Sycophancy

Sycophancy (pronounced sik-uh-fuhn-see)

(1) Self-seeking or servile flattery.

(2) The character or conduct of a sycophant.

1537: From the Latin sȳcophanta (informer, trickster), from the Ancient Greek συκοφάντης (sykophántēs), the construct being sûkon (fig) + phaínō (I show).  The gesture of "showing the fig" was an “obscene gesture of phallic significance”, made by sticking the thumb between two fingers, a display which vaguely resembles a fig, symbolic of a sûkon (which meant also vulva).  Politicians in ancient Greece tended not to use this vulgar gesture but urged their followers to use it to taunt opponents.  The later Greek form is sykophantia, derived from sykophantes.  The phrase “yes-man” (a man who agrees from self-interest or fear with everything put to him by a superior) was first used in 1912, a creation of American English, the male-centric wording indicative of the predominance at the time of men in corporate structures but there's no exclusivity of gender, women too can be "yes-men" although "yes-women" doesn't as easily roll from the tongue.

The modern meaning is that of the "insincere flatterer", the "yes man", the motive presumed usually to be personal gain.  Historians from antiquity suggest the origin of the word lies in agricultural policy, Plutarch (46–circa 120) writing that the source was in laws forbidding the export of figs, and that those who made accusations against others of illegally exporting figs were therefore called sycophants.  Later, Sir William Blackstone's (1723–1780) Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1770) noted there were laws making it a capital offense to break into a garden and steal figs, and that law was thought so odious that informers were given the name sycophants.   Another variant in the fig jam was that a sycophant was a shaker of trees: before the court, the sycophant's false accusations makes the accused yield up the truth; in the fig grove, sycophant's shaking forces the tree to yield up its fruit.  Certainly, the fig linkage runs strong in the language, the making of false accusations held to be such an insult to the accused it was said to be "showing the fig", an obscene gesture “of phallic significance" and that false charges were often so flimsy as to be worth “not a fig".

Modern historians enjoy the explanations but tend to be dismissive of their veracity though all seem to agree the original sense is of a word used to disparage one who, by the levelling of unjustified accusations, has perverted the legal system beyond a mere abuse of process.  Pervading all is the suggestion the term was thought always at least slightly obscene, the linkage presumably because of the symbolism of the fig in ancient Greek culture in that sense.  The attachment to legal process in Athenian culture, separate from any hint of obscenity, did grow and the net was cast wide, sycophants not only vexatious litigants but also those who issued writs merely to try to induce defendants to make a payment in exchange for dropping the case or third parties otherwise unconnected to the sometime ancient matters before the court, appearing only to seek an undeserved profit.  In time, to accuse a litigant of sycophancy became a serious thing, such was the opprobrium society had come to direct towards the conduct and there are surviving texts written by those defending themselves from the charge.  Athenian law responded, imposing fines on litigants whose matters were found vexatious or which were clearly an abuse of process and there are echoes still of these acts in modern Greek domestic law where, as in France, sycophant is used still in the original sense.    The phenomenon attracted the playwrights too, explored by Aristophanes (circa 446 BC-circa 386 BC) in his satires.

Impact Of Wealth (1563) by Philips Galle (1537–1612) & Hadrianus Junius (1511–1575).

In the English-speaking world, the meaning shift seems to have happened during the Renaissance, meanings old and new running in parallel until the sense of the "insincere flatterer" came to prevail.  It was an organic linguistic morphing, not something induce by some event or individual, the common thread probably that both behaviors were perceived parasitic and insincere. 

Notable Sycophants in History and Literature

Dr Joseph Goebbels (1897-1975; Nazi propaganda minister 1933-1945) had been an early critic of Hitler so to redeem himself, spent the rest of his career in fawning devotion, initiating the Heil Hitler salute and insisting on the use of Der Führer (the leader, originally just a party title) as an official title. His letters and diaries are full of groveling praise and his propaganda campaigns created the modern personality cult.  In fairness to Goebbels, his work was inspired and sometimes brilliant but other sycophants in the Third Reich were less impressive.  While Goebbels’ work sparkled, youth leader, Baldur von Schirach (1907-1974; party functionary 1931-1945), wrote verse after verse of dreary poetry in praise of Hitler though there’s no suggestion the Führer much troubled himself to read his oeuvre.  At least Goebbels and Schirach stayed loyal to the end.  Sycophant number one and head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler (1900-1945; head of the SS 1929-1945), called himself “the truest of the true” and Hitler agreed, often referring to the Reichführer-SS as “der treue Heinrich" (the faithful Heinrich), and, although never part of the inner circle, was much valued for his sycophancy and unconditional obedience.  Himmler though, by 1944 and perhaps earlier, worked out things weren’t going too well and eventually, in negotiating with the enemy and planning ways to ingratiate himself to General Eisenhower, delivered the Führer a final stab in the back.  By then it was already too late and Hitler has long concluded none of his sycophants were worthy enough to be his successor, deciding Rudolf Hess (1894–1987; Deputy Führer 1933-1941) had gone mad and Hermann Göring (1893–1946; leading Nazi 1922-1945) had lost the sympathy of the German people.  Both judgements were fair enough but his reason for rejecting Himmler made sense only in Hitler's bizarre world view: He thought the Reichführer-SS "unartistic".

