Category Archives: WotD

How many English words are derived from Nahuatl?

Although it’s not a food word, Atrisco (“the place by the reeds”) here in New Mexico is of Nahuatl origin. I think the synergistic effects of conquest (giving and receiving) must have contributed as much to Spanish as to English, plus exchanges between the two.

Merriam-Webster Online

How many English food words can you name that derive from Nahuatl, a group of languages spoken by native peoples of Mexico and Central America? You’ve probably guessed that "tamale" gives you one; it came to us (by way of Mexican Spanish) from the Nahuatl "tamalli," a word for steamed cornmeal dough. Add to the menu "chili" (from "ch?lli," identifying all those fiery peppers); "chocolate" (from "chocol?tl," first used for a beverage made from chocolate and water); "guacamole" (from "?huacatl," meaning "avocado," plus "m?lli," meaning "sauce"); and "tomato" (from "tomatl"). Top it all off with "chipotle" (a smoked and dried pepper), from "ch?lli" and "p?ctli" (meaning "something smoked").

Merriam-Webster Online

Sumpsimus & Mumpsimus: 2 characters in search of a play…

Maybe Erasmus wrote the play. They’re the original odd couple, I suppose. mjh

http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2012/07/01.html?src=rss

mumpsimus \MUHMP-suh-muhs\ , noun:
1. Adherence to or persistence in an erroneous use of language, memorization, practice, belief, etc., out of habit or obstinacy.
2. A person who persists in a mistaken expression or practice.

"I profess, my good lady," replied I, "that had any one but you made such a declaration, I should have thought it as capricious as that of the clergyman, who, without vindicating his false reading, preferred, from habit’s sake, his old Mumpsimus…
— Sir Walter Scott, The Talisman

Mr. Burgess, who sticks (I fancy) to his old mumpsimus, thought that the other gentleman might have given the canoe a shove to get it clear of the lock…
— Ronald A. Knox, The Footsteps at the Lock

Mumpsimus comes from a story (perhaps first told by Erasmus) about an illiterate priest who mispronounced a word while reciting the liturgy. The priest refused to change the word, even when he was corrected.

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for mumpsimus

http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2012/07/01.html?src=rss

http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2012/07/02.html?src=rss

sumpsimus \SUHMP-suh-muhs\ , noun:

1. Adherence to or persistence in using a strictly correct term, holding to a precise practice, etc., as a rejection of an erroneous but more common form (opposed to mumpsimus).

2. A person who is obstinate or zealous about such strict correctness (opposed to mumpsimus).

http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2012/07/02.html?src=rss