Word of the day

Discussion about miscellaneous topics not covered by other forums
Richard Frost
Posts: 13231
Joined: Tue Jun 29 2010 8:14pm
Location: The Isle of Dreams
Has thanked: 2874 times
Been thanked: 6862 times

Word of the day

Post by Richard Frost » Sun Jun 14 2020 9:33am

SUNDAY, JUNE 14, 2020 - https://www.dictionary.com/e/word-of-the-day/
Samaritan
[ suh-mar-i-tn ]
noun

one who is compassionate and helpful to a person in distress.

WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF SAMARITAN?
Samaritan as an adjective means “pertaining to Samaria or the Samaritans”; as a noun, it means “a native or inhabitant of Samaria.” Most commonly, however, Samaritan is short for Good Samaritan, after Jesus’ parable in Luke 10:30-37. Samaritan comes from the Late Latin adjective Samarītānus “Samaritan” (used as a noun in the masculine plural), from the Greek noun Samarī́tēs “a Samaritan,” a derivative of Samareía, the name of a city and region in Palestine. Greek Samareía comes from Aramaic Shamerayin, from Hebrew Shōmərôn, of uncertain meaning, but possibly from Shemer, the owner who sold Shōmərôn to Omri, king of Israel, in 1 Kings 16:24. Samaritan entered English before 1000.

HOW IS SAMARITAN USED?

That night, they slept in a good Samaritan‘s home, washed dirty laundry, and showered for the first time since leaving home. - LOURDES MEDRANO, "BORDER CRISIS FROM THE OTHER SIDE: ONE GUATEMALAN MOTHER'S JOURNEY," CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, OCTOBER 5, 2014

Kids want to counteract inequality, to be good samaritans and help the little guy. ALIA WONG, "THE PRESCHOOLER'S EMPATHY VOID," THE ATLANTIC, NOVEMBER 2, 2016
Thanked by: blythburgh, Kelantan

macliam
Posts: 11226
Joined: Thu Jul 18 2013 12:26pm
Location: By the Deben, Suffolk
Has thanked: 1630 times
Been thanked: 9281 times
Contact:

Re: Word of the day

Post by macliam » Sun Jun 14 2020 9:53am

... and of course in the Samaritans, that amazing charity aimed at providing support to those contemplating suicide.

I have a friend who has been a counsellor for years... very grounded and calm. I tried it for a couple of months and couldn't hack it - talking to someone who had self-harmed to the point of amputation was just too much to take when the best I could offer was a place on a waiting list for one-to-one help.

The NHS is great overall, but mental health cover is the poor relation. Without funded resource to back them up, counsellors are fighting a losing battle.
Just because I'm paranoid, it doesn't mean they're not out to get me

Richard Frost
Posts: 13231
Joined: Tue Jun 29 2010 8:14pm
Location: The Isle of Dreams
Has thanked: 2874 times
Been thanked: 6862 times

Word of the day

Post by Richard Frost » Mon Jun 15 2020 9:42am

WORD OF THE DAY - https://www.dictionary.com/e/word-of-the-day/
MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2020
dilly
[ dil-ee ]
noun

Informal.

something or someone regarded as remarkable, unusual, etc.: a dilly of a movie.

WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF DILLY?
The noun and adjective dilly, like many slang terms, has an obscure etymology. One etymology is that dilly is an alteration of delightful or delicious; the suffix –y is either the native English adjective suffix –y (as in juicy), or the originally Scottish noun suffix –y (as in granny). Dilly was originally an Americanism, first appearing in print in the early 20th century.

HOW IS DILLY USED?
It would be a dilly of a painting. - SUSAN VREELAND, THE FOREST LOVER, 2004

The two big numbers, and they were dillies, were “La Toilette de la Cour” by Anthony Philip Heinrich, and Albert Gehring’s “The Soul of Chopin.” - HAROLD C. SCHONBERG, "TIDBITS OF FORGOTTEN MUSIC EVOKE AN AMERICAN PAST," NEW YORK TIMES, MAY 25, 1973
Thanked by: blythburgh, Kelantan

Richard Frost
Posts: 13231
Joined: Tue Jun 29 2010 8:14pm
Location: The Isle of Dreams
Has thanked: 2874 times
Been thanked: 6862 times

Word of the day

Post by Richard Frost » Tue Jun 16 2020 10:07am

Word of the day - 16/6/20 - https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/divagate

divagate verb

di·​va·​gate | \ ˈdī-və-ˌgāt , ˈdi- \
divagated; divagating
Definition of divagate
intransitive verb