Appointed to cabinet by Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Australian politician Penny Wong was never reticent in praising Gillard’s fine judgment and feminist solidarity.  That was until she finally worked out things weren’t going too well and so voted to back-stab Gillard and resuscitate the previously knifed Kevin Rudd.  Modern identity politics helpfully provides Wong with handy cover; any criticism, however justified, she can condemn as misogyny, homophobia or racism.  Early in the reign of Caligula, he fell ill, inspiring one Roman to offer to sacrifice own life if the emperor recovered. This kind, if extravagant, vow was declared publicly, in the hope his show his deep loyalty would elicit some generous award.  Caligula did recover but the sycophant’s tactic backfired; Caligula decided to accept the chap’s offer and ordered his execution.

Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and President Richard Nixon, East Room, White House, 22 September 1973.  

There are many who list former US National Security Advisor and Secretary of State, Dr Henry Kissinger as among the famous sycophants (and that would have been quite an achievement in Washington DC, a city full of the breed) but it’s probably unfair although, in his fascinating relationship with President Richard Nixon, he certainly aimed to please.  Kissinger met with Israeli PM Golda Meir in 1973 and she asked him to pressure Moscow to allow more Soviet Jews to emigrate to avoid persecution.  Nixon, intent on détente with the USSR, sought to avoid the request. Kissinger, himself Jewish, responded “…the emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union is not an objective of American foreign policy and if they put Jews into gas chambers in Russia, it’s not an American concern… maybe it’s a humanitarian concern”.  Not for nothing is Dr Kissinger thought dean of the school of power-realists.

In David Copperfield, Charles Dickens created one of literature’s most repulsive sycophants, the reptilian Uriah Heep.  Dickens, never one to understate his characters, ensures readers will revile Heep by emphasizing his physical creepiness, cadaverous and lanky, with clammy hands and sleepless eyes.  Trained in being “umble” by his father, Heep is always quick to affirm his lowly station and abase himself.  Chaplain to the Bishop of Barchester, the duplicitous Obadiah Slope in Anthony Trollope’s Barchester Towers, epitomizes the lick up-kick down sycophant,  fawning before the powerful, tyrannical towards subordinates.  For Australians, one of the real pleasures in reading Barchester Towers is imagining Bronwyn Bishop when picturing the bishop’s wife.  Nobody however did it better than Shakespeare in Othello. The play is a roll-call of strategies for ingratiation, subversion, and destruction, as Iago corrupts the mind of the noble Othello. No work in English better shows the devastating personal consequences of sycophancy or so starkly renders its intricate ties to other vices for Shakespeare knew the sycophant is capable of every fraud, every hypocrisy, every deceit.

Lilohan

Lilohan (pronounced lie-low-han)

A dialectal variant of English.

2016: The construct was Li(ndsay) + Lohan.  Lilohan is a non-geographically specific dialect of English, the name a contraction derived from that of its creator, Lindsay Lohan.  It appears to use a conventional US English vocabulary but is delivered, with an occasionally halting delivery, in an accent vaguely Russian or eastern European.

Lindsay Lohan explained things by saying it was “…a mixture of most of the languages I can understand or am trying to learn”, adding that she’d been “…learning different languages since I was a child.  I'm fluent in English and French can understand Russian and am learning Turkish, Italian and Arabic”. A limited edition LiLohan clothing line was released to welcome the latest addition to Earth's linguistic diversity.  A philanthropic endeavor, part of the proceeds from each item sold will benefit Caudwell Children and the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency of Türkiye (AFAD).  An example of Lilohan being spoken may be heard here and the clothing range is available in black and white in a range of sizes: Tank tops and T-shirts are US$24.99; sweatshirts US$39.99.

Lindsay Lohan with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (b 1954; prime-minister or president of the Republic of Türkiye since 2003), First Lady Emine Erdoğan and Syrian refugee Bana Alabed, Ankara, Türkiye, 27 January 2017.

