• decollate •
Pronunciation: di-kah-layt • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: 1. To behead, decapitate. 2. (Conchology, archaic) To break off the apex of a shell. 3. (Adjective) Lacking an apex, as 'an decollate snail'.
Notes: Here is a word that should mean in English "to deneck" but didn't in Latin (see Word History). The action noun is decollation and the personal noun is decollator.
In Play: Since the ramifications of this word are gory, the examples will be gory, too: "Brooke Trout loves to fish, but she can't clean her catch because she hates to decollate them." Even worse: "In ancient days the royal decollator decollated anyone who fell to the king's disfavor."
Word History: Today's Good Word was created from decollat(us), the past participle of Latin decollare "to separate from the neck", comprising de "(away) from" + coll(um) "neck". Latin created collum out of PIE kwel-/kwol- "to turn; wheel; neck", source also of Sanskrit carati "moves, wanders", Greek kyklos "ring, circle, cycle", Welsh cylch "circle", Russian kolovorot "eddy", Polish koło "wheel", Czech and Serbian kolo "wheel", Lithuanian kaklas "neck", Latvian kakls "neck", Albanian sjell "to bring", Armenian klor "round" (adjective), German Hals "neck", and English wheel. (Now a double dip of gratitude Luciano Eduardo de Oliveira for serving well for years as a GW editor and for suggesting today's gruesome Good Word)
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