The Words of the Week - May 17

‘Yacht’ & ‘Orca’

Yacht and orca were among our top lookups last week, as the aquatic mammals once again sank a ship.

Orcas Sink 50-Foot Yacht As Second Summer Of Aquatic Rage Ignites
— (headline) Jalopnik, 16 May 2024

The orca, also known as a killer whale, is “a relatively small toothed whale (Orcinus orca of the family Delphinidae) that is black above with white underparts and white oval-shaped patches behind the eyes, attains a length of 20 to 30 feet (6 to 9 meters), typically hunts in groups, and preys chiefly on sea mammals (such as seals, sea lions, and other whales), large fish, and squid.” The word comes to English from Latin, but can be traced back further to the Greek óryx, meaning “kind of marine mammal.” The plural, if you happen to be in the company of multiple such creatures, may be either orcas or orca.

In a bit of etymological irony, the orcas appear to have been hunting a vessel that was itself once designed for hunting: yacht may be traced to the Middle Low German jachtschip (“hunting ship”). We define yacht as “any of various recreational watercraft” and specify that this may include such as “a sailboat used for racing” or “a large usually motor-driven craft used for pleasure cruising.”

‘Assassination’ & ‘Lone Wolf’

Both assassination and lone wolf saw an increase in attention, after the Slovakian Prime Minister was shot.

Slovakian police have charged a man, described as a politically motivated “lone wolf,” with the attempted murder of Prime Minister Robert Fico, who is critically ill in hospital after an assassination attempt that shocked the eastern European nation.
— Jessie Yeung, Ivana Kottasová, and Edward Szekeres, CNN, 16 May 2024

A lone wolf is “a person who prefers to work, act, or live alone.” The word has been part of our language since the beginning of the 20th century. Assassination, which is considerably older, is defined  as “murder by sudden or secret attack often for political reasons; the act or an instance of assassinating someone (such as a prominent political leader).” While there have been claims that Shakespeare coined this word (in Macbeth), it was in use for some decades before this.

—…but where all treason, conspiracy, insurrection, assassination, empoisoment and utter destruction to the state is meant…
— Sir Thomas Smith, “Letter to Dr. Wilson,” 11 April 1572

Assassination (and assassin) comes from the Medieval Latin word assassinus, which itself can be traced to the Arabic ḥashshāsh. This Arabic word means “worthless person,” or, more literally, “hashish user.”

‘Sidebar’

Sidebar has also been high in lookups lately, as the word comes up frequently in coverage of Trump’s trial.

Judge Juan M. Merchan was unnerved by the blistering start to Cohen’s cross-examination, chiding Trump lawyer Todd Blanche at a sidebar for quizzing the witness about recent social media posts he’d made about the former president’s legal team.
— AP News, 15 May 2024

A sidebar, when used in a judicial context, is “a conference between the judge, the lawyers, and sometimes the parties to a case that the jury does not hear.” The word has other meanings, such as “a short news story or graphic accompanying and presenting sidelights of a major story,” but the legal sense is the oldest one, dating in use from the late 19th century.

The practice heretofore has been for lawyers to present their applications at sidebar or chambers, and in many cases the judges have been misled into granting clemency to criminals upon whom it was improperly conferred.
— The Philadelphia Inquirer, 7 Jul. 1879

Words Worth Knowing: ‘Afterwit’

Our word worth knowing this week is afterwit, defined as “wisdom or perception that comes after it can be of use.” We really hope someone had this on a vocabulary test last week and did not know the word, just so that it could serve as an example of itself.