Explaining the List of 20 Weird Words (Second Essay)

Several of the words in the "list of 20" are rare Scottish words, words which dictionary makers want to preserve, even though scarcely a person in Edinburgh today would know them. Such, for example is widdiful (19). The OED says that it is derived from widdy, which is a "band or rope" or a "rope for hanging." Thus, widdiful is "one who deserves hanging" or, as adjectivally, "fit for a halter, deserving to be hanged." Yet, nearly all the attestations given us for its use are spelled widdefow; none, as far as I can see, is spelled widdiful. This is a piddiful, oops, pitiful situation. That is about all the attention it deserves.

The word finnimbrun (4) is considered both obsolete and rare by the OED. It is a "trifle, a gimcrack," as in the sentence from 1653: "He saw Ribbins and Looking-glasses and Hobbyhorses and all the other finnimbruns that make a compleat Country Fair." Mesonoxian (8) is, likewise, obsolete and rare. Derived from the Greek meso (middle) and Latin nox, noctis (night), it means, not suprisingly "of or relating to midnight." So, instead of talking about your midnight snack, why not speak of your mesonoxian repast? Also, the word nudiustertian (11) is obsolete and rare (are we seeing a pattern here?), but at least its origin is more interesting than others. Rather than being derived from something suggestive of nudity, which would wake up some readers, it is from the classical Latin nudiustertianus, which itself is derived from the words nudius tertius, which means "the day before yesterday." Or, literally, "today, the third day," counting inclusively as was the custom of the ancients. The nu means "now" and dius is an old nominative form for "day," so "now, the third day" is the origin of the phrase. Therefore, something nudiustertian is "of or relating to the day before yesterday." One might speak of contemporary fashion as the nudiustertian fashion, but if you speak that way, you ought to be prepared to be beaten up....

Let's take a break with a word that actually is useful, even though it is Scottish.

Depone

The word depone (3) literally means to put or lay something down. Originally it meant to lay down a burden or office or to deposit something, but it grew to mean, in the legal sphere, to state or declare upon oath. In this regard it became synonymous with the word "depose." From the 17th century: "He himself has confessed all that they deponed." Then, from the 19th century: "Anything they could have to depone anent the spulzie." Actually, I hadn't heard of the word spulzie previously, so I checked it out. It can be a noun or a verb, but the noun means, in law (it is listed as spluyie in the OED, though spulzie is an alternative spelling), "an action for spoliation." Naturally, it is an action for spoliation in Scot's Law. From Mackenzie's book on the criminal laws of Scotland (1678): "If the Executor did any wrong, he was lyable to a spuilzie, and his sentence was reduceable." Spoliation, by the way, is the seizure of goods or property by violent means.. Way really does lead to way, as Robert Frost says. We have from The Scottish Claim of Right Act of 1689 the following: "That the forcing of Leiges to depone against themselves in capital crimes, however the punishment be restricted is contrary to law." Finally, it was used commonly in legal documents with a following clause to say what it was to which the person swore. From 1681, for example: "Andr. Martin Servitour to the Lord of Pollock...Depones, that he was present in the house..." Or, from 1842: "One Mr. Jones Comes forth and depones That fifteen years since he had heard certain groans."

Returning to a Few Quick Ones

Much has been written about floccinaucinihilipilification, the longest non-technical word that appeared in the first edition of the OED. That dictionary tells us that it is said to have been invented by a student at Eton, who consulted a Latin grammar to come up with one word, consisting of four other words, to express the concept that something is worthless. The words of which it is made up are:

"flocci facere (from floccus, -i a wisp or piece of wool);
nauci facere (from naucum, -i a trifle)
nihili facere (from nihil, -i nothing; something valueless (lit. "not even a thread" from ni+hilum))
pili facere (from pilus, -i a hair; a bit or a whit; something small and insignificant)."

When you put this all together you have the word, a synonym for deprecating something. "I loved him for nothing so much as his flocci-nauci-nihili-pili-fication of money."

Concluding with Nihilarian

This word, surprisingly, causes problems. It is only attested comparatively few times in a Google search, and its meaning in the OED is "A person who deals with things of no importance." From 1705: "If the wit and industry of the Nihilarians were employ'd about the useful and practical mathematiques..." Thus, a nihilarian is really someone who spends his time doing useless things--sort of like writing endless essays on words that no one uses anymore. But the "Wiktionary" says that a nihilarian is one who subscribes to nihilism." Nihilism, according to the OED is a "total rejection of prevailing religious beliefs, moral principles, laws, etc. often from a sense of despair and the belief that life is devoid of meaning." So, a nihilist, in fact, is philosophically opposed to their being systems of meaning in the world. Such a person is negatively inclined, and attempts to destroy established or regnant systems of belief. But a nihilarian just spends time doing things that add up to nothing--that are practically useless. Such a person may want to destroy all prevailing beliefs, but s/he may not. A nihilarian might simply be an aimless bungler, a person who screws up in life, a person who simply fails in everything s/he does. All his/her work adds up to nothing; it is useless. In fact, as you think of it, maybe that is a good description about most people in the world...

Before leaving this essay, I should give a bonus word related to all of this: nihilianism, which is a word that found its home in theological circles. It was only coined in 1895, and has been attested as recently as 1994, according to the OED, and so it is a "live" word. It is "the doctrine that the nature of Jesus was divine rather than human." But, in fact, rather than simply being invented in the late 19th century to describe the "current mode" of conceiving the Incarnation, the Hastings Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics (1917) says that "'Nihilianism' is employed to denote an erroneous view regarding the Incarnation of our Lord, adopted by certain theologians of the 12th century."

Whoa! We are now thrown back seven or eight centuries, which now brings the definition of the Century into focus:

"A name given by the opponents of Peter Lombard to his view that the divine nature did not undergo any change in the incarnation, and that therefore Christ did not become human."

So, nihilianism, nihilarian, nihilism abide, these three, but the one in the list is nihilarian--a pursuer of useless pursuits.

I need one more essay to polish off this list.

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