Today's Word "Festoon"
Published in Vocabulary
festoon \fes-TUN\ (verb) - To drape a bushy rope of greenery or colorful cloth in loops that droop down between the points where it is attached, for festive decoration.
"Well, no, festooning the tree with toilet paper is not really what I had in mind when I asked for Christmas decoration in the front yard."
Today's word comes from French festoon "festoon, scallop," from Italian "festone," based on festa "feast" from the Latin plural of "festum," neuter singular from festus "festive." The original Proto-Indo-European root was *dhes- which had a religious sense, difficult to pinpoint. A suffixed form, *dhes-ya- "fair" went on to become Latin feriae "holidays" as well as "festus." In Greek the root assumed the ultimate spiritual sense in theos "god," which underlies English "theology," "atheist," and "tiffany"-see more on this word in our Word of the Day Archive.
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