November 30, 2008
alienist
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 01, 2008 is:
alienist • \AY-lee-uh-nist\ • noun
: psychiatrist
Example sentence:
Julius Wagner von Jauregg was a gifted alienist and neurologist who was awarded the 1927 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.
Did you know?
"Alienist" looks and sounds like it should mean "someone who studies aliens," and in fact "alienist" and "alien" are related -- both are ultimately derived from the Latin word “alius,” meaning "other." In the case of "alienist," the etymological trail leads from Latin to French, where the adjective “aliene” ("insane") gave rise to the noun “alieniste,” referring to a doctor who treats the insane. "Alienist" first appeared in print in English in 1864. It was preceded by the other “alius” descendants, "alien" (14th century) and "alienate" (used as a verb since the early 16th century). "Alienist" is much rarer than "psychiatrist" these days, but at one time it was the preferred term.
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More Events on this day:
1936: A fire virtually destroyed the Crystal Palace, the giant exhibition hall that housed the Great Exhibition of 1851.
1908: The United States and Japan signed the Root-Takahira Agreement, which averted a drift toward possible war through the mutual acknowledgment of certain international policies and spheres of influence in the Pacific.
1874: British statesman, orator, and author Sir Winston Churchill was born in Oxfordshire, England.
1782: Britain and the United States signed the preliminary articles of the Treaty of Paris as part of the Peace of Paris, a collection of treaties concluding the American Revolution.
1718: Charles XII, king of Sweden, was killed during a siege of the fortress of Fredriksten, east of Oslo Fjord, ending Sweden's “Age of Greatness.”
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