• gulosity •
Pronunciation: gu-lahs-i-di • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Gluttony, voracity, overconsumption.
Notes: Gulosity is the noun from gulous. Both these words have made it into the Rare Word Hall of Fame, the Worthless Word for the Day website. The last sighting, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, was in 1865.
In Play: The literal meaning of today's Good Word refers to food: "Anna seldom held dinner parties due to the gulosity of all her friends". However, I see no reason to limit its reference to physical foods: "Many Good Word subscribers enjoy a gulosity of reading good books."
Word History: This Good Word was gulosite in Middle English, from the Anglo-French makeover of Latin gulositas, derived from Latin gulosus "gluttonous". This word is based on gula "gullet, throat", which Latin inherited from Proto-Indo-European gwel-/gwol- "to devour". This word is also the source of English gullet, gullible and, with metathesis, also glutton. In Russian it arose as glotat' "to swallow" and gorlo "throat". It turned up in Czech as hrdlo, in Polish as gardlo, and in Serbian as grlo "throat". (Now, yet another e-bow to the mysterious Grogie, spirit of the Agora, whose love of rarity brought today's Good Word through his mind to us.)
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