lese majesty | Word of the Day

April 17, 2019 lese majesty [leez maj-uh-stee, lez] noun 1. an attack on any custom, institution, belief, etc., held sacred or revered by numbers of people: Her speech against Mother's Day was criticized as lese majesty. word-trends Has The Word "Expert" Lost Its Meaning In 2019? word-trends Is "Crude" The Right Word To Use To Describe Someone's Language? WORD OF THE DAY lese majesty continued... QUOTES At the risk of lese-majesty, it [Windsor Castle] reminded me of a toy castle, part Disney, part Austrian schloss. -- Nick Glass, "St. George's Chapel: The historic venue where Harry and Meghan are getting married," CNN, May 3, 2018 ORIGIN It is not very often that there is a transparent connection between French (and English) and Latin, but lese majesty is such a term. In modern French the term is lèse-majesté, from Middle French laise majeste "a crime against the king, treason." The French forms derive from Latin laesa mājestās "injured majesty (of the sovereign people, state, or emperor)." Laesa is the past participle of the verb laedere "to hurt, harm" (of uncertain etymology); mājestās is a derivative of the comparative adjective major "greater, larger, bigger." Lese majesty entered English in the 15th century. MORE FOR YOU 1 Can We Call Products "Meat" or "Milk" If They Don't Come From Animals? In our age of meatless chicken nuggets, tofu hot dogs, and faux burgers that "bleed," what constitutes meat today? 2 What's Happening With The Word "Unicorn"? What do Scotland, Silicon Valley, LGBTQ pride, and Jesus Christ all have in common? Unicorns. Yes, unicorns. 3 The Google Effect And More 'Rules' The Internet Created Who needs to stash away names and dates into our longterm memory when we have Google? And, guess what, that phenomenon has a name! 4 Dissent vs. Protest: Why Choosing The Right Word Matters It seems political conflict in the 2010s has put the words dissent and protest at the center of our vocabulary. But are we using them correctly? 5 The Double Meanings For These Innocent Animal Emoji Sometimes, a lobster isn't just a lobster ... © 2019 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