Today’s word of the day, courtesy of Words Coach (https://www.wordscoach.com/dictionary) is zealot. Zealot, pronounced / ˈzɛl ət /, is a noun that means “a person who shows zeal” or “an excessively zealous person; fanatic” (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/zealot). If the definitions from Dictionary.com seem a bit circular, well, the circle runs background.

Etymonline.com says that the word came into English in the “early 14c., zelote, member of a militant 1st century Jewish sect which fiercely resisted the Romans in Palestine, from Late Latin zelotes, from Greek zēlōtēs ‘one who is a zealous follower,’ from zēloōn ‘to be zealous,’ from zēlos ‘zeal’” (https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=zealot). The website goes on to say, “The extended sense of ‘one who is full of zeal’ is by 1630s, usually disparaging, ‘a fanatical enthusiast.’ Earlier in this sense was zelator, zealer (mid-15c.)” (ibid.).

By contrast, zeal enters the language in the “late 14c., zele, ‘passionate ardor in pursuit of an objective or course of action,’ usually desirable (faith, study), but also of wrath or vengeance; from Old French zel (Modern French zèle) and directly from Late Latin zelus ‘zeal, emulation’” (https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=zeal). The website calls it a church word. It also says that zealous didn’t enter the language until the “1520s, from Medieval Latin zelosus ‘full of zeal’” (https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=zealous). It adds, “The sense of ‘caused by or manifesting zeal, fervent, inspired’ was earlier in English in jealous (late 14c.), which is the same word but through French” (ibid.). So zealot predates both zeal and zealous, at least in English, and zealous and jealous were the same word, just through different sources.

Samuel Johnson, in his 1755 dictionary, says, “One passionately ardent in any cause. Generally used in dispraise” (https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=zealot). I don’t think zealot is a universally disparaging term today. I think it is more descriptive but neutral. However, we should probably not be surprised that Johnson, the middle of the Age of Reason, would seem zeal as something not to be praised. After all, he defines enthusiast as “One who vainly imagines a private revelation; one who has a vain confidence of his intercourse with God” or “One of a hot imagination, or violent passions” (https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=enthusiast). I would say that enthusiast exhibits signs of amelioration, the semantic process by which the meaning of the word becomes more positive. I’m not so certain about zealot.

Merriam-Webster gives a bit more detail on the origin of the word zealot: “In the 1st century A.D., a fanatical sect arose in Judaea to oppose the Roman domination of Palestine. Known as the Zealots, they fought their most famous battle at the great fortress of Masada, where 1,000 defenders took their own lives just as the Romans were about to storm the fort. Over the years, zealot came to mean anyone who is passionately devoted to a cause. The adjective zealous may describe someone who’s merely dedicated and energetic (‘a zealous investigator’, ‘zealous about combating inflation’, etc.). But zealot (like its synonym fanatic) and zealotry (like its synonym fanaticism) are used disapprovingly—even while Jews everywhere still honor the memory of those who died at Masada” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/zealot).

According to On This Day, on this date in 2005, David Tennant appeared for the first time in an episode of Dr. Who.

I live in the United States, and I’ve known about Dr. Who since the late 1970s, but that’s probably a result of the people I hung out with. Then again, when I left grad school in 1985, I completely lost track of the show until my daughter started watching it a few years ago. While away from the show, I remember nobody asking me about it or talking about it, and I remember no public notices of the show. I am guessing that a lot of Americans have no idea what Dr. Who even is, so here is a brief history.

The Dr. Who series was originally created to be an educational program for the BBC, using time travel to explore history and science through fiction. It’s actually quite similar to the American series Quantum Leap, which was created by Donald P. Bellisario and revived by NBC in 2022, except that instead of a man who becomes other people in the past, Dr. Who features a Time Lord, called simply The Doctor, who can travel through time and who seems to have a special interest in saving Earth from being dominated by aliens. It was supposed to be family friendly, but it didn’t take long for the threat of aliens to make the program somewhat scary for children (and even for some adults) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who).

The show ran from 1963 until 1989 and then started again in 2005. And the reason it was able to run for so long was that they developed a little trick—each time an actor who was playing the Doctor wanted or needed to leave the show, the Doctor would get fatally injured. But instead of dying completely, the Doctor would regenerate, taking on a totally new appearance and personality. The first 12 Doctors were white men, but the 13^th Doctor was a woman, and the 15^th Doctor, the one in the current series, is a black man.

David Tennant appeared for three full seasons as the 10^th Doctor, making his appearance in an episode entitled “The Parting of the Ways” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenth_Doctor). In addition, he played in a number of special episodes. In addition, at the end of the run of the 13^th Doctor, played by Jodie Whitaker, Tennant played the 14^th incarnation of the Doctor for three episodes in 2023. There was also an appearance of the 10^th Doctor in a 50-year anniversary episode called “The Day of the Doctor” in 2013.

One of the iconic images of Dr. Who is his time-travel and space-travel ship called the TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TARDIS). On the inside, it looks like it could be a space ship, with a large control center in the middle and room around it for several people at least. But on the outside, it looks like a blue police callbox (about the size of an old-fashioned phone booth). One of the running gags in the series is that when people first go into the TARDIS with the Doctor, they almost always say, “It’s bigger on the inside.” Several explanations for this dimensional transcendental are given during the series, especially in the early years. However, “Doctor Who‘s 2012 Christmas Special “The Snowmen” introduced the fans to Clara Oswald, as well as some murderous snowmen controlled by the Great Intelligence. As a new companion there’s a certain song and dance the show must go through, the most important of which being the first time The Doctor brings them inside the TARDIS. Upon seeing the ship’s interior for the first time Clara was shocked, and remarked ‘it’s smaller on the outside’” (https://www.cinemablend.com/television/2549254/Doctor-who-inside-jokes-that-are-still-completely-brilliant). I’m sure many of the Dr. Who zealots laughed at that one.

Today’s image comes from Cultbox (https://cultbox.co.uk/news/doctor-who-to-enter-the-sandbox-metaverse/attachment/david-tennant-14th-doctor-60th-anniversary-doctor-who).