Word origins

• vittaA fillet, or garland for the head.
• CtesiphonAn ancient capital of Parthia and later of the Sassanid Persian Empire, on the Tigris near Baghdad in present-day Iraq, abandoned in the 7th and 8th centuries.
• ligateTo bind with a ligature or bandage.
• phratryA clan or kinship group consisting of a number of families claiming descent from a common ancestor and having certain collective functions and responsibilities.
• alaryPertaining to wings.
• drupeA kind of fruit, with a fleshy exterior, formed from the exocarp and mesocarp, surrounding a hardened endocarp which protects the seed.
• AegyptusA king of Egypt in Greek mythology.
• paraphrasisThe practice of paraphrasing: use of different words.
• ItalaAn early Latin version of the Biblical Scriptures.
• VenitePsalm 95
• biremeAn ancient galley having two banks of oars, one above the other.
• villinA calcium-dependent actin-binding protein.
• AetiusA transliteration of the Ancient Greek male given name Ἀέτιος (Aétios), Aetius.
• veraciousTrue.
• unguentAny cream containing medicinal ingredients applied to the skin for therapeutic purposes.
• silphiumA plant, thought to be extinct, used in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome in cooking and as a contraceptive.
• lithiasisThe process of forming stonelike deposits or calculi formed in an internal organ, such as a gallstone in the gall bladder.
• incorruptibilityThe condition of being incorruptible; honesty.
• contumacyDisobedience, resistance to authority.
• labiumA liplike structure; especially one of the vulva's two pairs of folds of skin on either side.
• PadanOf or relating to the river Po in Italy.
• restaurThe remedy that assurers have against each other, or a person has against his guarantor.
• dissociableAble to be dissociated, divided or separated.
• careneSynonym of carenum (“reduction of must or sweet wine in ancient European cuisine”).
• execrationAn act or instance of cursing; a curse dictated by violent feelings of hatred; an imprecation; an expression of utter detestation.
• consubstantialOf the same substance or essence.
• noniusA device for adjusting the accuracy of mathematical instruments, later superseded by the vernier.
• depopulateTo reduce the population of a region by disease, war, forced relocation etc.
• IamblichusA male given name from Koine Greek, of historical usage.
• castellumA small Roman detached fort or fortlet used as a watch tower or signal station.
• tragopogonEither of two goat's-beards (Tragopogon pratensis (meadow salsify) or Tragopogon porrifolius (common salsify); or (in later use) any other member of the genus Tragopogon.
• explicativeExplanatory; serving to explain logically or in detail.
• forfexA pair of shears.
• radialisA radial muscle, artery, or nerve.
• sestertiusA large bronze or (rarely) small silver coin minted during the Roman Republic and Empire, valued at two and a half asses (a quarter of a denarius).
• luminometerphotometer
• stolonA shoot that grows along the ground and produces roots at its nodes; a runner.
• trifoliateHaving or comprising three leaves, or (loosely) trifoliolate (with three leaflets) or having leaves with three parts, as the clover plant.
• SanitasA kind of cleanable cloth-backed wallpaper.
• vestigateTo investigate.
• AegisthusThe murderer of Agamemnon and lover of his wife Clytemnestra.
• orchidectomySynonym of orchiectomy.
• AmabelA female given name from Latin.
• demulcentSoothing or softening.
• germenThe basic form of an organism; the seed or germ.
• confessioA confession; a defense of one's faith, or a confession of guilt.
• PalladiusA male given name from Latin [in turn from Ancient Greek].
• jocoseGiven to jesting; habitually jolly.
• enharmonicDescribing two or more identical or almost identical notes that are written differently when in different keys. (Whether they are identical and what the exact equivalences are depends on the tuning used.)
• stavesacreA highly toxic, perennial plant with purple flowers (Staphisagria macrosperma, syn. Delphinium staphisagria).
• cestusA leather fighting glove, frequently weighted with metal.
• antemortemHaving occurred or having been inflicted before death.
• ℞A prescription.
• £sdThe pre-decimal pounds, shillings, pence.
• 6toSixmo, sexto.
• -aMarks singular nouns, with a foundation in Greek or Latin, often implying femininity, especially when contrasted with words terminating in -us.
• a-Forming verbs with the sense away, up, on, out.
• ab-From.
• ab absurdoFrom absurdity.
• abactionCarrying away by force, especially of animals.
• a baculoArgued by means of force rather than logic.
• abaculusA small tile of glass, marble, or other substance, of various colors, used in making ornamental patterns in mosaic pavements; abaciscus.
• abalienateTo make another's that which was once yours; to transfer the title of from one to another; to alienate.
• abalienationThe act of abalienating; alienation; estrangement; transferring a legal title.
• AbderiteAn inhabitant or native of Abdera, in Thrace.
• AbdiasObadiah (biblical prophet)
• abdicativeCausing, or implying, abdication.
• abditiveHaving the quality of hiding
• abdominoscrotal musclethe cremaster muscle.
• abdominovaginalRelating to the abdomen and the vagina
• abduceTo draw; to conduct away; to take away; to withdraw; to draw to a different part; to move a limb out away from the center of the body; abduct.
• abducens muscleRectus lateralis muscle of the eye; muscle that moves the eye away from the center of the face.
• abducens oculiMusculus rectus lateralis bulbi.
• abducentDrawing away from the median axis of the body, as a muscle; see etymology abducting.
• abecedariumA book used to teach the alphabet; alphabet book; primer.
• Abernethy's fasciaA layer of tissue that separates the iliac artery from the iliac fascia.
• aberrTo go astray; to err.
• aberranceState of being aberrant; a wandering from the right way; deviation from truth, rectitude.
• aberrateTo go astray; to diverge; to deviate (from); deviate from.
• aberratio lactisThe secretion of milk from an abnormal location, not from the mammary glands.
• aberratio testisA testis that is descending to a wrong position after born, or not descending at all (cryptorchidism).
• abessiveOf, or relating to the grammatical case used in some languages to indicate absence.
• abevacuationAn abnormal evacuation.
• abhominalInhuman; obsolete form of abominable.
• abientCharacterized by avoidance or withdrawal.
• abieteneA volatile oil distilled from the resin or balsam of the nut pine (Pinus sabiniana).
• abieticOf, pertaining to, or derived from fir trees
• abietic acidA yellowish resin acid isolated from rosin and used in varnishes and esters for plasticizers; C₁₉H₂₉COOH.
• abietiteA substance resembling mannite, found in the needles of the common silver fir of Europe (Abies alba).
• abigeatTheft of cattle by driving it away with the intention of feloniously appropriating it.
• abigeusA thief who steals livestock in large quantities.
• ab initioFrom the time when a law, legal right or decree, contract, ownership interest, partnership (etc.) comes into force.
• ab invitoAgainst one's will; not of one's invitation.
• a bird in the hand is worth two in the bushA sure thing is preferable to the mere chance at something more.
• abjectureabjection; forlornness
• abjudgeTo confiscate by judicial decision.
• abjudicateTo reject by judicial sentence.
• abjudicationRejection or confiscation by judicial sentence.
• abjugateTo unyoke; set free; uncouple.
• abjunctiveExceptional, isolated, disconnected, separate,