The Words of the Week - Dec. 23

Note: you do not have to drink hot chocolate in order to hunker down

’Hunker down’

Hunker down was found in numerous headlines last week, as a winter storm spread across much of the United States.

'Hunker down' weather is on the way
— (headline) Terre Haute Tribune Star (Terre Haute, IN), 20 Dec. 2022

Hunker down, a phrasal verb chiefly found in the U.S., has two meanings: “to lower the body to the ground by bending the legs,” and “to stay in a place for a period of time” (presumably the one that was intended in recent headlines). Although hunker down usually spikes in lookups as a result of weather, it also saw greatly increased lookups in March of 2020, when Dr. Anthony Fauci said Americans “should be prepared that they’re going to have to hunker down significantly more than we as a country are doing” in order to stop the spread of Covid-19.

’Assassination’

Assassination was also in the news a considerable amount last week, after the new owner of Twitter alleged that journalists had used that platform to provide ‘assassination coordinates’ for him.

Elon Musk Suspends Several Journalists From Twitter, Claims They Posted ‘Assassination Coordinates’
— (headline) SFist, 16 Dec. 2022

We define the relevant sense of assassination 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.”

’Nepotism’

An article about nepo babies (young adults who appear to have used familial connections to enjoy greater success than some of their peers) caused lookups for nepotism to spike.

One of the earliest instances of nepotism baby being shortened to nepo baby appears in a 2020 post from the blog Pop Culture Died in 2009, which describes Olivia Jade as our era’s answer to Bling Ring icon Alexis Haines.
— Nate Jone, Vulture, 19 Dec. 2022

Defined as “favoritism (as in appointment to a job) based on kinship,” nepotism can be traced to the Latin word nepos, meaning “grandson, nephew.” In the 15th century Pope Sixtus IV was known for awarding special favors to family members, especially his nephews. As a result of this, the Italian nepotismo (and French népotisme) spread to English by the end of the 17th century, in reference to preferential treatment given to any family member by a person in power. Our language is wealthy in nephew-related words, for in addition to nepotism we also have nepotal (“of, relating to, or resembling a nephew”), nepote (“nephew”), nepotic (“of or relating to nepotism; disposed to nepotism”), and nepotist (“one who practices nepotism”).

’Vexatious’

Vexatious had a busy week, after a lawsuit filed by Donald Trump was described as such by the judge hearing the case.

“This litigation has all the telltale signs of being both vexatious and frivolous,” Middlebrooks wrote in a footnote to his eight-page order turning down Trump’s attempt to get emergency relief to stop James from gaining access to details about a trust that controls some Trump businesses.
— Josh Gerstein, Politico, 21 Dec. 2022

When used in a legal setting vexatious means “lacking a sufficient ground and serving only to annoy or harass when viewed objectively.” The word can also be found used in non-legal settings, in which case it typically means “intended to harass,” “distressing,” or “full of disorder or stress.” The word from which it comes, vex, means “to bring trouble, distress, or agitation to.”

Words Worth Knowing: ‘Smell-feast’

This is a season of holidays, and also a season of large meals planned around holidays. Our word worth knowing this week is offered in the spirit of the season: smell-feast, defined as “one given to finding out and getting invited to good feasts; a parasite, sponger.” If you have not been a smell-feast at some point yourself, it is doubtless that you have known one, and now you have the word to describe this creature.

I am a smelfeaste bellygod,
idle and full of slouthe
A greedie gut, and at a worde,
a servaunte to my tothe.
— Thomas Drant, A Medicinable Morall, 1566