The AFAD (Afet ve Acil Durum Yönetimi Başkanlığı), created in 2009, is the government’s central agency for emergency management and civil protection.  The AFAD conducts pre-incident work, such as preparedness, mitigation and risk management, during-incident work such as response, and post-incident work such as recovery and reconstruction.  The AFAD is under the auspices of the Ministry of Interior and coordinates the activities of NGOs with private and governmental agencies.  It additionally formulates and implements policies and in a disaster or emergency, is the state’s sole responsible organization.

Eponymous

Eponymous (pronounced uh-pon-uh-muhs)

(1) The giving of one's name to something.

(2) Of, relating to, or being the person or entity after which something or someone is named.

1833: The construct is eponym + -ous, from the Ancient Greek ἐπώνυμος (epṓnumos), the construct being ἐπί (epí) (upon) +‎ ὄνυμα (ónuma), a Doric and Aeolic variant of ὄνομα (ónoma) (name).  The word seems first to have been used in the second millennium BC, when, for several decades, the Assyrians named each year after a prominent government official, the alternative form eponymal appearing first in the record in reference to the other classical eponymos, a title of certain magistrates in ancient Greece who gave their names to the years when they held office, a practice later adopted by the English to record statute law.  In England, until 1953, the naming conventions for recording the bills parliament passed used regnal years; a statute gazetted in the seventh year of the reign of George V would have been dated 7 George V and were the system still in use, one passed in 2021 would be sealed 69 Elizabeth II.  Widely used in English (the Victorian age, the Nixon doctrine, the Menzies era etc), eponymic has been used in the sense "name-giving; pertaining to eponymic myths" as well as "of or pertaining to a classical eponymos."  The Greek epṓnymos was derived from onyma (name) the root also of a number of English words, including synonymous, pseudonym and anonymous.   Related form is the adverb eponymously.

Lohan Nightclub, Athens

Lohan Nightclub is Lindsay Lohan’s eponymous operation in Athens.  Actual ownership seems murky but at least at one point she was said to hold some equity.

Address:      Iera Odos 30-32, Athina, Greece

Telephone:  +30 698 750 1825

Website:      http://lohanathens.com

Facebook:    www.facebook.com/lohannightclub/

E-mail:        info@lohanathens.com

Opening night, 15 October 2016.

Located in the Kerameikos region of Athens and featuring what’s described as an industrial baroque aesthetic, Lohan Nightclub is described as the only Athenian mega-club.  Opening hours vary with the season and the impact of COVID-19, the lighting and sound systems said to be state of the clubbing art.

An entry ticket is €15 (US$15) and VIP tables are available, subject to a minimum spend of around €600 (US$700).  Lohan is said to be a destination for clubbing in its most extreme iteration and it’s suggested if one isn’t wholly committed to all that that implies, one won’t enjoy things.  The Lohan Nightclub’s material on various platforms notes an atmosphere of decadence promising “something decidedly different”, the greeting of bright pink flowers and neon lights promoting the escapist experience within, the overall impression, loud, hedonistic and Lohanic.

Fiscal

Fiscal (pronounced fis-kuh l)

(1) Off or relating to the public treasury or revenues.

(2) In casual use, of or relating to financial matters in general.

(3) A prosecuting attorney in Scotland, a contraction of procurator fiscal.

(4) In philately, a revenue stamp (a postage or other stamp signifying payment of a tax

(5) In some countries, a public official having control of public revenue.

(6) In some civil law or common-civil hybrids (including Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, and former colonies of these countries and certain British colonies), the solicitor or attorney-general

1560s: An English borrowing from the Middle French Fiscal, derived from the Classical Latin fiscus (public money) and fiscālis (of the state treasury).  The Latin is of unknown etymology and suggestions are speculative: a connection with findō (I cleave) or a link to the rhyme with rarer riscus, a likely Celtic borrowing into Latin and Ancient Greek.  Most convincing is fidēlia (earthen pot, sometime translated as a purse or basket made of twigs in which money was kept).  The general sense of "financial" entered US English in 1865 and was abstracted from phrases like fiscal calendar and fiscal year.

