{"id":6398,"date":"2024-01-21T03:01:21","date_gmt":"2024-01-21T03:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/?p=6398"},"modified":"2024-01-21T03:02:45","modified_gmt":"2024-01-21T03:02:45","slug":"word-of-the-day-flay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/2024\/01\/21\/word-of-the-day-flay\/","title":{"rendered":"Word of the Day: Flay"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today\u2019s word of the day, thanks to WordReference.com, is flay, a verb that means \u201c\u2018to strip the skin off an animal or a person\u2019 or \u2018to strip the outer covering off something.\u2019 Figuratively, it can mean \u2018to strip of money or property,\u2019 although this sense is now rare. Flay can also mean \u2018to criticize harshly\u2019 or \u2018to scold severely\u2019\u201d (https:\/\/daily.wordreference.com\/2024\/01\/19\/intermediate-word-of-the-day-flay\/<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Modern English verb derives from \u201cOld English flean \u2018to skin, to flay\u2019<\/em> (strong verb, past tense flog<\/em>, past participle flagen<\/em>), from Proto-Germanic *flahan<\/em> (source also of Middle Dutch vlaen<\/em>, Old High German flahan<\/em>, Old Norse fla<\/em>), from PIE root *pl(e)ik<\/em>-, *pleik<\/em>– \u2018to tear, rend\u2019 (source also of Lithuanian pl\u0117\u0161ti<\/em> \u2018to tear\u2019)\u201d (https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/search?q=flay<\/a>). As a reminder, the asterisk before a word or a root indicates that we know this word because we recreated it from linguistic clues, that we do not have direct evidence of the word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, looking at this etymology, I wondered if the past participle perhaps gave us the word flog<\/em> and if the PIE root perhaps gave us the word pluck<\/em>, as in to pluck a chicken. But flog<\/em>, according to the etymonline website, has an uncertain origin, though some scholars think it may be \u201ca schoolboy shortening of Latin flagellare \u2018flagellate\u2019\u201d (https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/search?q=flog<\/a>) and so is unrelated to flay<\/em>. Pluck<\/em> is from \u201cMiddle English plukken<\/em>, \u2018pull (something) off or out from a surface\u2019 (especially hair or feathers, but also teeth), from late Old English ploccian<\/em>, pluccian<\/em> \u2018pull off, cull,\u2019 from West Germanic *plokken<\/em>\u201d (https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/search?q=pluck<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On this date in 1942, Nazi leadership brgan the Wannsee Conference, a meeting of high-ranking Nazi officers to discuss the \u201cFinal Solution,\u201d a euphemistic term for the murder of all European Jews. The conference was organized by General Reinhard Heydrich, one of Heinrich Himmler\u2019s deputies. Major General Heinrich M\u00fcller represented the Gestapo. Lt. General Adolph Eichman, the chief of the office of Jewish Affairs attended. Undersecretary of State Martin Luther represented the foreign office (no, not that Martin Luther; he lived in the 16th<\/sup> century. And others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Holocaust Encyclopedia, \u201cThe \u2018Final Solution<\/a>\u2019 was the code name for the systematic, deliberate, physical annihilation of the European Jews. At some still undetermined time in 1941, Adolf Hitler<\/a> authorized this European-wide scheme for mass murder. Heydrich convened the Wannsee Conference<\/p>\n\n\n\n