Word of the Day: STIGMA (STIG-muh) – A mark of shame or disgrace, a moral blemish, a stain on one’s character or reputation. Stigma comes directly from Greek , and means literally a mark, brand, tattoo. In its original but no longer common sense, stigma refers to a brand or scar made with a red-hot iron in the flesh of slaves and criminals. Later it came to be used of anything that branded a person as unwholesome or disgraceful, a mark of shame, stain on one’s character or reputation: the stigma of divorce; the stigma of a bad credit rating. The corresponding verb is stigmatize (STIG-muh-tyz), to brand as shameful, set a mark of disgrace upon: The media rarely have an indifferent view of celebrities and politicians; they either praise them or stigmatize them. The plural of stigma is either stigmas or stigmata (preferably STIG-muh-tuh ; I’ll elaborate in a moment). Stigmas is the anglicized plural— to anglicize means to make English, conform to English modes of spelling, pronunciation, and usage. Stigmata, the Latinate plural, is also an interesting word by itself. Specifically, stigmata refers to marks resembling the wounds on the crucified body of Jesus Christ that are believed to have been supernaturally impressed on the bodies of certain persons, such as St. Francis of Assisi. Now for a word of advice on pronunciation. For the plural stigmata, STIG-muh-tuh, with the stress on the first syllable, follows the Latin and Greek accentuation and is the traditional English pronunciation. The alternative pronunciation stig-MAH-tuh, with the accent on the second syllable, has been around since the 1920s; it is now standard and listed first in some dictionaries. Despite its popularity, however, stig-MAH-tuh is a pseudoclassical pronunciation; in other words, those who say it that way probably think they are following the proper classical accentuation. Although stig-MAH-tuh is not wrong, it carries a slight stigma of affectation. There is no such stigma associated with the pronunciation STIG-muh-tuh, which I recommend as having a longer tradition and greater authority. - Elster, Charles Harrington (2009-02-04). Verbal Advantage: Ten Easy Steps to a Powerful Vocabulary
Posted on: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 12:15:46 +0000
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