Word of the Week: Crooked River

Once we started doing the Word of the Week, I began paying closer attention the words I didn't know while I was reading and writing them down. The following five words are from Crooked River, a Pendergast novel from Preston and Child--proving that Cheap Thrills are more than just action-filled one-timers! Stay tuned for five more from this same book!

amanuensis (n.) aman·​u·​en·​sis|\ ə-ˌman-yə-ˈwen(t)-səs

A literary or artistic assistant who takes dictation or copies manuscripts.

sui generis (adj.) \ ˌsui ge·​ner·​is|\ ˌsü-ˌī-ˈje-nə-rəs

constituting a class alone, unique

Leonardo da Vinci is considered sui generis--a man of such genius that the world may never see his likeness again

mufti (n.) muf·​ti|\ ˈməf-tē

As it pertained to the book I was reading, mufti refers to plain or ordinary clothes, especially when the person normally wears a military or other uniform. But wait, there's more!

The word originates from the Arabic word of the same name and pronunciation and designates an Islamic legal expert empowered to give rulings on religious matters. The plain clothes version has been used in the English language since the early 1800s, when the British Army occupying the Middle East would wear similar styles of dress as the Islamic Mufti during their off-duty hours. Classic British colonialism.

Even further, in countries from Empire formerly known as Britain (UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Bangladesh), mufti day is what we Americans call, casual Friday.

execrable (adj.) ex·​e·​cra·​ble|\ ˈek-si-krə-bəl

This one has an interesting history. The Latin root of execrable is exsecrari, meaning to be cursed. So a person who was cursed was to face execrable conditions. So, originally execrable referred to things being "so abominable as to be worth of formal denouncement, " such as execrable crimes.

But by the 1800s, the tone seemed to have lightened and now it's more common to see execrable to describe everything from weather and wine.

dogsbody (n.) dogs·​body|\ ˈdȯgz-ˌbä-dē

The short of it is, "a person who is given boring, menial tasks to do." But of course there's more to the story, and of course it has to do with the Brits being mean again.

In the British Royal Navy, a "dog's body" referred to a pudding dish served in the early 19th century. Over time, when a junior officer or someone doing the work on the ship no one else would want to earned the nickname dogsbody. American equivalents would be a grunt or lackey.

Sources: Dictionary.com, Hobson-Jobson Colloquial Anglo-Indian Etymological Dictionary, World Wide Words

See also: Word of the Week page, Crooked River review