Words of the Week - March 18

’Taoiseach’

This past week saw both St. Patrick’s Day (“March 17 observed by the Roman Catholic Church in honor of St. Patrick and celebrated in Ireland in commemoration of his death”) and the Prime Minister of Ireland visiting the United States, prompting many people to turn to the dictionary to look up taoiseach.

Irish Taoiseach abruptly leaves DC gala attended by Biden after testing positive for Covid-19
— (headline) CNN, 16 Mar. 2022

Taoiseach is the Irish term for “prime minister”; the word comes directly from Irish Gaelic, in which it has the literal meaning of “leader, chief.” While the pronunciation varies somewhat from country to country, in the U.S. it most often is encountered as Tee-sheck.

’Ides’

Every year in the middle of March we see incipient signs of spring: birds returning north, plants beginning to grow new leaves, and innumerable newspaper writers working Ides of March into headlines. Ides can occur in many other months: we define the word as “the 15th day of March, May, July, or October or the 13th day of any other month in the ancient Roman calendar,” and note that it also has the broad meaning of “this day and the seven days preceding it.” Julius Caesar was assassinated on March 15th, leading to the oft-heard warning of this particular ides; we rarely, if ever, see admonitions to ‘beware the ides of October.”

’Hedgehog’

Hedgehogs, of the military variety, have been in the news a considerable amount of late.

Ukrainians Are Building 'Czech Hedgehogs' to Stop Russian Tanks
— (headline) The National Interest, 14 Mar. 2022

Most people, when encountering the word hedgehog, think of “any of a subfamily (Erinaceinae) of Eurasian and African nocturnal insectivores that have both hair and spines which they present outwardly by rolling themselves up when threatened.” However, the word does have a number of martial senses as well, including “a military defensive obstacle made of barbed wire bound around three poles, logs, or lengths of metal” and “a military defensive obstacle that is made of three 6-foot angle irons bolted together, sometimes wound with barbed wire, and usually embedded in concrete and that is designed to damage tanks and boats in beach landings.”

If you would prefer to go back to thinking about the small creature we can tell you that the word meaning “like or relating to the hedgehog” is erinaceous.

’Theory’

A number of people came to our dictionary to once again check up on the meanings of the word theory, after senatorial candidate Herschel Walker appeared to question the theory of evolution.

Herschel Walker, a Republican running for the U.S. Senate, shared a common myth Sunday (March 13) about the theory of evolution while campaigning at a church in Georgia … It’s unclear if the former college and professional football star misunderstands the theory of evolution or if he intentionally got it wrong to connect with potential voters in the congregation.
— Nigel Roberts, BET, 16 Mar. 2022

A considerable amount has been written on the ways in which theory is (often intentionally) misunderstood. Here is part of what we have to say on the matter:

“There are many shades of meaning to the word theory. Most of these are used without difficulty, and we understand, based on the context in which they are found, what the intended meaning is. For instance, when we speak of music theory we understand it to be in reference to the underlying principles of the composition of music, and not in reference to some speculation about those principles.

However, there are two senses of theory which are sometimes troublesome. These are the senses which are defined as “a plausible or scientifically acceptable general principle or body of principles offered to explain phenomena” and “an unproven assumption; conjecture.” The second of these is occasionally misapplied in cases where the former is meant, as when a particular scientific theory is derided as "just a theory," implying that it is no more than speculation or conjecture. One may certainly disagree with scientists regarding their theories, but it is an inaccurate interpretation of language to regard their use of the word as implying a tentative hypothesis; the scientific use of theory is quite different than the speculative use of the word.”

’Deepfake’

Deepfake is another word showing increased use as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, following the release of a doctored video in which the Ukrainian President was made to appear to call for his forces to surrender.

Deepfake video of Zelenskyy could be 'tip of the iceberg' in info war, experts warn
— (headline) NPR, 16 Mar. 2022

We define deepfake as “an image or recording that has been convincingly altered and manipulated to misrepresent someone as doing or saying something that was not actually done or said.” The word, which is written as a closed compound, rather than as two words, has been in written use since at least 2018.

BuzzFeed's video demonstrates the ease with which software can be used to achieve convincing digital face swaps. Known as 'deepfakes', these videos are the products of machinelearning technology that references photos to replace a face frame by frame.
— Brett Lamb, Screen Education (Melbourne, Aus.), 2018

Words You Should Know: ’Repullulate’

This week our word we think you should know is repullulate, defined as “to bud or sprout again.” Repullulate has been in English use for slightly over 400 years, although is not often used, and is now considered archaic. Spring is just around the corner, and we are soon to be surrounding by a variety of repullulating forms of plant life. It should be noted that this word has also been used in figurative fashion, and so may be applied to other things, such as ideas, which bud or sprout again.

Your next Paragraph is againe the Hydra with repullulating Heads: Where, first, you put me to prove the purity of the Doctrine, Discipline, and Government in England.
— Jasper Mayne, A late printed sermon against false prophets, 1647