by Judy Jones
TORTUOUS: Full of twists and turns (but not necessarily excruciating ones), like the road to Shangri-la, or Madonna’s career path, or foreign policy as practiced by Henry Kissinger.
PARLOUS: Simply a medieval contraction of “perilous,” which is, more or less, what it means: “dangerous, precarious, risky.” Archaic, but it still crops up regularly in political discussions, the sports section, and the phrase “parlous times.”
ASSIBLE: Capable of feeling or suffering; impressionable. Comes from the Latin passus, past particle of the verb “to suffer,” and is hence related to both passion and patience. Women were once considered passible creatures.
FECKLESS: Just remember that “feck” is a Scottish shortening of “effect”; “feckless,” therefore, means weak, ineffective, or, more commonly, childishly careless and irresponsible.
DILATORY: Has to do not with dilation but with delay; means tending to procrastinate. Can refer to a deliberate attempt to stall or simply to a bad habit. Don’t confuse with “desultory,” disconnected, haphazard, rambling.
MERETRICIOUS: Originally meant “like a harlot”; hence, the current meaning: “attracting by false charms, gaudy, flashy, or tacky,” like the meretricious appeal of the National Enquirer, or “falsely persuasive, not to be trusted,” like the meretricious promises of a Don Juan.
FORTUITOUS: Accidental, happening by chance. Not to be confused with “fortunate”: If you and Moby Dick both pick the same spot to swim in, your meeting will be fortuitous (neither of you planned it) but not, from your point of view, fortunate.
ENERVATING: The opposite of “energizing,” i.e., sapping, debilitating, depriving of strength or vitality. Lying on the beach in the hot sun all day is enervating; the cold shower you take afterward is energizing.
GNOMIC: Means wise and pithy, full of aphorisms. But there’s no way you’ll ever not think of a wrinkled little guy with turned-up toes; OK, picture him saying, “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” That’s an example of a gnome making a gnomic statement.
Unknown Quantities
LAMBENT: Flickering lightly over a surface, as a light or a flame; having a gentle glow, luminous. By extension, effortlessly brilliant, as in “a lambent wit.” From a Latin verb meaning “to lick.”
PLANGENT: Striking with a deep, reverbating sound, as waves against the shore. By extension, plaintive, as in “the plangent notes of a saxophone.” From a Latin verb meaning “to lament.”
INCHOATE: Just begun, undeveloped, immature, imperfect. From a Latin verb meaning “to begin.” Pronounced “in-KOH-it.”
JEJUNE: A word with too wide a range of meanings, from “meagre, scanty, barren” to “weak, insubstantial, unfortifying” and “dull, insipid, childish, unsophisticated.” Solution: remembering that “jejune” comes from the Latin word for “fasting,” i.e., having no food in your stomach, and that it’s thus centered on a lack of nourishment. (It’s also related to “jejunum,” the part of the small intestine that the ancient Roman medical man Galen kept finding empty when he performed autopsies, and to the French déjeuner, literally “to break the fast.”) Pronounced “juh-JOON.”
ATAVISTIC: Resembling one’s ancestors, especially one’s remote ancestors, rather than one’s parents; reverting to ancestral type, as in “atavistic tendencies.” From the Latin word for “great-grandfather’s grandfather.”
HEURISTIC: Concerned with ways of finding things out or of solving problems; proceeding by trial and error; using hypotheses not to come to an immediate conclusion but to eliminate irrelevancies and modify one’s take on things as one goes along, with any luck arriving at a theretofore unknown goal. Used of certain computer programs and educational philosophies; the “heuristic method” trains a student to find things out for himself. From the Greek verb meaning “to find,” and related to Archimedes’ “Eureka!” (“I have found it”).
DEMOTIC: Originally, relating to the simplified form of ancient Egyptian writing, the one most people at least stood a chance of understanding. (As such, opposed to “hieratic,” “of the priests.”) By extension, “popular, in common use.” Today, also designates the colloquial form of Modern Greek. From the Greek word for “the people.”
FUSTIAN: The base meaning is a coarse, thick cloth usually dyed a dark color to resemble velveteen. By extension, a derogatory term (noun as well as adjective) for an overblown, pompous, padded, and ultimately empty style of speaking or writing. From Fostat, the Cairo suburb where the cloth was first made.
