Today’s word of the day, thanks to some extent to the Words Coach (https://www.wordscoach.com/dictionary), is objurgate. Pronounced / ˈɒb dʒərˌgeɪt / or / əbˈdʒɜr geɪt / (the first pronunciation is easier for a native English speaker since the stress is on the first syllable), this transitive verb means “to reproach or denounce vehemently; upbraid harshly; berate sharply” (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/objurgate). Merriam-Webster defines it as “to decry vehemently” or “to castigate with harsh or violent language” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/objurgate).

The word first appears in English in the “1610s, from Latin obiurgatus, past participle of obiurgare ‘to chide, rebuke,’ from ob- (see ob-) + iurgare ‘to quarrel, scold,’ from phrase iure agere ‘to deal in a lawsuit,’ from ablative of ius ‘right; law; suit’ (see just (adj.)) + agere ‘to set in motion, drive forward, do, perform,’ also ‘plead a cause at law’ (from PIE root *ag- ‘to drive, draw out or forth, move’)” (https://www.etymonline.com/word/objurgate). Interestingly, the word objurgation appears “c. 1500, objurgacioun, ‘act of scolding or rebuking,’ from Old French objurgacion (15c.) and directly from Latin obiurgationem (nominative obiurgatio) ‘a chiding, reproving, reproof,’ noun of action from past-participle stem of obiurgare (see objurgate)” (ibid.), leading one to ask if objurgate is perhaps a back formation.

On this date in 1850, “Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ‘The Scarlet Letter’ [was] published by Ticknor, Reed and Fields in Boston” (https://www.onthisday.com/events/march/16).

The Scarlet Letter is one of those “classic” novels that many were required to read in high school, so we are probably all somewhat remember the basic story, but here’s the synopsis from Brittanica:

“The novel is set in a village in Puritan New England. The main character is Hester Prynne, a young woman who has borne a child out of wedlock. Hester believes herself a widow, but her husband, Roger Chillingworth, arrives in New England very much alive and conceals his identity. He finds his wife forced to wear the scarlet letter A on her dress as punishment for her adultery. After Hester refuses to name her lover, Chillingworth becomes obsessed with finding his identity. When he learns that the man in question is Arthur Dimmesdale, a saintly young minister who is the leader of those exhorting her to name the child’s father, Chillingworth proceeds to torment him. Stricken by guilt, Dimmesdale becomes increasingly ill. Hester herself is revealed to be a self-reliant heroine who is never truly repentant for committing adultery with the minister; she feels that their act was consecrated by their deep love for each other. Although she is initially scorned, over time her compassion and dignity silence many of her critics.
“In the end, Chillingworth is morally degraded by his monomaniacal pursuit of revenge. Dimmesdale is broken by his own sense of guilt, and he publicly confesses his adultery before dying in Hester’s arms. Only Hester can face the future bravely, as she prepares to begin a new life with her daughter, Pearl, in Europe. Years later Hester returns to New England, where she continues to wear the scarlet letter. After her death she is buried next to Dimmesdale, and their joint tombstone is inscribed with ‘ON A FIELD, SABLE, THE LETTER A, GULES’” (https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Scarlet-Letter-novel-by-Hawthorne).

I was not an Americanist during my career as an English professor, so I cannot really say in how much esteem the novel is currently held by the academics. I think I remember thinking that it was a pretty interesting novel when I was young, but I’m guessing young people today probably don’t appreciate it. Maybe I’m wrong.

But it is mostly a sad novel, sad because it says something about human nature that is unfortunate. That a community would objurgate a person in such a dramatic and public way in the name of a religion that includes the story of the woman taken in adultery (John 7:53–8:11).

By the way, my master’s degree is in Old and Middle English literature, and one of my favorite Middle English poems is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which was discovered in a manuscript designated Cotton Nero a.10. There are three other poems in that manuscript: Patience, Cleanness (or Purity), and Pearl. Pearl is a dream-vision poem that focuses on a father who has lost his daughter, who is named Pearl. I wonder if this poem was the inspiration for the name of Hester Prynne’s daughter.

Today’s image is “Hester Prynne and her daughter Pearl from Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Hand-colored halftone of an illustration” (https://herkafadanses.com/en_us/inceleme-the-scarlet-letter-kizil-damga/). The article is a 2021 review in Turkish of the novel with the subtitle “’A scarlet letter “A” in a pitch-black field…’ A perfect romance story depicting the bigotry and prejudice prevalent in colonial America” (ibid.). I don’t read Turkish, so I didn’t pursue the entire article, but the subtitle encouraged me to avoid the effort.