The Words of the Week - Oct. 14

’Inflation’

Inflation, a word that has been high in lookups for a number of months, jumped in prominence again yesterday, after the recent release a federal report on the this topic.

Stocks staged a massive comeback Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average surging 1,500 points from its lows to the highest level, as traders shook off another hot inflation report.
— Carmen Reinicke & Alex Harring, CNBC, 13 Oct. 2022

We define this sense of inflation as “a continuing rise in the general price level usually attributed to an increase in the volume of money and credit relative to available goods and services.” The word’s initial meaning, one that is still very much in use, was “an act of inflating or a state of being inflated.” The word may be traced in part to the Latin flare (meaning “to blow”), a root it shares with a number of other English words, including afflatus and flatulent.

’Indigenous'

Indigenous trended sharply in lookups last week, as is now the case in early October every year; this is prompted by the second Monday of October (a day that is recognized in a number of U.S. states as Columbus Day) which for many people has come to be known as Indigenous Peoples' Day.

Last October, President Joe Biden signed the first presidential proclamation of Indigenous Peoples Day, a commemoration-turned-holiday that began in 1977 to honor Native American history and culture.
— Scott Gleeson, USA Today, 9 Oct. 2022

The relevant sense of indigenous is “of or relating to the earliest known inhabitants of a place and especially of a place that was colonized by a now-dominant group.” When used in this manner the word is typically capitalized. Other meanings of indigenous (which are not usually capitalized) include “produced, growing, living, or occurring natively or naturally in a particular region or environment" and “innate, inborn.” The word comes from the Latin noun indigena, meaning “native.”

’Genius’ & ‘Fellow’

Another perennial lookup spike in October is the word genius, often closely followed by fellow; this month is when the MacArthur Fellows are announced.

This year's 25 MacArthur Fellows will each receive $800,000, a "no-strings-attached award to extraordinarily talented and creative individuals as an investment in their potential," according to the MacArthur Foundation website. This year's class of so-called 'geniuses' includes an ornithologist, a cellist, a computer scientist and a human rights activists.
— Elizabeth Blair, NPR, 12 Oct. 2022

Genius (a word that is not actually used by the MacArthur Foundation in reference to the fellows) is commonly used in the sense “a person endowed with extraordinary mental superiority.” The earliest sense of the word in English was “an attendant spirit of a person or place”; genius came to English from Latin, in which this word was used to refer to a male spirit associated with a family.

The most applicable sense of fellow is “a member of a group having common characteristics,”specifically “a member of an incorporated literary or scientific society.” Other senses of this word include “comrade,” “an equal in rank, power, or character,” “a person appointed to a position granting a stipend and allowing for advanced study or research,” and “a worthless man or boy” (this last sense is archaic). Fellow can be traced back to felagi, an Old Norse word for a partner (which has the literal meaning of “one who puts down property”).

’Octogenarian’

Octogenarian was much in the news, as often happens when a notable person celebrates an 80th birthday.

President Joe Biden will turn 80 years old next month, becoming the first commander-in-chief to become an octogenarian while in office.
— Jonathan Lemire, Politico, 11 Oct. 2022

Octogenarian, defined as “a person whose age is in the eighties,” is one of a large number of words in English for people in a specific decade of their lives. It is followed by nonagenarian (“person in their nineties”) and centenarian (“one that is 100 years old or older”). The decades preceding are indicated by septuagenarian (70s), sexagenarian (60s), and quinquagenarian (50s).

’Subpoena'

Subpoena also appeared in many headlines, after the January 6th committee voted, 9-0, to issue one of these to Donald Trump.

The Jan. 6 select committee voted unanimously Thursday to subpoena Donald Trump, a remarkable bid to tie up one of its last remaining threads that’s unlikely to successfully compel the former president’s testimony.
— Nicholas Wu & Kyle Cheney, Politico, 13 oct. 2022

Subpoena functions as both a noun (“a writ commanding a person designated in it to appear in court under a penalty for failure”) and a verb (“to serve or summon with a writ of subpoena”); the noun came first. The word comes from the Latin sub poena, meaning “under penalty.”

Words Worth Knowing: ‘Palaeosophy’

Our word worth knowing this week is palaeosophy, defined as “learning of olden times.” The word itself is largely restricted to olden times, as it uncommon enough in use that we have not included it in a dictionary since 1934.