Today's Word "Apothegm"
Published in Vocabulary
apothegm \AE-peh-them\ (noun) - A terse saying that sums up a philosophical insight or conclusion; a maxim, an aphorism.
"Nicola felt that one of Thomas Jefferson's better apothegms was, 'In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.'"
Today's is a word we have not quite decided how to spell: "apothegm" and "apophthegm" are currently accepted by most dictionaries. This indecision is the result of two problems the word presents to us. The first is how to handle the [gm] at the end of the word, a consonant combination English does not allow there. Solution: ignore the [g]. The second problem is what do with the combination [fth], also rather un-English mid-word. The same solution was applied here: ignore the [ph]. Out of respect for the Greeks who provided so much of our vocabulary, however, we left the [g] in the spelling and some folks think we should keep the [ph], too. Apothegm goes back to Greek "apophthegma" from apophthengesthai "to speak simply," made up of apo- "away (from)" + phthengesthai "to speak." The apo- comes from the same source as English "of," "off," and "after." German "auf" is also a distant cousin while in Russian, it turned up as po "about, around."
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