Carolina Institute for Faith & Culture

Paul Schleifer The word inscape was coined in the 19th century by the British priest and poet Gerard Manley Hopkins. According to www.dictionary.com, it means “the essential inner nature of […]

Paul Schleifer According to www.etymonline.com, Easter is from “Old English Easterdæg, from Eastre (Northumbrian Eostre), from Proto-Germanic *austron-, “dawn,” also the name of a goddess of fertility and spring, perhaps originally of sunrise, whose feast […]

Paul Schleifer Querulous is an adjective that can mean two different but very similar things. First, about a person, it can mean “full of complaints” or “complaining.” But it can […]

Paul Schleifer A colleague is “’an associate in office, employment, or labor,’ 1530s, from Middle French collègue (16c.), from Latin collega ‘partner in office,’ from assimilated form of com ‘with, together’ (see com-) + leg-, stem of legare ‘send as […]

Paul Schleifer www.etymonline.com says that certitude comes into the language in the “early 15c., from Middle French certitude ‘certainty’ (16c.), from Late Latin certitudinem (nominative certitudo) ‘that which is certain,’ from Latin certus ‘sure, certain,’ originally a […]

Paul Schleifer According to www.dictionary.com, aesthetics is “the branch of philosophy dealing with such notions as the beautiful, the ugly, the sublime, the comic, etc., as applicable to the fine […]

Paul Schleifer The word premiere can be a noun, a verb, or even an adjective. As an adjective, it means “first, initial,” as in “Michael Jordan was the premiere basketball […]

Paul Schleifer Laudable, pronounced /ˈlɔ də bəl/ (or [law-duh-buh l] for those who do not know the International Phonetic Alphabet, or IPA), means praiseworthy. According to www.etymonline.com, the word comes […]

Paul Schleifer According to the OED, a charter is a written document provided “by the sovereign or legislature … granting privileges to, or recognizing rights of, the people, or of […]

Paul Schleifer According to www.etymonline.com, abstruse entered the language in the “1590s,” and that it means “’remote from comprehension,’ from Middle French abstrus (16c.) or directly from Latin abstrusus ‘hidden, […]

Paul Schleifer If you look in a regular dictionary, the first definition of sanguine that you are likely to find will be something like “cheerfully optimistic, hopeful, or confidence.” But […]

Paul Schleifer In common parlance, polygamy refers to being married to multiple spouses at the same time, and when people think of the word, they normally think of one man […]