500 Foreign Words and Phrases You Should Know to Sound Smart (3 page)

There is no god but God. This is part of the Shahahada, or testimony, that is an essential part of Islam. All Muslims must make a declaration of belief, part of the Five Pillars of Islam. In Arabic, it runs,
la ‘ilaha ‘illallah, Muhammad rasulu-llah
(there is no god but God and Mohammed is the messenger of God).

Allez!
(French) (ah-LAY) (verb)

Go! Get out of here! Begone! The imperative form of the French verb
aller
.

I’ve got lots of work to do, and I don’t have time to talk to you, so ALLEZ!

alter ego
(Latin) (AHL-ter EE-go) (noun)

Another personality that is different from one’s normal self. The term is also applied to a collection of personality traits that are exhibited apart from the way a person normally acts. The term has widespread use in literature, including in comic books, where a superhero’s secret identity is sometimes referred to as his or her alter ego. For instance, Superman’s alter ego is the mild-mannered Clark Kent. Spiderman is better known to his friends and family as the nebbish Peter Parker.

He’s usually such a nice person, but he was so mean today. It’s as if we encountered his ALTER EGO
.

Nota Bene

Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in 1932, Superman has been seen by many as the quintessential American hero. Gifted with superpowers by his origins on the now-destroyed planet Krypton, Superman fights for Earth, his adopted home, guarding it against both internal threats (such as master criminal Lex Luthor) and external perils. At the same time, writers for Superman quickly figured out that a character who couldn’t be injured or face any appreciable danger was pretty boring, so over the years they’ve kept coming up with weaknesses—in a rewrite of the series in 1986, it transpired, for example, that Superman has to hold his breath while flying through outer space.

alter ipse amicus
(Latin) (AHL-tare IP-say ah-ME-kuss) (expression)

A friend is another self. A lovely sentiment for a friendship card.

amicus curiae
(Latin) (ah-ME-kiss COOR-ee-eye) (noun)

Friend of the court. Someone not directly involved in a court case who offers information or an opinion designed to influence the case’s outcome. Generally it takes the form of a legal brief, which is taken into consideration by the presiding judge but does not have to be admitted into evidence.

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed numerous AMICUS CURIAE briefs in cases involving civil rights
.

amor patriae
(Latin) (AH-more PAH-tree-eye) (noun)

Love of one’s country; patriotism

A politician should have no higher sentiment than AMOR PATRIAE; sadly, most of them love money more than their country
.

Amor vincit omnia
(Latin) (AH-more WIN-kit AHM-nee-ah) (phrase)

Love conquers all. In Chaucer’s
The
Canterbury Tales
, the Prioress is described as having

“A string of beads and gauded all with green;

And therefrom hung a brooch of golden sheen

Whereon there was first written a crowned ‘A,’

And under
, Amor vincit omnia
.”

A somewhat odd sentiment, perhaps, for someone who has given her life to the church.

amour propre
(French) (ah-MOOR PRO-pre) (noun)

Self-esteem; self-love. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) argued that this kind of self-esteem depended on the good opinions of others. He contrasted this with
amour de soi
, which was self-love without any external support.

His insults have not affected my AMOUR PROPRE, since I know he’s an idiot
.

ancien régime
(French) (ahn-SIEN ray-ZHEEM) (noun)

Literally, “ancient regime” or “ancient monarchy.” It refers to the government and social system of France from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century. The most outstanding representative of this system was Louis XIV, the Sun King, who built the magnificent palace of Versailles as a kind of physical monument to the
ancien régime
. The regime perished in the French Revolution, and, despite attempts by Napoleon and Louis Napoleon to resurrect it, it remained dead.

angst
(German) (ahnkst) (noun)

Fear, anxiety, turmoil. Although the word is an old one, it came into widespread use in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, during the rise of the cultural movement called modernism. This reflected the underlying nervousness of Western society, which became intensified after the First World War.

The ANGST of modern man is reflected in Edvard Munch’s famous painting, “The Scream.”

anno Domini
(Latin) (AHN-no DOH-min-ee) (adj.)

Literally, “the year of our Lord.” It refers to dates occurring after the supposed incarnation of Christ. It was invented in the sixth century by the Greek monk Dionysius Exiguus and popularized by the English historian the Venerable Bede in his
Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum
. In more recent years, it has been replaced by Common Era, or
C.E.
, and Before Common Era, or
B.C.E
.

I wrote this book in 2011 ANNO DOMINI
.

anno regni
(Latin) (AHN-no REG-nee) (adj.)

In the year of (his or her) reign. This system of dating depends on the regnal year of a particular king or queen. It is almost never used—not least because there are so few kings and queens anymore (at least ones we pay much attention to).

The wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton occurred in ANNO REGNI 59
.

annus horribilis
(Latin) (AHN-nus hor-EE-bi-liss) (noun)

Year of horrors. The phrase was used by Queen Elizabeth II in 1992 in a speech. From her point of view, it was certainly not a great year. In March, the separation of the Duke and Duchess of York was announced. In April, Princess Anne divorced her husband. In November, the royal residence Windsor Castle caught fire, and in December, Prince Charles and Princess Diana announced they were separating.

1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure. In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an ANNUS HORRIBILIS
.

—Queen Elizabeth II

annus mirabilis
(Latin) (AHN-nus mir-AH-bi-liss) (noun)

Wonderful year. It is also the title of a poem by the English writer John Dryden. He was referring to the year 1666, although it wasn’t a great year for many people; the Great Fire of London wiped out a large chunk of the city, and England was revisited by the Plague. Dryden didn’t contract the disease, so from his point of view it wasn’t a bad year, all things considered.

