Decollate

[Dr. Goodword]

• 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 "(off) 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)

[Slava]

And we need to make sure we spell it with an 'a', because an 'e' makes it another word entirely, decollete, whence the much-nicer-than-a-beheading decolletage.

Here are some accented 'e's, in case you want to sprinkle them where they belong: ééé

[tkowal]

Apparently, French décoller and Portuguese decolar, both meaning "to take off" (like an airplane), have the same PIE origin.

[Dr. Goodword]

They derive from the Latin verb. Spanish degollar "cut someone's throat" descends from the same verb while retaining much of its meaning.

[Slava]

Odd that taking off from earth is the same verb as decapitation. Is that because the plane be heading off somewhere?

[bbeeton]

Has no one here ever worked with a *real* computer (i.e., a mainframe)? The most obvious unrelated reuse of this term is incredibly important in that context, where the decollator is essential to separating the multiple layers of continuous forms ("greenbar" as well as preprinted forms) from the interleaved carbon paper. (Remember carbon paper?)

These high-speed machines weren't likely to behead one, but other injuries were not unknown. Just remember to close the lid before starting it up.

[David Myer]

In response to Slava, perhaps it is because taking off from earth is taking off or mimicking decapitation.