Fiscal Drag

Also known as bracket creep, fiscal drag is the tendency of revenue from taxation to rise as a share of GDP in a growing economy.  Tax allowances, progressive tax rates and the threshold above which a particular rate of tax applies usually remain constant or are changed only gradually.  By contrast, as an economy grows, income, spending and corporate profits should rise, the tax-take therefore increasing without any need for government action.  This helps slow the rate of increase in demand, reducing the pace of growth, making less likely higher inflation. Thus fiscal drag is an automatic stabilizer, as it acts naturally to keep demand stable.  Economists did much work to adjust their models to reflect the post-GFC economy in which, while aggregate growth continued, the gains have tended to be concentrated in the hands of the rich with the incomes of most falling or stagnating in real-terms.  The historically peculiar effect the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have exacerbated these trends in fiscal outcomes, the most interesting of which has been the behavior of inflation now the allocation of the money supply is so distorted.

Salvator Mundi (Savior of the World, circa 1507), attributed in whole or in part to Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) sold at auction in 2017 US$450.3 million.  A 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 Spider (NART) by Scaglietti sold at auction in 2013 for US$27,500,000.  It may yet prove a bargain.  In 2018, a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO sold for $US48.4 million, a handy increase on the previous auction record of US$38.1 million paid for a 1963 250 GTO a year earlier and an even more impressive jump from its US$7 million sale in 2000.  Setting the record for the most expensive car ever sold was a privately-traded 250 GTO which in 2018 brought US$70 million.

Although it’s misleading to compare inflationary numbers with those of the 1970s & 1980s because the math of the calculation is now so different (and some of the changes did make sense), there’s no doubt the novel phenomenon of low inflation in the low-end of the economy and high inflation in the more rarefied air, is a product of very unusual circumstances, a succession of jolts and shocks, from the Greenspan put of the early 2000s, through the GFC, to the pandemic.  For two decades, the jolts and shocks have been buffered by seemingly limitless free money, now able to be distributed in a way which avoids general inflationary pressures while simultaneously driving up asset prices in objects as diverse as old masters and vintage Ferraris.  Economists are divided, both on whether this model can indefinitely continue and whether it’s a good idea, either in concept or its current specifics although all seem to concur it shouldn’t suddenly be stopped.  It’s not just the US Federal Reserve’s discount window which has been wide-open, the quantitatively-eased largess has been popular with many central banks so when adjustments to policy are made, there will be consequences.

Fiscal Neutrality

Fiscal neutrality is a term to describe the net effect of taxation and public spending being neutral, neither stimulating nor dampening demand. The term can be used to describe the overall stance of fiscal policy: a balanced budget is neutral, as total tax revenue equals total public spending.  It can also refer more narrowly to the combined impact of new measures introduced in an annual budget: the budget can be fiscally neutral if any new taxes equal any new spending, even if the overall stance of the budget either boosts or slows demand.

Fiscal policy

A nation’s fiscal policy is one of the two instruments of macroeconomic policy, the other being monetary policy. It comprises public spending and taxation, and any other government income or assistance to the private sector (such as tax breaks). It can be used to influence the level of demand in the economy, historically with the twin goals of maintaining low unemployment without triggering excessive inflation.  It can be deployed to manage short-term demand through fine tuning, although, since the beginning of the neo-liberal era in the 1980s, it has more often been targeted on long-term goals, with monetary policy preferred for shorter-term adjustments.  Disputes do exist, among both economists and politicians.  Some argue for a balanced budget as a structural end in itself while others suggest persistent deficits (public spending exceeding revenue) are acceptable provided, the deficit is used for investment in infrastructure or something useful rather than consumption.  However, even most deficit hawks concede fiscal policy should be counter-cyclical, aiming to automatically stabilize demand by increasing public spending relative to revenue when the economy is struggling and increasing taxes relative to spending towards the top of the cycle.

Defrock

Defrock (pronounced dee-frok)

(1) To remove a frock.

(2) To deprive a person in holy orders of ecclesiastical status.

(3) As informal slang (by extension), formally to remove the rights and authority of someone, eg a medical practitioner or lawyer.

1575-1585: From the fifteenth century French défroquer (unfrock), the construct being dé (partially inherited from the Old and Middle French des, inherited from the Classical Latin dis (apart), the ultimate root being the primitive Indo-European dwís, and partially borrowed from the Latin dē (from), in some cases + froc (from the Middle French frocq (cloth made of coarse wool), from the Old French froc (compare Late Latin hroccus (frock)) from the Frankish hrokk (robe, tunic), from the Proto-Germanic hrukkaz (robe, garment, cowl), a variant of rukkaz (upper garment, smock, shirt), from the primitive Indo-European rug (upper clothes, shirt) which was cognate with the Old High German hroch & roc (tunic, smock, jersey) (German rock), the Old Saxon rok (mantle, jacket), and the Old English rocc (over-garment, jacket).

For literalists: Lindsay Lohan in black frock (left) & after de-frocking (right).

