Yawp
1 : to make a raucous noise : squawk 2: clamor, complain
Yawp first appeared sometime in the 15th century. This
verb comes from Middle English yolpen, most likely itself derived from the past
participle of yelpen, meaning "to boast, call out, or yelp."
Interestingly, yawp retains much of the meaning of yelpen, in that it implies a
type of complaining which often has a yelping or squawking quality. An element
of foolishness, in addition to the noisiness, is often implied as well. Yawp can
also be a noun meaning "a raucous noise" or "squawk." The
noun yawp arrived on the scene more than 400 years after the verb. It was
greatly popularized by "Song of Myself," a poem by Walt Whitman
containing the line "I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the
world."
Repudiate | rih-PYOO-dee-ayt 1 : to divorce or
separate formally from (a woman)2 : to refuse to have anything to do with :
disown 3a : to refuse to accept;
especially : to reject as unauthorized or as having no binding force b : to
reject as untrue or unjust 4 :to refuse to acknowledge or pay.
In Latin, the noun repudium refers to the rejection of a
spouse or prospective spouse, and the related verb repudiare means "to
divorce" or "to reject." In the 16th century, English speakers
borrowed repudiare to create the English verb repudiate, which they used as a
synonym of divorce when in reference to a wife and as a synonym of disown when
in reference to a member of one's family. They also used the word more
generally in the sense of "to reject or cast off." By the 18th
century repudiate had also come to be used for the rejection of things that one
does not accept as true or just, ranging from opinions and accusations to
contracts and debts.
Steadfast has held its ground in English for
many centuries. Its Old English predecessor, stedefæst, combined stede (meaning
"place" or "stead") and fæst(meaning "firmly
fixed"). An Old English text of the late 10th century, called The Battle
of Maldon, contains our earliest record of the word, which was first used in
battle contexts to describe warriors who stood their ground. Soon, it was also
being used with the broad meaning "immovable," and as early as the
13th century it was applied to those unswerving in loyalty, faith, or
friendship. Centuries later, all of these meanings endure.
Onerous: Latin onus, meaning
"burden,"
Hap: 1. Chance; fortune. 2. An
occurrence. From Old Norse happ (good luck). Ultimately from the Indo-European
root kobe (to suit, fit, or succeed), which also gave us happen, happy,
hapless, and mishap.
Savant
sa-VAHNT 1 : a person of
learning; especially : one with detailed knowledge in some specialized field
(as of science or literature) 2 :a person affected with a mental disability
(such as autism) who exhibits exceptional skill or brilliance in some limited
field (such as mathematics or music); especially : autistic savant
Savant comes from Latin sapere ("to be wise") by
way of Middle French, where savant is the present participle of savoir, meaning
"to know." Savant shares roots with the English words sapient
("possessing great wisdom") and sage ("having or showing wisdom
through reflection and experience"). The term is sometimes used in common
parlance to refer to a person who demonstrates extraordinary knowledge in a
particular subject, or an extraordinary ability to perform a particular task
(such as complex arithmetic), but who has much more limited capacities in other
areas
Copacetic. koh-puh-SET-ik. Definition very
satisfactory. Theories about the origin of copacetic abound, but the facts
about the word’s history are scant: it appears to have arisen in
African-American slang in the southern U.S., possibly as early as the 1880s,
with earliest known evidence of it in print dating only to 1919. Beyond that,
we have only speculation. One theory is that the term is descended from Hebrew
kol be sedher (or kol b’seder or chol b’seder), meaning “everything is in
order.” That theory is problematic for a number of reasons, among them that in order
for a Hebrew expression to have been adopted into English at that time it would
have passed through Yiddish, and there is no evidence of the phrase in Yiddish
dictionaries. Other theories trace copacetic to Creole coupèstique (“able to be
coped with”), Italian cappo sotto (literally “head under,” figuratively
“okay”), or Chinook jargon copacete (“everything’s all right”), but no evidence
to substantiate any of these has been found. Another theory credits the coining
of the word to Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, who used the word
frequently and believed himself to be the coiner. Anecdotal recollections of
the word’s use, however, predate his lifetime.