Etymology Word of the Week – As some of you know, in addition to working in the Admissions Office, I also teach Latin at Saint Ignatius and am something of a "word nerd." Thus, each week, I’ll sneak a vocabulary word (sometimes derived from Latin, sometimes not) into the e-blast. Here, then. is this week’s edition of the Etymology Word of the Week.
Insipid
Definition: “Bland; without any distinctive, interesting, or stimulating qualities; dull, vapid.”
Origin/Derivation: From the Latin prefix in meaning “not” and the Latin adjective sapidus meaning “tasty”. Related to the Latin verb sapio, sapiens which means “to taste; to have taste; to be wise.”
Related Words/Phrases: homo sapiens, savant, savoir-faire, savvy
(All information is from www.wikipedia.org, www.etymonline.com and/or www.dictionary.com)
“Old Saw” of the Week
See if you can “complete the phrase” of this time-worn (but true!) adage:
Necessity is the mother…
of invention.
Caption: Old pop bottle as showerhead; Frank Zappa (of the Mothers of Invention)