Menace

Use this forum to discuss past Good Words.
User avatar
Dr. Goodword
Site Admin
Posts: 7419
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:28 am
Location: Lewisburg, PA
Contact:

Menace

Postby Dr. Goodword » Sun Mar 13, 2022 6:23 pm

• menace •


Pronunciation: me-nis • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun, verb

Meaning: 1. (Noun) A threat of danger, an intimidating annoyance: person, thing or quality. 2. (Verb) To threaten, intimidate. 3. To annoy, pester, bother.

Notes: Those of us over 30 probably associate today's word with Dennis the Menace, a comic strip character around which two movies and a cartoon series were made. The adjective most often used comes from the verbal participle of this word: menacing. Dennis was a child menacer.

In Play: Menaces may be nonviolent: "COVID will remain a menace to the world long after we have it under control." They may be violent: "Russia's recent invasion of Ukraine proves it a menace to the whole world."

Word History: Today's Good Word, as usual, was swiped from French menace "menace, threat", passed down from Vulgar (Street) Latin minacia "threat, menace", a back-formed singular of Latin minaciae "threatening things". Minacia is also source of Spanish amenaza "threat, menace" and Italian minaccia "threat, menace". It is the noun for minax (minac-s (genitive case minacis) "threatening", the adjective coming from minari "to threaten, jut out, project". Minari was created from minae "threats; projecting points", a word that Latin remodeled from PIE men-/mon- "to project, stick out", source also of Latin mentum "chin", German Mund "mouth", and English mouth. It also produced Latin mon(t)s "hill, mountain", from which Old French created montaigne "mountain" (Modern French montagne), whence English mountain. We also find mynydd "mountain" in Welsh, menez "hill, mountain" in Breton, and beinn "mountain" in Scottish. (Now a bow to wordmaster Albert Skiles, who for years has been recommending Good Words as exciting as today's.)
• The Good Dr. Goodword

User avatar
Slava
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 8040
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Finger Lakes, NY

Re: Menace

Postby Slava » Tue Mar 12, 2024 2:51 pm

An interesting bit on how different sounds come to mean different things in different languages; minari in Korean means water celery (according to Wikipedia). It's the title of a 2020 movie.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.


Return to “Good Word Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Ahrefs [Bot], Google [Bot] and 45 guests