HERMETIC: Pertaining to alchemy or the occult; hence esoteric. Also, airtight (as in “hermetic seal,” a process developed by alchemists), protected from outside influences, hidden from view, cloistered. From Hermes Trismegistus, “Thrice-Great Hermes,” author of ancient books about magic, equated with both the Greek god Hermes and the older Egyptian god Thoth.
NUMINOUS: Dedicated to or hallowed by a deity, especially a local one, as in “a numinous wood.” By extension, holy, awe-inspiring, appealing to the spirit. From the Latin word for “presiding deity.”
PROTEAN: Changing form easily; variable, versatile. From the Greek sea-god Proteus, who knew everything but could not be pinned down and made to answer questions because he kept changing his shape, from fire to snake to water, etc. Not to be confused with two other myth-derived adjectives, “promethean” (from the Greek hero Prometheus) and “procrustean” (from the Greek robber and villain Procrustes, of the one-size-fits-all bed).
PRIAPIC: Suffering from a persistent, and usually painful, hard-on. By extension, phallic; obsessed with masculinity or virility, generally one’s own. From Priapos, the Greek god of procreation.
INEFFABLE: Unutterable, either because you can’t (it’s too overwhelming) or you shouldn’t (it’s too sacred); unable to be described in words. From the negative of the Latin verb meaning “to speak out.”
INELUCTABLE: Inescapable, inevitable, as in “the ineluctable modalities of the visible and the audible” with which Stephen Dedalus was obsessed in Ulysses. From the negative of the Latin verb meaning “to struggle against.”
ALEATORY: Depending on chance (literally, on the throw of a die, alea in Latin, as in Caesar’s Alea jacta est, “The die is cast”). By extension, involving random choice by an artist or a musician, as when John Cage used to throw the I Ching to determine which notes to play next.
OTIOSE: Originally, indolent, lazy. Today, ineffective, serving no purpose, futile. From the Latin word for “leisure.”
EIDETIC: Very vivid, but not real; said of images that are perceived, wrongly, to be outside the head, experienced most often in childhood. The person with an eidetic memory summons up an image, as if on a mental screen, without necessarily comprehending it. From the same Greek word for “form” that gave us “idea” and “idol.” Conceptually related word: “oneiric,” having to do with dreams, from the Greek word for “dream.”
VISCOUS: Having high viscosity, yes. But does that mean it flows fast, like gasoline, or slow, like molasses? Answer: slow. A viscous substance is only semifluid; it’s sticky, glutinous. From the Latin word for “bird-lime,” a substance used to catch birds.
Six Mnemonic Devices
The order of the planets from the sun outward: My very earnest mother just served us nine pickles (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto).
The seven hills of Rome: Poor Queen Victoria eats crow at Christmas (Palatine, Quirinal, Viminal, Esquiline, Capitoline, Aventine, Caelian).
The twelve cranial nerves: On old Olympus’ towering top, a fat-assed German viewed a hop (olfactory, optic, oculomotor, trochlear, trigeminal, abducens, facial, acoustic, glossopharyngeal, vagus, accessory, hypoglossal).
The Linnaean system of classification: King Peter came over from Germany seeking fortune (kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species, form).
Ranking order of the British peerage: Do men ever visit Boston? (duke, marquess, earl, viscount, baron).
The names of the depa
rtments in the president’s Cabinet: See the dog jump in a circle; leave her home to entertain editors vivaciously (State, Treasury, Defense, Justice, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Energy, Education, Veterans Affairs).
“How Do You Say in Your Country ‘Yearning for the Mud’?” LATIN QUARTER: A COUPLE DOZEN DOUBLE-BARRELED PHRASES AND AN EQUAL NUMBER OF SAWED-OFF WORDS AND ABBREVIATIONS
Now that nobody even thinks about taking Greek anymore, it’s Latin, actually a more or less businesslike language, that comes off as the height of erudition. And not just among lawyers, doctors, cardinals, and botanists, either. Here, all the shorthand forms (re to qua, e.g. to i.e., viz. to vide) you’ll ever need, plus our selection of the best of the big-deal phrases.
Sawed-Off Latin Words and Abbreviations
C:
Used to show that a date is approximate: “Died c. 1850.” Short for circa, around. Also sometimes ca. Pronounced “SIR-ka.”
