• eminent •
Pronunciation: em-ê-nênt • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: 1. Prominent, standing out above or beyond all others. 2. Deeply respected and honored for some achievement.
Notes: Today's Good Word runs the risk of confusion with two other adjectives pronounced nearly identically. Imminent means "impending, about to occur", as the imminent appearance of a well-known pianist in our area. Immanent means "inherent, residing wholly within", especially within the mind, as belief in an immanent god that resides in the person. The noun for todays word is eminence and the adverb, eminently.
In Play: This is how you distinguish eminent and imminent: "The university was in the grip of excitement awaiting the imminent arrival of the eminent expert on the geology of stream channels, Dr. Wade Rivers." But as you balance these two words, don't run afoul of immanent: "Phil Anders is an eminent local lawyer with an immanent weakness for fast cars and women." Most women look for cover if they know Phil's arrival is imminent.
Word History: English picked up today's Good Word from Latin eminen(t)s, the present participle of eminere "to stand out", based on e(x) "from" + minere "to jut out". The PIE word underlying minere is men-/mon- "to project, jut out", which also gave us mouth, menace, and mountain, all things which jut out in some sense. Mouth somehow lost its the Old Germanic N from munthaz over the years, but we still see it in Danish mund, Dutch mond, and German Mund. It emerged in Latin as mon(t)s "mountain" and mentum "chin", which is unrelated to the ment- in mental. We also see its remnants in Breton menez, Welsh mynydd, and Cornish menydh—all meaning "mountain". Menace comes from Latin minae "projecting points, threats".
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