scintilla \sin-TIL-uh\ noun: a very small amount : spark, trace Examples: Nobody but the cast and crew has even a scintilla of an idea of how things will actually end, but that hasnt stopped people from speculating, including us. — From an article by Tom Mendelsohn in The Independent (London), September 26, 2013 Hunters say the wolves are depleting the native elk populations; ranchers fret their livestock is at risk. Both claims have a scintilla of truth in them, but are mostly overblown. — From an article by Mike Di Paola in Salon, September 3, 2013 Did you know? Scintilla comes directly from Latin, where it carries the meaning of spark—that is, a bright flash such as you might see from a burning ember. In English, however, our use of scintilla is restricted to the figurative sense of spark—a hint or trace of something that barely suggests its presence. Latin scintilla is related to the verb scintillare, which means to sparkle and is responsible for our verb scintillate (to sparkle or gleam, literally or figuratively). In an odd twist, scintilla underwent a transposition of the c and the t (a linguistic phenomenon known as metathesis) to create the Vulgar Latin form stincilla, which is believed to be an ancestor of our word stencil. Copied from Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 10-24-13
Posted on: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 10:56:22 +0000
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