RE:
Shorthand (and memorandumese) for “about,” “concerning”: “Re your comment yesterday.” From in re, in this matter. Pronounced “ray.”
CF.:
Meant to get you to compare something to something else: “cf. page 20,” that is, look at it with an eye to the issue at hand. From the Latin confer, meaning “consult.” If you pronounce it, say the letters, “‘cee eff’ page twenty.”
FL.:
From floruit, “he (or she) flourished.” Shows up on the brass name-plates of old paintings when it’s known when an artist worked but not when he was born (for the record, n., from natus) or died (ob., from obiit, literally “went to meet”). And while we’re on the subject, note also: aet., from aetatis, “at the age of,” for when they know how old the artist was when he did it but not the calendar year it was done, or want to emphasize the former.
MS.:
The abbreviation for manuscriptum, manuscript, in a footnote or bibliography. Not to be confused with Ms., the magazine and form of address. More than one manuscript? MSS.
OP.:
The abbreviation for opus, work, used in cataloguing musical works, and designating either a single composition or a group of them that stand as a unit.
VS.:
Against, in the courtroom as the stadium. From “versus,” also abbreviated v.
D.V.:
God willing, from Deo volente. Admittedly not much seen these days, though show-offs of an antiquarian bent use it to mean “if nothing gets in our way.”
E.G.:
For when you’re about to give (or be given) a bunch of examples: “citrus fruits, e.g., orange, lemon, lime.” Does not guarantee completeness of list (no grapefruit, for instance, above). Short for exempli gratia, “for the sake of example.”
I.E.:
For when you’re about to explain (or have explained to you) the nature of something: “citrus fruits, i.e., those from trees of the family Citrus, with an inedible rind, juicy flesh, usually in segments, and a high vitamin C content.” Short for id est, “that is.” More authoritative, less chatty than e.g.
N.B.:
For nota bene, “note well.” Calls your attention to something the writer thinks you might miss or not see the, in his opinion, enormous significance of.
QUA.:
“In the capacity of,” “considered as,” as in “the film qua film”—the film not as a story or an evening’s entertainment, but as an act of moviemaking, as cinema, as art. Pronounced “kway” or “kwah.” From a Latin relative-pronoun form. Caution: User stands to reveal self as pretentious.
SIC:
A nudge, usually parenthetical, often gloating, pointing out how a third party got something wrong or gave himself away: “In his review of the new Sylvester Stallione (sic) movie….” From sic, “thus.” Caution: User stands to reveal self as smug.
VIZ.:
Used after a word or expression clearly requiring itemization. Equivalent to our “namely” or “to wit”: “The citrus fruits, viz., orange, lemon, lime, grapefruit, tangerine, kumquat.” (No mention of tangelo, unfortunately, but you get the point.) An abbreviation of videlicet, “it is permitted to see.” Likewise, sc. or scil., from scilicet, “it is permitted to know.” Both viz. and sc, unlike e.g., guarantee they’re giving you a complete rundown.
Q.E.D.:
The capital letters printed triumphantly by a person who thinks he’s convincingly proven what he set out to prove a paragraph—or a chapter, or a lifetime—ago. Short for quod erat demonstrandum, “which was to be shown.” A favorite of geometry teachers and miscellaneous pedants.
R.I.P.:
Right, on all the old tombstones. But it’s short for Requiescat in pace, “May he (or she) rest in peace,” not “Rest in peace,” which is why you might see it on an old French or German tombstone, too.
ERGO:
“Therefore,” “hence.” Unforgettable in Descartes’ formulation Cogito, ergo sum, “I think, therefore I am” and unavoidable in various mathematical proofs.
PACE:
“With all due respect to” or “with the permission of,” as in “Pace Mies, there are times when more is more.” Used to express polite, or ironically polite, disagreement. Pronounced “PAY-see” (preferred by academicians) or “PAH-chay” (less correct, but more common).
STET:
“Let it stand,” “ignore all previous instructions to alter or correct,” “this is, after all, how we want it.” A printer’s term, but one useful to anybody in a position to make—or not make—final changes. From a form of stare, “to stand.” The opposite: dele, from the Latin word for “delete.”
VIDE:
In reference to a passage in a book, means “see” or “consult.” A shortened version of quod vide, “which see,” sometimes also abbreviated as q.v.
