atavism | Word of the Day

June 04, 2018 atavism [at-uh-viz-uhm] noun 1. reversion to an earlier type; throwback. 2. Biology. a. the reappearance in an individual of characteristics of some remote ancestor that have been absent in intervening generations. b. an individual embodying such a reversion. language English Words From The Pharaohs language Which English Do You Speak? WORD OF THE DAY atavism continued... QUOTES So much of their business was done via e-mail that the phone was almost unnecessary--a sort of quaint atavism that nobody thought to use first--but this morning the ringing had been ceaseless. -- Debra Ginsberg, What the Heart Remembers, 2012 ORIGIN The Latin noun behind the English noun atavism is atavus "great-great-great grandfather; ancestor." Atavus is formed from atta "daddy," a nursery word widespread in Indo-European languages, e.g., Greek átta "daddy," and the possibly Gothic proper name Attila "little father, daddy." The second element, avus "(maternal) grandfather," also has cognates in other Indo-European languages, e.g., Old Prussian (an extinct Baltic language related to Latvian and Lithuanian) awis "uncle," and, very familiar in English, those Scottish and Irish surnames beginning with "O'," e.g., O'Connor "descended from Connor"). The Celtic "O'" comes from Irish ó "grandson," from early Irish aue, and appearing as avi "descendant of" in ogham (an alphabet used in archaic Irish inscriptions from about the 5th century). Atavism entered English in the 19th century. OTHERS ARE READING 1 2 3 4 5 © 2018 Dictionary.com, LLC. ABOUT CONTACT You are subscribed to the Word of the Day as: matzom229@gmail.com Subscriber since: September 06, 2017 Unsubscribe Dictionary.com, LLC. 555 12th Street Suite 500 Oakland CA 94607 Manage your subscription Terms & Privacy