The Words of the Week - Oct. 7

G’mar chatima tovah

’Atonement’

Atonement was looked up far more often than is usual, as last week saw the occasion of Yom Kippur.

For Jewish believers, it was the holiest day of their year — an annual day of atonement, or Yom Kippur in Hebrew, for their sins against God.
— Patrick Kingsley, The New York Times, 5 Oct. 2022

Atonement is defined as “reparation for an offense or injury.” Yom Kippur is “a Jewish holiday observed with fasting and prayer on the 10th day of Tishri in accordance with the rites described in Leviticus 16.” This holiday is also called Day of Atonement (a title that happens to be the literal translation of the Hebrew words yōm kippūr).

’Defamation’

Defamation was very much in the news last week, as news outlets reported on multiple high-profile stories in which people sued someone else, were themselves sued, or announced that they would sue someone else for this.

Other Republicans are rattled, and Walker notably does not appear to have filed the defamation lawsuit he immediately claimed he would in order to clear his name.
— Bridget Bowman, Ben Kamisar and Alexandra Marquez, NBC News, 6 Oct. 2022

Former President Donald Trump is suing CNN, accusing the network of defamation for using labels like racist, insurrectionist, and Hitler.
— Yahoo News, 3 Oct. 2022

Alex Jones declines to put on a defense in defamation trial
— (headline) AP News, 5 Oct. 2022

Defamation is a noun, and has a specific legal meaning; we define it as “communication to third parties of false statements about a person that injure the reputation of or deter others from associating with that person.” The verb defame has the meaning “ to harm the reputation of by libel or slander.” When using or encountering any of these words in a legal context it may be helpful to remember that harming someone's reputation in speech with falsehoods is generally referred to as slander, while doing the same thing in writing is known as libel (although libel sometimes includes speech as well).

'Null and void’

The ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine continued to cause words to spike in lookups; last week saw an increase in searches for null and void.

Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decree to transfer Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to Russian control and oversight on Wednesday. But Ukraine calls it an illegal attempt to take control of the plant and says the Russian president’s decree is "null and void.”
— World Nuclear News, 6 Oct. 2022

We define null and void as ”having no force, binding power, or validity,” and designate it as an adjective. It first appears, as far as we are aware, in John Welch’s 1602 potboiler A reply against M. Gilbert Brovvne priest Wherein is handled many of the greatest and weightiest pointes of controversie betweene us and the papists: “And the mariage of catholickes and heretickes is judged null and voyde, whilk your selfe can not denie to be an error contrary to the expresse trueth of God.” 

’Disparity’ & ‘Marijuana’

An executive action by President Biden, pardoning federal convictions for possession of marijuana, sent lookups spiking for that word, as well as disparity.

“No one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana,” Biden said in a video announcing his executive actions. “It’s legal in many states, and criminal records for marijuana possession have led to needless barriers to employment, housing, and educational opportunities. And that’s before you address the racial disparities around who suffers the consequences.
— Kevin Liptak, CNN, 6 Oct. 2022

A disparity is “a noticeable and usually significant difference or dissimilarity.” The word is often used to describe a social or economic condition that's considered unfairly unequal. The antonym, parity, means (among other things) “the quality or state of being equal or equivalent.”

Marijuana is “the psychoactive dried resinous flower buds and leaves of the female hemp or cannabis plant (Cannabis sativa or C. indica) that contain high levels of THC and are smoked, vaped, or ingested (as in baked goods) especially for their intoxicating effect.” This word is a relative newcomer, appearing in the late 19th century. It is borrowed from the Spanish mariguana (itself of uncertain origin), although the current spelling, with a J, appears to have been invented in English use.

The soldiers have an herb named marijuana, which they roll into small cigaros and smoke. It produces intoxication which lasts for five days, and for that period they are in paradise.
— Nellie Bly, Six Months in Mexico, 1888

Words Worth Knowing: ‘Desticate’

Our word worth knowing this week is desticate, defined by Henry Cockeram in 1623 as “to cry like a rat.” Often when introducing an obscure word we try to also provide illustrative citations, to show the word in context. Desticate, however, seems to have only been used in dictionaries (we can find no examples of natural use), and so you will have to use your imagination for how to employ a word meaning “to cry like a rat.”