“secret, private, hidden, furtive,” 1560s, from Latin clandestinus “secret, hidden,” from clam “secretly,” from adverbial derivative of base of celare “to hide” (from PIE root *kel- (1) “to cover, conceal, save”), perhaps on model of intestinus “internal.” Related: Clandestinely. As a noun form, there is awkward clandestinity (clandestineness apparently being a dictionary word).
Category: vocabulary
Nice v Kind
late 13c., “foolish, ignorant, frivolous, senseless,” from Old French nice (12c.) “careless, clumsy; weak; poor, needy; simple, stupid, silly, foolish,” from Latin nescius “ignorant, unaware,” literally “not-knowing,” from ne- “not” (from PIE root *ne- “not”) + stem of scire “to know” (see science). “The sense development has been extraordinary, even for an adj.” [Weekley] — from “timid, faint-hearted” (pre-1300); to “fussy, fastidious” (late 14c.); to “dainty, delicate” (c. 1400); to “precise, careful” (1500s, preserved in such terms as a nice distinction and nice and early); to “agreeable, delightful” (1769); to “kind, thoughtful” (1830).
kind (n.)
“class, sort, variety,” from Old English gecynd “kind, nature, race,” related to cynn “family” (see kin), from Proto-Germanic *kundjaz “family, race,” from PIE root *gene- “give birth, beget,” with derivatives referring to procreation and familial and tribal groups.
Ælfric’s rendition of “the Book of Genesis” into Old English came out gecyndboc. The prefix disappeared 1150-1250. No exact cognates beyond English, but it corresponds to adjective endings such as Goth -kunds, Old High German -kund. Also in English as a suffix (mankind, etc., also compare godcund “divine”). Other earlier, now obsolete, senses included “character, quality derived from birth” and “manner or way natural or proper to anyone.”
Phrase a kind of (1590s) indicating something like or similar to something else led to the colloquial extension as adverb (1804) in phrases such as kind of stupid “a kind of stupid (person), (one) not far from stupidity.” However “good usage” once condemned as inaccurate the use as an adjective as in our kind of people, some kind of joke. All kinds is Old English alles cynnes, in Middle English sometimes contracted to alkins.
jurat (n.)
also jurate, “one who has taken an oath,” early 15c. (mid-14c. in Anglo-French), from Medieval Latin iuratus “sworn man,” noun use of past participle of Latin iurare “to swear” (see jury (n.)). Meaning “official memorandum at the end of an affidavit” (showing when and before whom it was sworn) is from 1796, from Latin iuratum, noun use of the neuter past participle.
scruple (n.)
“moral misgiving, pang of conscience,” late 14c., from Old French scrupule (14c.), from Latin scrupulus “uneasiness, anxiety, pricking of conscience,” literally “small sharp stone,” diminutive of scrupus “sharp stone or pebble,” used figuratively by Cicero for a cause of uneasiness or anxiety, probably from the notion of having a pebble in one’s shoe. The word in the more literal Latin sense of “small unit of weight or measurement” is attested in English from late 14c.
abdicate (v.)
1540s, “to disown, disinherit (children),” from Latin abdicatus, past participle of abdicare “to disown, disavow, reject” (specifically abdicare magistratu “renounce office”), literally “proclaim as not belonging to one,” from ab “off, away from” (see ab-) + dicare “proclaim” (from PIE root *deik- “to show,” also “pronounce solemnly”). Meaning “divest oneself of office, privilege, etc., before the term expires” first recorded 1610s in English (it was in classical Latin). Related: Abdicated; abdicating.
syndicate (v.)
1889, “form into a syndicate,” from syndicate (n.). Meaning “sell for simultaneous publication” is from 1889. Earlier it meant “to judge, censure” (1610s), from Medieval Latin syndicatus, past participle of syndicare. Related: Syndicated; syndicating.
syndicate (n.)
1620s, “council or body of representatives,” from French syndicat (15c.), from syndic “representative of a corporation” (see syndic) + -at (see -ate (1)). Meaning “combination of capitalists or companies to carry out some commercial undertaking” first occurs 1865. Publishing sense of “association of publishers for purchasing articles, etc., for simultaneous publication in a number of newspapers” is from 1889. As a synonym for “organized crime, the Mob” it is recorded from 1929.
contract (n.)
early 14c., “agreement between two or more persons to do or not do some particular thing,” originally especially of marriage, from Old French contract (Modern French contrat), from Latin contractus “a drawing together, a shrinking; a contract, an agreement,” from past participle of contrahere “to draw several objects together; draw in, shorten, lessen, abridge,” metaphorically “make a bargain, make an agreement,” from assimilated form of com “with, together” (see con-) + trahere “to draw” (see tract (n.1)).
In reference to the writing which contains the agreement and its terms and conditions, 1610s. U.S. underworld sense of “arrangement to kill someone” first recorded 1940.
contract (v.)
late 14c., “to draw into a smaller compass, become smaller, shrink” (intransitive); early 15c. “make an agreement, enter into a contract, agree or establish to undertake mutually,” from Old French contracter and directly from Latin contractus, past participle of contrahere “to draw several objects together; draw in, shorten, lessen, abridge,” metaphorically “make a bargain, make an agreement,” from assimilated form of com “with, together” (see con-) + trahere “to draw” (see tract (n.1)). Related: Contracted; contracting.
Meaning “to acquire as by habit or contagion, become infected with” is from 1590s. Transitive sense of “make narrow, draw together the parts (of something) to cause it to shrink” is from c. 1600. Grammatical sense of “to shorten (a word or syllable) by combining or eliding concurrent elements” is from c. 1600. Transitive sense of “arrange for by contract” is from 1897.
adhesion (n.)
1620s, “act or state of sticking or being stuck, a being united or attached,” from French adhésion or directly from Latin adhaesionem (nominative adhaesio) “a sticking to,” noun of action from past-participle stem of adhaerare “to stick to, cling to,” from ad “to” (see ad-) + haerere “to stick” (see hesitation). The earliest English use is of persons (“faith is adhesion unto God”), but “Adhesion is generally used in the material, and adherence in the metaphysical sense.” [Johnson]