Friday, January 05, 2007

Are We At A Critical Juncture?

Courtesy of Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

juncture \JUNK-cher\ noun

1 : joint, connection
*2 : a point of time; especially : one made critical by a concurrence of circumstances

Example sentence:
"At this juncture in the editing process," said Philip, "it is important that all facts have been double-checked and sources verified."

Did you know?
"Juncture" has many relatives in English — and some of them are easy to spot, whereas others are not so obvious. "Juncture" derives from the Latin verb "jungere" ("to join"), which gave us not only "join" and "junction" but also "conjugal" ("relating to marriage") and "junta" ("a group of persons controlling a government"). "Jungere" also has distant etymological connections to "joust," "jugular," "juxtapose," "yoga" and "yoke." The use of "juncture" in English dates back to the 14th century. Originally, the word meant "a place where two or more things are joined," but by the 17th century it could also be used of an important point in time or of a stage in a process or activity.

1 comment:

Susannity said...

just watched "akeelah and the bee" last night as a family. this entry reminds me of the kids studying the etymology of the words. good movie btw!