The Words of the Week - Feb. 16

‘Bellwether’

A special election, held to replace a recently expelled member of congress, was held last week, and many people commenting on it used the word bellwether.

Both parties are spending millions in the district that is serving as a major bellwether for suburban voters ahead of what’s expected to be a highly competitive presidential election.
— Audrey Fahlberg, National Review, 12 Feb. 2024

Speaker Johnson: New York special election result ‘in no way a bellwether’ for fall
— (headline) The Hill, 14 Feb. 2024

A bellwether is “an indicator of trends,” although the word may also be used to mean “one that takes the lead or initiative.” This second sense is the earlier of the two, and references the word’s origins: bellwether formerly referred to a castrated male sheep (often called a wether), who led the rest of the flock about, with a bell tied to his neck.

‘Valentine’

Valentine’s Day (also occasionally referred to as Valentine Day) was this week, sending hordes of hopeless romantics to the dictionary to look up the meaning of the holiday’s ostensible subject (love, and the holiday’s namesake, thought to be a Roman Christian priest from the 3rd century, who died during the persecution of Christians by the emperor Claudius II Gothicus). We’ve been using the name valentine to mean “a sweetheart chosen or complimented on St. Valentine's Day” since the 15th century.

‘Impeach’

Impeach spiked in lookups as well, after the House of Representatives voted in favor of impeaching a member of the Biden administration.

The House voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday, after an embarrassing failed attempt from House Republicans last week as they seek to make the crisis on the southern border a top 2024 issue.
— Ken Tran, USA Today, 13 Feb. 2024

We define impeach, as used above, as “to charge (a public official) before a competent tribunal with misconduct in office.” Most people are familiar with the word as applying to past presidents of the United States, as a few (Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump) of them have been impeached. However, impeachment is not reserved for chief executives: the United States Constitution states that “The President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”

‘Gratuitous’

Gratuitous was another politically-motivated word that spiked in lookups, after the Vice President (among others) used it to describe some of the composition of a special counsel’s report on President Biden and classified documents.

Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday slammed the report by a Justice Department special counsel into Joe Biden’s mishandling of classified documents that raised questions about the president’s memory, calling it “politically motivated” and “gratuitous,” as the White House said the president would take steps to safeguard classified materials during presidential transitions.
— Zeke Miller, AP News_, 9 Feb. 2024

Gratuitous means “not called for by the circumstances : not necessary, appropriate, or justified.” It comes from the Latin word gratus (“pleasing” or “grateful”), a root it shares with a number of other English words, such as congratulate, grace, and gratulate (an archaic word meaning “to salute with declarations of joy”).

Words Worth Knowing: ‘Amatorculist’

Valentine’s Day has come and gone, and some of you may have want of related descriptive vocabulary from a less romantic vein. For those in such need we offer amatorculist, a little-used (but often needed) word from the 1785 edition of Samuel Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language, defined as “A little insignificant lover.”