Laicization

Defrocking, sometimes called unfrocking (there’s nothing in the etymological record to suggest de-frock or un-frock has ever had currency) is the act of denying an ordained member of the clergy the right to practice ministry.  The procedure differs between Christian denominations (although, for technical reasons, is rare and often impossible in Anglicanism) and is most often applied to the Roman Catholic Church although, as a point of law, it does not overturn ordination.  Although the term defrock is widely used to describe the process whereby members of the Catholic Church clergy are dismissed from the clerical state, the term doesn’t exist in canon law and is never used by the Vatican, clerical expulsion instead known as laicization.  Unlike the more common suspension, which can be reversed upon repentance, laicization is a permanent and final measure although it’s not always imposed as a punishment (Latin: ad poenam) and may granted at the request of a priest (Latin: pro gratia).  Although criticized for not having done enough during his pontificate to ensure sinful priests were defrocked, regulations authorized by Benedict XVI (1927–2022; pope 2005-2013, pope emeritus 2013-2022) in 2009 did simplify the process which, unchanged for centuries, could take more than a decade.

Guilty as sin:  Former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick (b 1930).  Ordained in 1958, he was first appointed bishop in 1977 and created cardinal in 2001.  Accused of long-term sexual misconduct towards boys and seminarians, after being retired from the ministry in 2018 he was defrocked (laicized) in 2019.  Criminal charges have since been laid.

The defrocking by the Holy See followed McCarrick’s trial before the Inquisition (then called The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF)) in which he was found guilty of "solicitation in the Sacrament of Confession, and sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and with adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power".  The Inquisition rejected an appeal against the judgement and sent the papers to the pope, who, as the Holy See’s chief magistrate, certified the verdict as res iudicata (no further appeal possible).   Under canon law, ordination cannot be excised so McCarrick remains a priest but is barred from performing any priestly duties except in one exceptional case: he may administer the last rites to the dying if no other priest is available.

Glout

Glout (pronounced glout or gloot)

(1) To scowl or frown (archaic).

(2) To stare gloatingly (obsolete).

(3) To look sullen (modern revival for selfies & memes).

1400–1450: The origin is in late Middle English and although of uncertain origin, it’s related to the earlier use where to glout was “gloatingly to stare”.  The root, the Middle English glouten (to scowl) is thought derived from the Old Norse goltta (scornfully to grin) but, although likely, the link is undocumented.   A verb used without object, the third-person singular is glout; the simple present is glouts, the present participle is glouting, the simple past and past participle is glouted).

Although described as archaic as long ago as the eighteenth century, glout enjoyed a bit of a (brief) early twenty-first century revival as a descriptor of selfies and memes although the more evocative resting bitch face (RBF) tended to be preferred.  In the way the social works, glout soon faded from use. 

Noted glouters, Cardinal Pell, Senator Eric Abetz and Lindsay Lohan, glouting.

Indolent

Indolent (pronounced in-dl-uhnt)

(1) Having or showing a disposition to avoid exertion; slothful; disliking work or effort; lazy; idle.

(2) In pathology, causing little or no pain; inactive or relatively benign.

(3) In medicine (applied especially to painless ulcers), slow to heal.

1663: From either the French indolent or directly from the Medieval Latin indolentem, from the Latin indolent- (stem of indolēns), the construct being in- (not) + dolent- (stem of dolēns (pain)), present participle of dolēre (to be painful, be in pain) from dolēre (to grieve, to cause distress).  The sense of "living easily, slothful”, dates from 1710, a sense said (certainly by English etymologists) perhaps developed in French.  The synonyms for both meanings are many, typically words like slow, inactive, sluggish & torpid. 

The meanings related to medical matters are now entirely technical and restricted to the profession, both generalized as “a slowly progressive medical condition associated with little or no pain” and specifically in conditions such as lowest of three grades of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), refractory corneal ulcers and a slow-growing carditis, a form of infective endocarditis that may also indicate rheumatic fever.  In general use, the word is now used exclusively to indicate degrees of idleness.  Indolent is an adjective (the occasional use as a noun remains non-standard), indolence is the noun, indolently the adverb.

An indolent Lindsay Lohan, Los Angeles, 2012.

Deglutition

Deglutition (pronounced dee-gloo-tish-uh)

In physiology, the act or process of swallowing.

1640-1650: From the French déglutition or the Late Latin dēglūtītiō, from the Latin dēglūtīre & dēgluttīre + -tiō (suffix forming nouns relating to actions or the results of actions).  Dēgluttīre is derived from dēgluttiō (to swallow down), the construct being dē- (the prefix meaning “from, off”) + gluttiō (to gulp down, swallow) from the primitive Indo-European gwel (throat).  The plural is deglutitions.

