fläksēˌnäsēˌnihəlēˌpiləfəˈkāSH(ə)n/ (yeah, sure — that’s easy for you to say! — but for the rest of us, go HERE)
Noun: The action or habit of estimating something as worthless.
This is a mid-18th century term from Latin flocci, nauci, nihili, pili (words meaning ‘at little value’) + -fication. The Latin elements were listed in a well-known rule of the Eton Latin Grammar.
Today’s Word Trivia info is derived from the writings of the late Word and Trivia Researcher L.M. Boyd.
In Nahuatl, the ancients Aztec language, the word for “wife” was a set of syllables that translate “One who is owner of a man.”
Who’s the boss in your house?
Wednesday Word Trivia info is derived from the writings of the late Word and Trivia Researcher L.M. Boyd.
When a Roman peasant died, friends turned a harrow upside down, used the spikes for candle holders, and put the body on it, thus to drag the remains to burial. Our word “hearse” came from the Latin for “harrow.”
HERE is an expanded explanation
Wednesday Word Trivia info is derived from the writings of the late Word and Trivia Researcher L.M. Boyd.
If the chair on which the bishop sat had not been called a “cathedra,” the building in which the chair was kept would not have been called a “cathedral.”
If the saint’s cape had not been called a “chapele,” the building in which it was kept would not have been called a “chapel,” nor would the guard at the building, the keeper of the cloak, have been called a “chaplain.”
Wednesday Word Trivia info is derived from the writings of the late Word and Trivia Researcher L.M. Boyd.
Q: What “Man” was the Isle of Man named after?
A: “Manannan,” the legendary Celtic lord of the sea
Manannan mac Lir is likely the most prominent sea deity of Irish mythology and literature. With his sea-borne chariot, affiliation with horses and cloak of invisibility, he guards the otherworld and the afterlife, incorporating aspects of the ancient Greek gods Poseidon and Hades.
Wednesday Word Trivia info is derived from the writings of the late Word and Trivia Researcher L.M. Boyd.
Makers of medieval calendars marked two days of each month as evil days.
They were called the “Dies Mali,” days during which nothing good was supposed to happen.
Their label eventually became our word “dismal.”