The Words of the Week - July 5

‘Immunity’

Immunity trended again, a frequent occurrence of late. This time it was from the Supreme Court ruling that presidents do indeed have immunity for certain acts.

Supreme Court says presidents have ‘absolute’ immunity for clearly official acts but no immunity for unofficial acts
— (headline) The Washington Post 1 July 2024

We define this sense of immunity as “freedom or exemption from a charge, duty, obligation, office, tax, imposition, penalty, or service especially as granted by law to a person or class of persons.” The word is also commonly used in medical contexts with the meaning “bodily power to resist an infectious disease that usually results from vaccination or inoculation, a previous attack of the disease, or a natural resistance.” The ‘exempt from charge or obligation’ sense of the word is older than the ‘resisting a disease’ sense; this is unsurprising when we consider that immunity comes to English from the Latin immunis, meaning “exempt from public service.”

‘Coconut’

Coconut also spiked in lookups, following the reappearance of a meme involving the vice president and a coconut tree.

Fell Out Of A Coconut Tree: Kamala Harris meme trends after CNN poll showing she’s more popular than Biden
— (headline) The Times of India, 3 July 2024

We define coconut as “the drupaceous fruit of the coconut palm whose outer fibrous husk yields coir and whose nut contains thick edible meat and, in the fresh fruit, a clear liquid.” The coconut is the nut of a coco, or coconut palm, though nut here uses the looser meaning of the term, as botanically it is considered a drupe (a one-seeded indehiscent fruit having a hard bony endocarp, a fleshy mesocarp, and a thin exocarp that is flexible (as in the cherry) or dry and almost leathery, as in the almond).

‘Tribunal’

In other political news, tribunal had more lookups than it usually does, after Donald Trump stated that he thought these would be a good idea.

Trump Amplifies Calls to Jail Top Elected Officials, Invokes Military Tribunals
— (headline) The New York Times, 2 July 2024

A tribunal, in the sense employed by Trump, is “a court or forum of justice; a person or body of persons having authority to hear and decide disputes so as to bind the disputants.” The word comes from the Latin tribunus, or tribune (a Roman official under the monarchy and the republic with the function of protecting the plebeian citizen from arbitrary action by the patrician magistrates).

‘Independence Day’ & ‘Picnic’

This past week saw the celebration of Independence Day, a national holiday that we define as “a civil holiday for the celebration of the anniversary of the beginnings of national independence; specifically, July 4 observed as a legal holiday in the U.S. in commemoration of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.” We have been using this term for the 4th of July since 1791. Today, many people celebrate it with sunburning themselves at picnics, and then watching fireworks explode. Picnic is a word that came into being slightly before our country did; the word dates to the middle of the 18th century, and initially referred to a sort of potluck meal, one not typically eaten outdoors. The modern sense (“an excursion or outing with food usually provided by members of the group and eaten in the open”) is from the early 19th century, as are the ants and sunburn.

Many people have trouble remembering whether the correct spelling is independence or independance. There is now no A in the commonly accepted spelling, but don’t feel bad if you tend to make this mistake: many other people have spelled it this way.

I can only assure you then that I sincerely rejoice in the independance of your situation.
— Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Peyton Randolph, 23 July 1770

While you are in it, I know you will execute it with Fidelity to your Master, but I think Independance more honourable than any Service....
— Benjamin Franklin, Letter to William Franklin, 7 May 1774

Our open and avowed Enemys, together with the Officers and Soldiers of their Army, were exasperated at it, from a conviction that our Aim, at the beginning, was Independance.
— George Washington, Letter to Lund Washington, 6 Oct. 1776

Words Worth Knowing: ‘Nidorosity’

With the picnicking season upon us, this week we are sharing two words which it might be of benefit to know: nidorosity and crapulent. The first word was defined by Samuel Johnson in his 1755 A Dictionary of the English Language as “eructation with the taste of undigested roast-meat,” and the second word means “suffering from excessive eating or drinking.”