Deglutition imminent: Lindsay Lohan eating yogurt.

Burkini

Burkini (pronounced boo-r-kee-nee or burr-kee-nee)

A type of bathing suit for women covering the torso, limbs, and head, leaving exposed the face, hands and feet.

2004: The construct is a portmanteau of bur(k)a + (bi)kini (by extraction from bikini, in interpreting the "bi" as a prefix "bi-), thereby creating the new suffix "bur-").  Burka (other spellings including burkha & burqa) is from 1836, from the Hindi बुरक़ा (burqā) (برقع‎ (burqā) in Urdu), from the Persian برقع‎ (borqa), from the Arabic بُرْقُع‎ (burqu).  The -kini is an adoption of the –kini in the Bikini, first noted in 1946.  Although known as the Eschscholtz Atoll until 1946, the modern English name is derived from the German colonial name Bikini, adopted while part of German New Guinea and was a transliteration from the Marshallese Pikinni (pʲi͡ɯɡɯ͡inʲːi), a construct of Pik (surface) + ni (coconut or surface of coconuts).

Lindsay Lohan in burkini, Thailand, April 2017.  Note the exposed feet which would have attracted the disapprobation of Afghan Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

Although most associated with those who adopt the style for religious reasons, it works functionally for anyone seeking to maximise skin protection.  The suits are made of SPF50+ fabric, generally using a finely-knit polyester swimsuit fabric rather than the heavier neoprene used for wetsuits.  The design is intended to respect Islamic traditions of modest dress but its acceptability is debated; few Muftis have seemed impressed and no Ayatollah is known to have commented although it’s known influential Hanafi scholars at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, reject full-body swimsuits as allowable wear in mixed company.  Appeal is however cross-cultural; burkinis proving popular in Israel, among both Jewish-Haredi and Muslims and there is the functional appeal, especially for those with fair skin, of protection from harsh sun.  In France, where there had been controversy since 2009, in 2016 a number of French municipalities banned the burkini, citing concerns about the repression of women.

The name is proprietary and trademarked name (as Burkini and Burqini) owned by its inventor, Aheda Zanetti (b 1967), a Lebanese-born Australian fashion designer, so technically should be capitalised in that context but lowercase is correct if used in the generic sense to describe similar swimwear.  The Burkini was released in 2004, following Zanetti’s earlier creation, the Hijood (a portmanteau of hijab and hood) designed permit participation in sports by Muslim girls whose practice of observance didn’t allow the clothing traditionally used in the West.

Tincture

Tincture (pronounced tingk-cher)

(1) In pharmacology, a solution of alcohol or of alcohol and water, containing animal, vegetable, or chemical drugs (an alcohol solution of a non-volatile medicine (obsolete)).

(2) A slight infusion, as of some element or quality.

(3) A trace; a smack or smattering; tinge.

(4) In heraldry, any of the colors, metals, or furs used for the fields, charges etc, of an escutcheon or achievement of arms.

(5) A dye or pigment (obsolete).

(6) To impart a tint or color to; tinge.

(7) To imbue or infuse with something.

(8) A slight flavour, aroma, or trace

1350–1400: From the Middle English, a borrowing from the Latin tīnctūra (dyeing) (the verb tingo) from tingere (to dye), the original construct being tinct + -ure (like –ing and –tion, a suffix used in Latin to form nouns relating to the action of specified verbs.   Tingo is from the primitive Indo-European teng- (to soak, dip) and was cognate with the Ancient Greek τέγγω (téngō).  From this root Modern English has picked up tint, taint and tainture (an obsolete synonym of tincture).

Meaning shift

The historic meaning of tincture (a synonym for dye or pigment) is now entirely obsolete; a tincture is now a subtle shade, tint or variation of an original colour or a smattering of another.  It can be applied to any field vaguely analogous such as tastes or aromas and can be used pejoratively to suggest someone’s knowledge of something might be less than advertised.

Lindsay Lohan tinctures: copper and auburn variations of red.

Karen

Karen (pronounced kar-uhn (kahr-ren or kuh-ren for the given name))

(1) A group of people of eastern and southern Burma (Myanmar).

(2) One of these people.

(3) The language of the Karen, a Tibeto-Burman language of the Sino-Tibetan family.

(4) Of or relating to the Karen people or their language.

(5) A female given name, originally a form of Katherine.

(6) A general purpose pejorative term used to disparage white, middle-class, middle-aged women.

