Plerophory

Plerophory: full confidence; total assurance.  With a plerophory of assurance, each of the Avengers spoke into some imaginary, unseen, perfectly clear audio communications system.  I mean, seriously, how were they able to seamlessly communicate with each other in the...

Admonish

Admonish: To warn or notify of a fault; to reprove with mildness, to reprove without harshness.  Admonish can also mean: To counsel against wrong practices; to caution or advise.  To instruct or direct. The English word derives from the French admonester, which came...

Pheromone

Pheromone: Insect cologne.  Well, sort of. Pheromones are substances secreted by some animals, usually insects.  The pheromones affect other members of the species.  Generally, insects secrete pheromones to attract members of the opposite sex.  It does not always have...

Word Up!

Some time ago, my interest in Latin took a sharp turn.  Honestly, I ran of the road.  Instead of studying Latin, instead of reading books in Latin, instead of reading books about Latin… I started tracking down the English words that had come from Latin. On...

Carry on…

The verb porto, in Latin means, to carry or, to bring. In all its glory, the verb is: porto, portare, portavi, portatum. English pulls quite a few words out of this particular Latin hat.  Before we get to that, however, let’s take a look at the way Romance...