LING 110 Words of the Day

Question 1

harbinger

Answer 1

GERMANIC

[harbənʤər]

1. one that pioneers in or initiates a major change : precursor
2. one that presages or foreshadows what is to come

“His death was a harbinger of even worse things to come.”

Question 2

harbinger

Answer 2

GERMANIC

[harbənʤər]

[ME herbergere, from AF, host, from herberge camp, lodgings, of Germanic origin; akin to OHG heriberga]

Question 3

concupiscence

Answer 3

LATIN

1. strong desire; especially : sexual desire

“the concupiscence of some members of the Catholic clergy … ”

“the Puritans did not condemn concupiscence but rather the satisfaction of it in ways they deemed illicit”

“according the church theologian St. Augustine, concupiscence is a consequence of original sin”

Question 4

concupiscence

Answer 4

LATIN

[ME, from AF, from Late L concupiscentia, from L concupiscent-, concupiscens, present participle of concupiscere to
desire ardently, from com- + cupere to desire]

First Known Use: 14th century

So it’s a Latin word. The point to note here is the M-W claim that the (underlying) prefix in the word is “com-”. That’s not quite right and you’ll see why very soon. Note that the meaning of the Latin root on its own carries no
necessary connotation of “strong desire” or “sexual desire”.

Question 5

gazelle

Answer 5

ARABIC

any of numerous small to medium graceful and swift African and Asian
antelopes (Gazella and related genera)

Question 6

gazelle

Answer 6

ARABIC

French, from Middle French, from Arabic ghazāl
First Known Use: 1600

There’s really very little change in this borrowing. Note that the orthographic
“-elle” with which the word ends is found in lots of French words. The [ɛ] in
that syllable is a higher vowel than the Arabic original [a], so there’s been
some raising here.