The Words of the Week - Jan. 5

‘Abdicate’

Abdicate spiked in lookups last week, in anticipation of the incipient abdication of the Queen of Denmark.

Europe's longest reigning monarch Queen Margrethe rode through Denmark’s capital Thursday in a gilded, horse-drawn coach as she concluded her final public New Year’s before her abdication later this month.
— Jan M. Olsen, Associated Press, 4 Jan. 2023

We define abdicate as “to renounce a throne, high office, dignity, or function.” The word is most often used to describe a head of state or member of a royal family voluntarily renouncing a position, although it may also refer to the act of failing to fulfill a duty a responsibility. Abdicate comes from the prefix ab- (meaning “from,” “away,” or “off”) and the Latin verb dīcere (meaning “to speak”), a root it shares with contradict, dictate, and dictionary.

‘Idiot’

Idiot also experienced a surge in lookups after a musical group changed the lyrics of a song which also features the word in its title.

The punk-rock band Green Day switched up the lyrics of its hit song “American Idiot” in a Sunday performance to trash former President Donald Trump.
— Matthew Loh, Business Insider, 1 Jan. 2023

In modern use idiot can be defined as “a foolish or stupid person.” The word (similar to moron and imbecile) has an older, clinical, meaning: “a person affected with extreme intellectual disability.” This second use is extremely dated, and now considered offensive.

‘Resolution’

Resolution spiked in lookups, a common occurrence for the first week of the year.

Have you broken your New Year’s resolution yet? Don’t feel bad. You’ve already endured, what? Three full days—72 hours—laboring under whatever harsh regimen you’ve imposed upon yourself?
— Neil Steinberg, Chicago Sun-Times, 2 Jan. 2023

A resolution is “a promise to yourself that you will make a serious effort to do something that you should do.” We also have a separate entry for New year’s resolution, defined as “a promise to do something differently in the new year.” Our citations show evidence of people from the middle of the 17th century using the word resolution in early January to refer to things they were pledging to change in the coming year.

‘Paraphrase’

Paraphrase has also been in the news a considerable amount over the past few weeks, often in articles covering the plagiarism accusations leveled against the now-former president of Harvard.

Plagiarism accusations emerged against Gay. But the findings were mere attribution issues where Gay didn’t properly use quotation marks or paraphrase correctly.
— A. R. Shaw, Chicago Defender, 3 Jan. 2024

Paraphrase means “to restate a text, passage, or work giving the meaning in another form.” The word comes in part from the Greek phrazein, meaning “to point out.”

Words Worth Knowing: ‘Opsimath’

In light of many people having made resolutions of late, our word worth knowing this week is opsimath, defined as “a person who begins to learn late in life.”

Socrates would go to School when an old man, pleading that it was better to be Opsimathes than Amathes, better to be Late-learned, than to be Unlearned.
— Cotton Mather, Addresses to old men, and young men, and little children, 1690