Word of the Day (06/01/09)
Just because the comic strip below made me laugh and nod, plus the word cropped up the other day when I was reading The Eagle of the Ninth, today’s word is:
decimate transitive verb \ˈde-sə-ˌmāt\
Etymology: Latin decimatus, past participle of decimare, from decimus tenth, from decem ten
1: to select by lot and kill every tenth man of
2: to exact a tax of 10 percent from
3 a: to reduce drastically especially in number [cholera decimated the population]
b: to cause great destruction or harm to [firebombs decimated the city] [an industry decimated by recession]
Sadly, Dromiceiomimus is right – she’s in the minority in knowing what decimate originally meant. As shown above, one of the dictionary definitions these days (mine was taken from Merriam-Webster) means utter destruction. The true meaning is far more interesting though.
I love that trilemma is a real word (although I did have to look it up to make sure).
Comments
Comment from Catherine
Time Tuesday January 6 2009 at 6:15 pm
Well, that’s how language evolves after all, Francis! And the common usage is now accepted by dictionaries, which are after all the arbiters of language these days…
Although yesterday’s Dinosaur Comic (http://www.qwantz.com/archive/001380.html) pokes fun at the very dictionary I used for the ‘decimate’ definition and for most other Words of the Day!
Comment from Relax Max
Time Tuesday January 6 2009 at 7:08 pm
I also thought it meant to totally wipe something out.
Funny cartoon, too. (In a clever, British humor sort of way. Which is to say… not actually “funny” in a dictionary definition sense. 
Hope you are doing ace today.
Relax Max´s last post: New Year’s disclaimer for all my blogs
Comment from Catherine
Time Tuesday January 6 2009 at 7:34 pm
The guy who produces Dinosaur Comics is Canadian, Max. Make of that what you will…
Comment from sharkbytes
Time Sunday January 11 2009 at 9:04 pm
I LOVE words. This is great. I put an occasional word fun post on myqualityday.blogspot.com
sharkbytes´s last post: Ug-ly Words
Comment from Francis Scudellari
Time Tuesday January 6 2009 at 6:08 pm
I may have known the origin of the word at some point, but I’m as guilty as anyone about giving in to common usage rather than precise meaning. Thanks for sharing this, it was quite humorous and now I have a new word to toy with
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Francis Scudellari´s last post: Focused on structure