1759: The original spelling was Carian, from the Burmese ka-reng (wild, dirty, low-caste man), a not entirely affectionate local descriptor of the Mongoloid people of Burma.  For the ethnic group, the noun plural is Karens, (especially collectively) or Karen; for all other uses it’s Karens. 

1800s: The feminine proper name entered English from the Danish Karen, a vernacular form of Catherine & Katherine that arose in medieval Denmark.  Rare in the English-speaking world before 1928, it first became popular during the 1940s and was consistently in the top-ten for girls born in the United States between 1951-1968, and was the third most popular girl's name in 1965.  That proved to be peak-Karen and its use rapidly declined to be negligible.  Used in the Danish, Arabic, Dutch, Hebrew, Norwegian, German and English languages, variants (mostly German, Austrian & the Nordic countries) include Caja, Kaja (Danish), Caren, Caryn, Karena, Kaat, Karin, Karyn (and dozens of others), it has since 1945 also been used in Japan, China, Malaya (later Malaysia) and the Philippines.

Karen can also be a family name (surname).  In Armenian, Karen (Կարեն) (kɑˈɾɛn) is a common masculine given name, derived from the Parthian name of the House of Karen (or Caren) which ruled the Tabaristan region, corresponding (approximately) to the provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran.  The House of Karen (Kārēn in the Middle Persian; Kārēn in the Parthian & Persian (کارن‎), Kārin or Kāren, known also as Karen-Pahlav (Kārēn-Pahlaw)) was one of the seven great houses during the rule of the Parthian and Sassanian Empires.  The masculine given name Garen is a western Armenian form of the eastern Armenian Karen.

Beware of the edgy bob

Karen is a pejorative term used in the English-speaking world to disparage white, middle-class, middle-aged women on the basis of their sense of entitlement and demanding behavior.  It’s thus a particular critique of white privilege and is especially associated with a certain bob cut hairstyle, now known in the industry as the speak to the manager.  The origins are murky and the Karen in its now understood term is really a coalesced form from a number of threads to define characteristics like "entitlement, selfishness, a desire to complain" with stereotypical behavior being demanding to “speak to the manager”, usually about some trivial matter.  A creation of social media, the evolution from its point of critical-mass has (presumably coincidently) run in parallel with COVID-19; in November 2019, Google reported fewer than 20,000 instances of use which, by July 2020 had increased to over eight million.  It has origins in the mid-2010s as a way for people of color, particularly African-Americans, to satirise the class-based and racially charged hostilities and micro-aggressions they often face and in that it was different from the BLM (black lives matter) movement in that it focused not on violence but on instances of casual-racism, always by women perceived to be of a certain age and class.  Earlier instances were tied to specific events captured on the suddenly ubiquitous smartphones, yielding the predictably alliterative Permit Patty, BBQ Becky and Golfcart Gail but, in 2018, the trend distilled into Karen, an apparently quintessentially white name.

Except in Scandinavia, Karens are dying out.

Quite how "Karen" should be classified attracted feminist deconstruction. Although used exclusively in a pejorative manner toward a person of a specific race and gender, the subject, although female, is not one historically associated with discrimination in this context and thus the critical descriptive tools really didn’t exist.  The conclusion seemed to be this was just another way to silence women, denying them a right to speak.  The more radical feminist left, attracted more to intersectionality, suggested it was "sexist, ageist, and classist”, although, despite being deployed only against white women, it couldn’t, as a matter of law in most Western jurisdictions, be thought racist as such although, because the targets of many Karens were depicted as minorities, it did fit into the general rubric of the critique of white privilege.  Use seems to have peaked in 2020 but Karen is still often used.

Ensorcell

Ensorcell (pronounced en-sawr-suhl)

To bewitch.

1535–1545: From the French ensorceller, from the Middle French ensorceler (to bewitch), a dissimilated variant of the Old French ensorcerer, the construct of which was en- (from Old French en-, a prefixation of Latin in (in, into)) + the verb from sorcier (sorcerer; wizard).  Ultimate root of sorcier was the Latin sors (fate, lot; oracular response; destiny, fate or fortune of an individual), from the primitive Indo-European ser- (to bind).  Ensorcellment is another noun and the alternative spelling is ensorcel.

Despite the pedigree reaching back to antiquity of the words from which it comes, the verb ensorcell (to bewitch or enchant) didn’t appear in English until the sixteenth century and then only briefly.  Use wasn’t revived until the nineteenth century when Sir Richard Burton (1821-1890) included in The Tale of the Ensorcelled Prince, a translation of a title of one of the Arabian Nights tales (1885).  Ensorcell had appeared in Henry Torrens’ earlier (1838) partial translation, The Book of The Thousand Nights and One Night which Burton had read and admired.  Prior to this, the only known instance in English was in George Puttenham's Arte of English Poesie (1589), which was reprinted in the early nineteenth century and Torrens probably picked it up from there.

