.

An ecclesiastical council. Interesting that SYN denotes together and the second syllable (hodos) means travel, thus, travel together. I would imagine SYN also appears in sympathetic and similarly in similar.

How is the meaning of this word different from random?

Dang. I missed that.