The Words of the Week - Jan. 3

‘Legacy’

Lookups for legacy were higher than usual following the death of former president of the United States Jimmy Carter.

When reflecting on the life and legacy of former President Jimmy Carter, one cannot help but marvel at his unwavering commitment to service. … As we honor Jimmy Carter’s legacy, let us ask ourselves: What kind of legacy are we building? Are we so focused on consuming that we have forgotten how to give? Carter’s life challenges us to rethink our priorities and recognize that the true American dream is not about what we achieve for ourselves but what we give to others.
— Johnnie R. S. McKnight, The Republican (Springfield, Massachusetts), 1 Jan. 2025

We define the relevant sense of the noun legacy as “something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past.” The word has a number of additional meanings, including as a noun (“a gift by will especially of money or other personal property”) and as an adjective (“of, relating to, associated with, or carried over from an earlier time, technology, business, etc.”). Legacy can be traced to the Latin word legare, meaning “to send as a deputy.”

‘Lang syne’

Lang syne was a popular lookup this week, owing to the calendar year changing from 2024 to 2025.

Fun New Year’s Eve events are scheduled all across the High Desert where residents can dance and sip champagne, indulge in local cuisine, and ring in 2025 with the quintessential song “Auld Lang Syne.”
— McKenna Mobley, The Daily Press (Victorville, California), 31 Dec. 2024

Lang syne comes from Middle English, specifically Scots, where lang means “long” and syne means “since.” Today lang syne can be used as an adverb to mean “at a distant time in the past” or as a noun meaning “times past.”

‘Resolution’

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

Studies have shown that most of us abandon the effort by February, but many this week are embracing the optimism brought on by the start of a new year and setting for themselves a new year’s resolution.
— Sara McCleary, Sault Ste. Marie (Michigan) This Week, 2 Jan. 2025

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.

‘Terrorism’

Lookups for terrorism have been high following a deadly attack in New Orleans.

One of the people killed and one of the people injured when a truck intentionally drove into a crowd on Bourbon Street early Wednesday were alumni of the Episcopal School in Baton Rouge, the school said in a letter sent to the school community Wednesday evening. … At least 15 people were killed and dozens more were wounded in the attack, which the FBI said it is investigating as an act of terrorism.
— Matthew Albright, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana), 2 Jan. 2025

We define terrorism as “the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion.” The words terrorism and terrorist came to English as translations of words used in French during the period known as the Reign of Terror (1793-94), when the new government punished—usually by death—those people thought to be against the ongoing French Revolution. It was a gruesome and protracted period of official state-sponsored violence that set the political tone for much of the use of these words ever since.

Word Worth Knowing: ‘Skift’

We define skift in our unabridged dictionary as “a light fall of snow or rain.”

A couple hours later, when Daisy and I made a second trip across the yard to roll the trash can up the driveway hill for roadside pickup, it was still snowing ice-pellets only this time the pellets were much bigger. Almost buckshot size. What my grandfather called “popcorn snow.” Too, at that point, the ground was cooling, the snow starting to stick. Not yet a proper skift, and certainly not enough to refer to it as a “tracking snow.” But the yard, riverbank, and island across the channel were all turning white.
—Jim McGuire, The Register Herald (Eaton, Ohio), 26 Nov. 2024