Some might say that the last year before the financial crisis, 2007, was a kind of ANNUS MIRABILIS
.

antebellum
(Latin) (AN-tee-BELL-um) (adj.)

Literally, “before the war.” Specifically, this term is used to refer to the United States prior to the Civil War (1861–1865), especially to the South and to prewar Southern culture.

Because of the destructive character of the Civil War, only a few ANTEBELLUM houses are still standing in Georgia
.

ante mortem
(Latin) (AN-tee MORE-tem) (adj.)

Before death. Often used in coroners’ reports and other medical documents.

All indications are that the bruises on the subject’s neck were produced ANTE MORTEM, indicating he was probably strangled by an unknown person or persons
.

aperçu
(French) (ah-per-SOO) (noun)

A clever insight; alternately, a summation.

I find your APERÇU of the situation to be extremely helpful
.

apéritif
(French) (ah-per-i-TEEF) (noun)

A predinner drink, designed to stimulate the palate in preparation for the meal. Its counterpart is a digestif, which is served at the meal’s conclusion.

Excuse me, would you care for an APÉRITIF before we go in to dinner?

Nota Bene

The American version of the apéritif is the cocktail, invented in the early nineteenth century (it is first mentioned in
The Farmer’s Cabinet
in 1803). Cocktails became particularly widely known during Prohibition in the 1920s, when they were considered a mark of the sophisticated New York culture that flourished in places such as the Algonquin Hotel.

a posse ad esse
(Latin) (ah POSS-ay ad ESS-ay) (phrase)

Literally, “From possibility to reality.” The general point is that it’s an impermissible step to assume that because something is a possibility, it must, therefore, be a reality.

Although I admit the possibility of a purple winged cow, A POSSE AD ESSE I require more proof before I admit its existence
.

Nota Bene

A somewhat longer version of the previous phrase is
a posse ad esse non valet consequentia
, which translates as, “From a thing’s possibility, you can’t be certain of its reality.”

a posteriori
(Latin) (ah poss-tair-ee-OH-ree) (adv.)

From later. A philosophical term that refers to knowledge gained from experience or empirical evidence.

That a hot stove will burn you if you touch it is something I discovered A POSTERIORI
.

apparatchik
(Russian) (a-par-AHT-chik) (noun)

This Russian term for a bureaucrat was particularly applied from 1917 to 1989 to members of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union who held government positions and so were seen as functionaries. The image of the typical apparatchik was of someone who was so immersed in details as to lose sight of any sort of larger picture.

I spent all last Saturday arguing with some APPARATCHIK from the DMV about whether I need my original birth certificate to get a driver’s license
.

après moi, le deluge
(French) (AH-pray MWAH le de-LOOZH) (phrase)

After me, the flood. This saying is doubtfully attributed to the French monarch Louis XV (1710–1774) and apparently predicted the chaos that would lead to the French Revolution of 1789 and the overthrow of the monarchy. Given the disastrous character of Louis’s reign (he damaged the country’s reputation abroad and almost bankrupted its treasury) he may well have had an idea that things would go badly after his death. Today, it is used to predict any oncoming period of decline and disaster.

a priori
(Latin) (ah pri-O-ree) (adv.)

Refers to knowledge gained independent of experience. A priori information is just “known” and cannot be verified or disproved. The philosopher Immanuel Kant (1704–1824) made the study of the difference between a priori and a posteriori knowledge his life’s work.

We intuit the existence of a higher being A PRIORI
.

à propos
(French) (ah pro-POH) (adv.)

At the right time, appropriately.

Since we’re discussing budgets, this is an À PROPOS time to bring up the question of salary raises for the staff
.

aqua vitae
(Latin) (AH-kwah WE-tie) (noun)

Although it was taken, for a long time, to refer to the miraculous power of water in the baptismal ceremony, it came to mean alcohol, specifically distilled alcohol used in beverages.

The sun is over the yardarm somewhere, so it’s time for us to indulge in a little AQUA VITAE
.

Nota Bene

Whiskey, among the most important uses of aqua vitae, derives its name from the Scottish Gaelic term
uisge beatha
, meaning “water of life.” The first written record concerning it appears in the
Annals of Clonmacnoise
, compiled in 1405.

aquila non capit muscas
(Latin) (ah-KEE-la non KAA-pit MOOS-kass) (saying)

Literally, “An eagle doesn’t catch flies.” Meaning that someone who’s important shouldn’t concern herself with unimportant questions but instead leave those to lesser persons.

Nota Bene

Eagles had an important symbolic meaning to the Romans. They were omens of good fortune, and the Roman legions carried a representation of an eagle into battle. One of the greatest of all Roman military disasters occurred in
A.D.
9 when an alliance of Germanic tribes attacked and slaughtered three legions in the Teutoburg Forest, capturing their eagle symbols. The Emperor Augustus was horrified at the event and was seen by his contemporaries occasionally banging his head against the wall and appealing to the gods, “Give me back my eagles!”

arbiter elegantiarum
(Latin) (AR-bi-tare el-ay-gan-tee-AH-rum) (noun)

Someone who is a recognized authority on matters of taste, particularly fashion.

As a result of the television show
What Not to Wear
, Stacy London has become a widely respected ARBITER ELEGANTIARUM, together with her co-star Clinton Kelly
.

armoire
(French) (ar-MWAHR) (noun)

A large cabinet for storing clothing, what in English would be called a wardrobe. Today most armoires include several sets of drawers, though this was not always the case. The earliest versions were probably merely chests in which extra clothing was folded and packed away until needed.