IBID.:
One of the old term-paper nightmares. “In the same book, chapter, or passage” (i.e., the one referred to in the note immediately preceding). Short for ibidem, “in the same place.” Doesn’t, unlike op. cit., short for opere citato, “in the work cited,” require an author’s name, just a page number, and doesn’t send you scrolling up through the 150 preceding footnotes.
ET AL.:
“And others,” short for both et alia, “and other things,” and et alii, “and other people.” More specific than etc., short for et cetera, “and the rest,” “and so forth,” and can, unlike etc., be used of people.
AD HOC:
“For this thing,” said of something impromptu, improvised, for the matter at hand and that matter only. An ad hoc committee will probably last out only the season (or the problem); an ad hoc solution implies that somebody is—or ought to be—working on a permanent one. Cf pro tem, short for pro tempore, “for the time being.”
AD LIB.:
“To the desire”; in music, a sign that somebody can play a passage, or an entire piece, as loud and as fast as he wants. In show business, and without the period, a sign that somebody forgot his lines.
PER SE:
“Through itself”; intrinsically, by dint of its very nature.
PASSIM:
Scattered, occurring throughout. Applied to a word, passage, or reference occurring here and there, over and over, in a specific book or author.
Double-Barreled Latin Phrases
BONA FIDE (BOH-na-FIDE or BOH-na-FIE-deh): Done or made “in good faith”; sincere, genuine.
CASUS BELLI (KAH-sus-BELL-ee): “Occasion of war.” An event that justifies or precipitates war.
CUI BONO (KWEE-BOH-noh): “For whom (is it) good?” Question first posed by a Roman magistrate to make the point that one way to approach a crime is to determine who stood to gain from it. Often wrongly used to mean “For what purpose?”
DE FACTO (deh-FAK-toh): “From the fact.” In reality; actual, actually in power. A de facto government is not formally elected or installed, but is firmly in control; cf. de jure, following.
DE JURE (deh-YOO-re
h): “From the law.” According to law; in principle. A de jure government is duly elected and installed, but exercises no real power; cf. de facto, previously.
EX POST FACTO (EKS-post-FAK-toh): “From what is done afterward.” Formulated, enacted, or operating retroactively.
IN MEDIAS RES (in-MAY-dee-ahs-RACE): “Into the midst of things.” Into the middle of a story or narrative; without background or preamble. A convention of the classical epic, first formulated by the poet Horace. The opposite approach is ab ovo, “from the egg.”
MEMENTO MORI (meh-MEN-toh-MOR-ee): “Remember you must die.” A reminder or warning of death; a death’s head.
MUTATIS MUTANDIS (moo-TAH-tees-moo-TAHN-dees): “The things that ought to have been changed having been changed.” With the necessary substitutions having been made, the indicated variances considered.
NE PLUS ULTRA (nay-ploos-UL-trah): “Not further beyond,” said to have been inscribed on the Pillars of Hercules (today’s Strait of Gibraltar), as a warning to ships. A farthest point, a highest pitch, a culmination; an impassable obstacle; and, implicitly, a suggestion to stay put or, better yet, turn back.
OBITER DICTUM (OH-buh-ter-DIK-tum): “Thing said by the way.” Any incidental or parenthetical remark. In law, something the judge says in arguing a point, but that has no bearing on his decision. Plural: obiter dicta.
PARI PASSU (PAH-ree-PAH-soo): “With equal pace.” Simultaneously, equally, proceeding alongside.
PERSONA NON GRATA (per-SOH-na-nohn-GRAH-ta): “Person not pleasing.” Someone unacceptable within a given context.
QUID PRO QUO (kwid-proh-KWOH): “Something for something.” A compensation, an even exchange; tit for tat.
SINE QUA NON (sin-neh-kwah-NOHN): “Without which not.” The indispensable element, condition, or quality.
SUB ROSA (sub-ROH-sah): “Under the rose,” though debate rages as to whether it was the rose Cupid gave someone as a bribe not to gossip about the affairs of Venus, or a rose carried by the Egyptian god Horus in a statue that also showed him with his finger to his lips, or some other rose altogether. Anyway, “sub rosa” means “in confidence,” with secrecy expressed or implied; “clandestinely.”
