A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg

apheresis  (for 1: uh-FER-i-sis, for 2: af-uh-REE-sis)  noun

1.  The loss of one or more sounds or letters from the beginning of a word.  For example, the change in pronunciation of knife from (k-nyf) to (nyf) or the formation of till from until.
2.  A method in which blood is drawn from a donor, one or more blood components (such as plasma, platelets, or white blood cells) are removed, and the rest is returned to the donor by transfusion.  From Latin aphaeresis, from Greek aphairesis (taking away), from aphairein (to take away), from apo- (away) + hairein (to take).  Earliest documented use:  1550.

syncope  (SING-kuh-pee)  noun

1.  The shortening of a word by omission of sounds or letters from its middle.  For example, did not to didn't or Worcester to Wooster.
2.  Fainting caused by insufficient blood flow to the brain.  

From Latin syncope, from Greek synkope (contraction, cutting off), from syn- (together) + koptein (to cut).  Earliest documented use:  c. 1400.

agglutinate    (verb: uh-GLOOT-n-ayt, adjective: uh-GLOOT-n-it, -ayt)

verb  1.  To form words by combining words or word elements.  2.  To join or become joined as if by glue.  3. To clump or cause to clump, as red blood cells.  adjective  1.  Joined or tending to join.  2. Relating to a language that makes complex words by joining words or word elements extensively. For example as in Turkish.   From Latin gluten (glue).  Earliest documented use:  1541.

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From:  Lew Bryson  Subject: apheresis

I found today's definitions of "apheresis" intriguing.  I'm a regular platelet donor at the Red Cross, so it was interesting to learn the origin of the word.  But it was particularly interesting to learn the first definition of the word... because everyone at the donor center, including the donors ourselves, refers to the process as "pheresis", meaning of course that the term "apheresis" had been subjected to...apheresis.  Never would have known this but for A.Word.A.Day!
From:  Jo Anne Powell  Subject:  apheresis
My understanding is that "till" preceded "until" - no?
Yes, "till" is attested 400 years before the word "until" which was formed by the addition of "un" to "till".  The use of "'til" (not "till") in place of "until" is an example of apheresis. Thanks for catching this!  -Anu Garg
From:  Carlos Cueto-Rejas  subject:  syncope
A Spanish example of syncope is Navidad which comes from Natividad or Nativity.  Always enjoy the Word A Day I get in my mail.  Seems the day doesn't begin with me if I do not get your "word". Thank you for your constancy (constancia)!
From:  Katherine Harper  Subject:  syncope
Your example for syncope makes me smile.  I earned my bachelor's degree from an Ohio school called The College of Wooster.  People who have only seen the name of this liberal-arts institution in writing invariably pronounce it to rhyme with "rooster".  My response has always been, "It's really 'Wooster' --as in '-shire sauce'."  I have yet to hear anyone make the same error twice.
From:  Ingrid Trausch  Subject:  agglutinate
Hungarian is also heavily agglutinative, and very long single-word sentences are common.  Add a different logic for word order in a sentence, one completely different from English, and and you get one of earth's most difficult languages for an outsider to learn.  Although I grew up in a Hungarian-English household and consider myself fluent in both, I find that after hanging out with my relatives, my English gets twisted and for a while, like Yoda, backwards speaking am I.
From:  Peirce Hammond  Subject:  agglutinate
The newest form of agglutinating language is still in flux -- computerese.  Words are run together without spaces, particularly as names of sites or domains.  There is also a natural phase-in of the agglutinated words as e-mail becomes email or Web-site becomes Website (and then website). Sometimes the "glue" seems to be somewhat caustic, eating up letters in the process. For example, A.Word.A.Day has morphed into AWAD.

Antony Beevor was educated at Winchester and Sandhurst, where he studied under John Keegan.  A regular officer with the 11th Hussars, he left the Army to write.  He has published four novels, and ten books of non-fiction.  His work has appeared in more than thirty foreign editions and sold nearly six million copies.  His books include The Spanish Civil War; Inside the British Army;  Crete — The Battle and the Resistance, which was awarded a Runciman Prize, and Paris After the Liberation, 1944-1949 (written with his wife Artemis Cooper).  He has also contributed to several books including The British Army, Manpower and Society into the Twenty-First Century, edited by Hew Strachan and to Russia – War, Peace & Diplomacy  in honour of the late John Erickson.  Stalingrad, first published in 1998, won the first Samuel Johnson Prize, the Wolfson Prize for History and the Hawthornden Prize for Literature in 1999.  The British edition, a number one bestseller in both hardback and paperback. Berlin – The Downfall 1945, published in 2002, was accompanied by a BBC Timewatch programme on his research into the subject.  It has been a No. 1 Bestseller in seven countries apart from Britain, and in the top five in another nine countries.  The book received the first Longman-History Today Trustees’ Award.  In May 2004, he published The Mystery of Olga Chekhova, which describes the experiences of the Chekhov and Knipper families from before the Russian revolution until after the Second World War.  His Russian research assistant Dr Lyubov Vinogradova and he have edited and translated the war time papers of the novelist Vasily Grossman, published in September 2005 as A Writer at War – Vasily Grossman with the Red Army 1941-1945. He has also published a completely revised edition of his 1982 history of the Spanish Civil War, with a great deal of new material from Spanish sources and foreign archives.  This came out in Spain in September 2005 as La guerra civil española where it became the No.1 Bestseller and received the La Vanguardia prize for non-fiction.  It appeared in English in spring, 2006, as The Battle for Spain – The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939.  It has been a top ten bestseller in eight countries.  D-Day – The Battle for Normandy, published in June 2009, has been a No 1 Bestseller in seven countries, including the UK and France, and in the top ten in another eight countries.  It has received the Prix Henry Malherbe in France and the Duke of Westminster Medal from the Royal United Services Institute.  His most recent book, The Second World War, published in June 2012, is being translated into twenty-one languages.  It has already been a No 1 bestseller in Britain and four other countries, and a bestseller in another four.  http://www.antonybeevor.com/index.php/biography/ 