Victims

Ensorcell is one of those words in English which may have proved useful had it ever come into general use but it remained rare and now inhabits the niche of translations of exotic texts or tales of witchcraft and sorcery.  For most purposes the many alternatives are preferable:  hypnotize, fascinate, enthrall, stupefy, tickle, bewitch, captivate, please, delight, beguile, cajole, wow, enrapture, attract, mesmerize, enamor, gratify, charm, entice & thrill.  However, the word can be used to discuss men who are victims of beguiling women:

“She came forward swaying from side to side and coquettishly moving and indeed she ravished wits and hearts and ensorcelled all eyes with her glances.”  (From The Tale of the Ensorcelled Prince in Arabian Nights stories by Scheherazade, translated by Sir Richard Burton (1885)).

Vikki Campion & Barnaby Joyce

Gladys-Berejiklian & Daryl-Maguire

Bill Clinton & Monica Lewinsky

Gang

Gang (pronounced gang)

(1) A group of (usually male) adolescents who associate closely, often exclusively, for social reasons, especially such a group engaging in delinquent behavior.

(2) A group of people who associate together or act as an organized body for criminal or illegal purposes; A group of people with compatible tastes or mutual interests who gather together for social reasons:

(3) To arrange in groups or sets; form into a gang.

(4) An alternative term for a herd of buffaloes or elks or a pack of wild dogs

(5) A group of shearers who travel to different shearing sheds, shearing, classing, and baling wool (mostly New Zealand rural).

(6) In electronics, to mount two or more components on the same shaft, permitting adjustment by a single control.

(7) In mechanization and robotics, a series of similar tools arranged to work simultaneously in parallel (eg a gang saw is an assembly of blade and conveyor, pulling logs across its blades to cut an entire section into planks with one pass).

(8) As chain gang, a term to describe a work-gang of convicts chained together, usually by the ankles (mostly US, south of the Mason-Dixon Line).

(9) An outbuilding used as a loo (obsolete).

(10) To go, walk, proceed; a going, journey, a course, path, track (chiefly Britain dialectal, northern England & Scotland).

Pre 900: From the Middle English gangen from the Old English gang, gong, gangan and gongan (manner of going, passage, to go, walk, turn out) from the Proto-Germanic ganganą (to go, walk), from the primitive Indo-European ghengh (to step, walk).  It was cognate with the Scots gang (to go on foot, walk), the Swedish gånga (to walk, go), the Old High German gangan, the Old Norse ganga, the Gothic gaggan, the Faroese ganga (to walk), the Icelandic ganga (to walk, go), the Vedic Sanskrit जंहस् (jáṃhas & jangha) (foot, walk) and the Lithuanian žengiu (I stride").  Gang emerged as a variant spelling of gangue; scholars have never found any relation to go.

The evolution of gang from a word meaning “to walk” to one with a sense of “a group formed for some common purpose” appears to have happened in the mid-fourteenth century, probably via "a set of articles that usually are taken together in going", especially a set of tools used on the same job.  By the 1620s this had been extended in nautical speech to mean "a company of workmen" and, within a decade, gang was being used as a term of disapprobation for "any band of persons travelling together", then "a criminal gang or company" and there was a general trend between the seventeen and nineteenth centuries for it to be used to describe animal herds or flocks.  In US English, by 1724, it applied to slaves working on plantations and by 1855, it was used to mean a "group of criminal or mischievous boys in a city".  Synonyms include clan, tribe, company, clique, crew, band, squad, troop, set, party, syndicate, organization, ring, team, bunch, horde, coterie, crowd, club, shift and posse.  Despite the meaning-shift, both gangway and gang-plank preserve the original sense of the word.

Gang of Four

Although the term (and variations) has since often been used in both politics and popular culture, the original Gang of Four was a faction of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the four members all figures of significance during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976).  The best known of the four was Mao Zedong's last wife and the extent to which wife and gang, rather than Chairman Mao, were responsible for what happened in the Cultural Revolution remains a dispute among sinologists.  The Gang of Four were arrested within a month of Mao’s death in 1976 and labelled "counter-revolutionaries”.  After a CCP show trial, they were sentenced either to death or long prison-terms although the capital sentences were later commuted.  All have since died, either in prison or after release in the late 1990s.

A counter-revolutionary gang of four.