: to wander or stray from a course or subject : DIVERGE, DIGRESS

divagation \ ˌdī-​və-​ˈgā-​shən , ˌdi-​ \ noun

The Origin of Divagate
Divagate hasn't wandered far in meaning from its Latin ancestors. It descends from the verb "divagari," which comes from dis-, meaning "apart," and vagari, meaning "to wander." "Vagari" also gave us vagabond, meaning "a wanderer with no home," and "extravagant," an early, now archaic, sense of which was "wandering away." Latin vagari is also probably the source of our noun "vagary," which now usually means "whim or caprice" but originally meant "journey, excursion, or tour." Even the verb "stray" may have evolved from "vagari," by way of Vulgar Latin and Middle French. Today, "divagate" can suggest a wandering or straying that is literal (as in "the hikers divagated from the trail"), but it is more often used figuratively (as in "she tends to divagate from the subject").

First Known Use of divagate
1599, in the meaning defined above

History and Etymology for divagate
Late Latin divagatus, past participle of divagari, from Latin dis- + vagari to wander — more at VAGARY
Thanked by: blythburgh, Kelantan

blythburgh
Posts: 17737
Joined: Tue Jun 29 2010 7:14pm
Location: The Far East
Has thanked: 35005 times
Been thanked: 6106 times
Contact:

Re: Word of the day

Post by blythburgh » Tue Jun 16 2020 11:14am

I plea guilty to divagate at times
Thanked by: Richard Frost
Keep smiling because the light at the end of someone's tunnel may be you, Ron Cheneler

macliam
Posts: 11226
Joined: Thu Jul 18 2013 12:26pm
Location: By the Deben, Suffolk
Has thanked: 1630 times
Been thanked: 9281 times
Contact:

Re: Word of the day

Post by macliam » Tue Jun 16 2020 12:35pm

So, it's an alternative to Deviate, which is the accepted term expressing the same meaning.

Thousands of words exist, or have existed, without being in normal usage today ..... this is one.
Thanked by: Richard Frost, blythburgh
Just because I'm paranoid, it doesn't mean they're not out to get me

BeautifulSunshine
Posts: 26721
Joined: Tue Sep 14 2010 8:23pm
Location: [The Finest City in the World: London]
Has thanked: 192 times
Been thanked: 3686 times
Contact:

Re: Word of the day

Post by BeautifulSunshine » Tue Jun 16 2020 2:47pm

macliam wrote:
Tue Jun 16 2020 12:35pm
So, it's an alternative to Deviate, which is the accepted term expressing the same meaning.

Thousands of words exist, or have existed, without being in normal usage today ..... this is one.
Surprising fact but to get by day-to-day with any given language you don't actually need to know that thousands of words, more like a few hundred words.
Thanked by: blythburgh
[imutual Cashback Investment Club]

Richard Frost
Posts: 13231
Joined: Tue Jun 29 2010 8:14pm
Location: The Isle of Dreams
Has thanked: 2874 times
Been thanked: 6862 times

Word of the day

Post by Richard Frost » Wed Jun 17 2020 9:15am

myriad - https://www.bing.com/search?q=define+myriad

[ˈmɪrɪəd, ˈmɪrɪad]
NOUN

a countless or extremely great number of people or things.
"myriads of insects danced around the light above my head"

synonyms:
multitude · a large/great number/quantity · a lot · scores · quantities · mass · [More]
(chiefly in classical history) a unit of ten thousand.
"the army was organized on a decimal system, up to divisions of 10,000 or myriads"

ADJECTIVE
countless or extremely great in number.
"he gazed at the myriad lights of the city"

synonyms:
innumerable · countless · infinite · numberless · unlimited · untold · limitless · [More]
Thanked by: blythburgh, Kelantan

BeautifulSunshine
Posts: 26721
Joined: Tue Sep 14 2010 8:23pm
Location: [The Finest City in the World: London]
Has thanked: 192 times
Been thanked: 3686 times
Contact:

Re: Word of the day

Post by BeautifulSunshine » Wed Jun 17 2020 10:48am

A day shall come to pass when imutual shall have a myriad of active members.
[imutual Cashback Investment Club]

Kelantan
Posts: 610
Joined: Fri Nov 04 2011 7:16pm
Has thanked: 3113 times
Been thanked: 323 times
Contact:

Re: Word of the day

Post by Kelantan » Wed Jun 17 2020 10:53am

AAAlphaThunder wrote:
Wed Jun 17 2020 10:48am
A day shall come to pass when imutual shall have a myriad of active members.
We all have our fantasies, i'm sure.

Locked

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 15 guests