The island of Crete is located in the center of the eastern Mediterranean at the crossroads of Africa, Asia, and Europe.  It measures about 200 Km from east to west, and between 12 to 58 Km from north to south at its narrowest and widest distances, making it one of the largest islands in the Mediterranean sea.  Crete's largest modern town is Heraklion (35° 20' latitude, 25° 08' longitude) and its landscape oscillates between tall, rugged mountains, gentle slopes, and plateaus, which are framed by the Aegean coast line to the North, and the Lybian Sea to the south.  The temperate climate of Crete with its short, mild winters and its dry, warm summers, along with the fertility of the Cretan plains produces sufficient food supplies to support an affluent local population, and for exports.  The inhabitants of ancient Crete --whom we call Minoans-- produced a decentralized culture based on the abundance of the land's natural resources, and on intense commercial activity.  While the island appears today completely deforested, in ancient times timber was one of the natural resources that was commercially exploited and exported to nearby Egypt, Syria, Cyprus, the Aegean Islands and the Greek mainland.  http://www.ancient-greece.org/history/minoan.html 

Ian Fleming (1908-1964) the creator of the famous James Bond spy novels, was one of four sons, and he grew up in an affluent and influential family.  His father, Valentine, served in Parliament before fighting in World War I.  Fleming was only 9 years old when his father died in combat.  Fleming attended Eton College, one of the England's top schools.  He later studied at Sandhurst, the elite military academy.  After a stint at the Reuters news agency, Fleming tried his hand at high finance.  World events, however, would soon change the course of his career.   During the war, Fleming learned the ins and outs of espionage.  He received a commission in the Royal Navy and worked for British Naval Intelligence.  Eventually serving as the assistant to Admiral John Godfrey, the director of Naval Intelligence, Fleming was privy to much of Britain's efforts to win the war.  He traveled overseas several times, including visits to the United States to coordinate intelligence operations.  He also went to Jamaica for a conference, and the island left a lasting impression on Fleming.  It has been said that much of Fleming's work in intelligence shaped and informed his James Bond novels.  The character of "M," Bond's boss, is believed to have been modeled after Admiral Godfrey.  The full impact of Fleming's real-life spy work on his most famous fictional figure will never likely be to known, however.  He had been sworn to secrecy by the British government.  Fleming's first novel, Casino Royale, was published in 1953.  The book had been written the previous year while he was on vacation at his home, which he named Goldeneye after a military mission, in Jamaica.  http://www.biography.com/people/ian-fleming-9296920?page=2

See also:  http://www.klast.net/bond/flem_bio.html  Read about Peter Fleming, adventurer. Ian's older brother: explorer, travel writer, and creator of a blueprint Bond at:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/jamesbond/5297115/Bonds-unsung-heroes-Peter-Fleming-adventurer.html 

Hoosegow, which means 'a jail', is chiefly used in Westerns.  The word is an Anglicization of Mexican Spanish juzgao, a variant of juzgado, which also means 'jail'.  This word is a borrowing from Standard Spanish juzgado 'a courtroom; panel of judges', the past participle of juzgar 'to judge', from Latin judicare.  Hoosegow doesn't have that many related forms; some rare ones are gow 'a jail', and hoose and hoosegow as verbs meaning 'to jail'.  Despite the superficial similarity in spelling, the word jug 'a jail'; 'to jail' is not related; it's a figurative use of jug 'large container with cap and narrow neck'.  The word hoosegow is first found in English in 1908.  http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19971028 

Amsterdam, capital of the Netherlands, has been called the "Venice of the North" for its more than one hundred kilometres of canals, about 90 islands and 1,500 bridges.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canals_of_Amsterdam  Venice has about 400 bridges, Pittsburgh close to 450, and Berlin more than 900.   

Frederik Pohl, one of the great science fiction authors and editors of the late 20th century, died Sept. 2, 2013, his family announced.  He was 93.  Pohl was known as a dark humorist and satirist in novels such as "The Space Merchants" (1953) and "Gladiator-at-Law" (1955), both written with frequent collaborator C.M. Kornbluth, and the short story "The Gold at Starbow’s End" (1972).  His long career included writing novels and short stories, editing, and being a literary agent for science fiction writers.  He won three Hugo awards, was named a grand master of the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1992 and was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 1998.  Born Nov. 26, 1919, in New York City, Pohl was an early science fiction fan who served as editor of "Astonishing Stories" and "Super Science Stories" in 1939-43; in the 1970s, he edited the magazines "Galaxy" and "If."  Carolyn Kellogg  http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-rip-frederik-pohl-20130903,0,1023361.story