5 Words. What they mean, where they come from and relevant popular culture or literary references. Build your vocabulary by reading this all in one post.
1. bicker
verb. argue about petty and trivial matters / flow or fall with a gentle repetitive noise; patter
Pronunciation: [bik-er]
Related: bickers, bickered, bickering
Origin: early 14c., bikere, “to skirmish, fight,” perhaps from Middle Dutch bicken “to slash, stab, attack,” skirmish, battle. In modern use, often to describe the sound of a flight of an arrow or other repeated, loud, rapid sounds, in which sense it is perhaps at least partly echoic.
Bicker is a village in the Borough of Boston, Lincolnshire, England. Also, if you want to join Princeton’s eating clubs, you have to undergo a selection process called “bicker”. Pretty interesting!
2. swatch
noun. a small sample of fabric intended to demonstrate the look of a larger piece.
Pronunciation: [swoch]
Related: swatches, swatched, swatching
Origin: 1510s, “the countercheck of a tally” (Northumberland dialect), later “a tally attached to cloth sent to be dyed” (1610s, in Yorkshire), of unknown origin.
As per textile dictionaries, a small sample of a fabric, is called a swatch, and a larger sample, made as a trial to test production methods, is called a strike off. In a completely different field, a well-known entity exists by the name ‘Swatch‘, making luxury watches and contributing to the world of automobile.
3. melancholy
noun. a feeling of pensive sadness, typically with no obvious cause. having a feeling of melancholy; sad and pensive.
Pronunciation: [mel-uh n-kol-ee]
Related: melancholily, melancholiness, unmelancholy
Origin: c. 1300, “condition characterized by sullenness, gloom, irritability,” from Old French melancolie “black bile, ill disposition, anger, annoyance” (13c.)
One can remember this word through Melancholy, a painting by the Norwegian artist, Edvard Munch; Melancholia, a 2011 Danish art film written and directed by Lars von Trier, the second entry in his unofficially titled “Depression Trilogy”.
4. fetter
noun. a chain or manacle used to restrain a prisoner, typically placed around the ankles.
Pronunciation: [fet-er]
Related: fetterer, fetterless
Origin: Old English fetor “chain or shackle by which a person or animal is bound by the feet,” figuratively “check, restraint”
In Buddhism, a mental fetter, chain or bond shackles a sentient being to saṃsāra, the cycle of lives with dukkha. By cutting through all fetters, one attains nirvāṇa. Fetters are also referenced in the Bible.
He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant: Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron: Until the time that his word came: the word of the Lord tried him. The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people, and let him go free. (Psalm 105:17-20)
5. lechery
noun. excessive or offensive sexual desire; lustfulness
Pronunciation: [lech-uh-ree]
Related: lecher
Origin: c. 1200, from Old French lecherie “impertinence, deceit,” from lecheor.
Speaking of lechery/lust, at the beginning of The Divine Comedy, Dante crosses the selva oscura and comes upon three wild beasts: a leopard (lust), a lion (pride), and a wolf (avarice), in line with the symbolism of medieval bestiaries.
Sources:
Apart from Google search, the data in this series is taken from Dictionary.com, Online Etymology Dictionary and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
