Sesquipedalius' A Words Trivia Quiz

Answer: random, dependent upon chance

The Modern English adjective "aleatory" derives from the Latin "aleatorius" which derives from "aleator" (meaning gambler) which derives from "alea" (meaning a game of chance using dice). Thus, when Julius Caesar famously crossed the Rubicon, he even more famously said "Alea iacta est" (meaning "the die is cast"). Aleatory things are dependent upon chance; they occur randomly.

The term is used frequently in the law of contracts. A contract in which a party is required to perform an act only if an uncertain future event occurs is an aleatory contract.

The most common examples are contracts of insurance which require payment only upon someone's death or damage to property due to weather or war or earthquake or criminal act or some such.

Answer: herbalist/pharmacist/physician

In differing times and places, an apothecary functioned as an herbalist, a pharmacist, a prescribing physician, a surgeon, and a midwife. Medieval apothecaries either grew or collected herbs believed to be useful in healing. A modern apothecary has a degree (or two) in pharmacology and is skilled in the arts of compounding and dispensing all manner of drugs.

The mortar and pestle are common apothecary symbols used by pharmacies in the US, Scotland, Germany and Scandinavia.

Answer: an indirect reference

An alternative to the Merriam-Webster book is "The Oxford Dictionary of Reference and Allusion" published in 2010. Both attempt to catalogue, in alphabetical order, numerous allusions which may appear in speech or literature. An allusion is a reference to or indirect mention of something outside the scope of the present subject matter.

The reference may be to a person, place or thing, an event, a work of literature, a myth or fable, scripture, or work of art. Some works are so filled with allusions that they are published in annotated versions with the referents identified in footnotes. One of the more challenging forms of allusion occurs when a writer or speaker adopts a few words, a phrase or clause from literature without placing the reference within quotation marks. English novels are notorious for such allusions to the King James (Authorized) Bible and the Book of Common Prayer.

Answer: a verb tense

Because the aorist tense does not exist in Latin, Romance languages nor Germanic languages, it can be difficult for students of Ancient Greek to master. It also occurs in a few other languages (e.g. Sanskrit). It is very similar to the simple past tense in English and appears often in narrative.

The aorist can be described as simple in that it indicates an action but says nothing about that action's continuation or completion.

Answer: aphorisms, maxims, proverbs

An apothegm or apophthegm is a short, pithy, instructive saying such as an aphorism, maxim or proverb. The website Wordpandit defines an apothegms as "essentially nuggets of wisdom served to you in a short and sweet manner." The term entered Modern English in the 16th century from the Greek "apóphthegma" meaning to speak out.

Answer: arete

The Ancient Greek noun "arete" cannot be translated precisely into Modern English. It means excellence. It can also mean virtue. The poet Homer used it, as did the philosophers Plato and Aristotle, and the apostle Paul of Tarsus. It carries the sense of a thing which fulfills its purpose.

It can mean living up to one's full potential or being the best one can be. In English it means the sum or aggregate of those qualities which make up an exemplary character. It carries the sense of fulfilling one's whole potential.

Answer: all around, enveloping, surrounding

The Modern English word "ambient" means enveloping, surrounding, encompassing, encircling. It derives from the Latin "ambiens" meaning a going around which derives from the Latin "ambio" meaning to go around. Ambient also has a separate and quite different meaning in music.

Answer: a distillation apparatus

An alembic is an alchemical apparatus used to purify a substance by distillation. Often seen in the background of mad-scientist movies, the apparatus is normally constructed of two glass chambers connected by a glass tube. When heat is applied to the contents on one, the distillate condenses in the other.

These chambers are sometimes called "retorts". An alembic is technically a kind of still. The name for the device descends from an earlier English word "limbeck" derived from the Old French "alambic" derived from the Arabic "al-anbiq" meaning a distilling flask.

Answer: a written defense of self or thought

The English translation of Cardinal Newman's book is "A Defense of My Own Life." Newman was a member of the High Church Party and wrote many of the "Tracts for the Times" which upset the Broad Church Party. Newman resigned as vicar of St. Mary's Church, Oxford, left the Church of England and became a Roman Catholic. Newman was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 and canonized by Pope Francis in 2019. An apologia is a written defense either of one's self and one's actions or of beliefs strongly held or positions strongly taken.

Answer: someone who is both an introvert and an extravert

One of the criticisms of the Myers-Briggs schema is that the four "dichotomies" represented by the four-letter label assigned to those who respond to the instrument are not true dichotomies. It is argued, for example, that, while there are true extraverts and true introverts, there are also those who have characteristics of both types and use them regularly.

A person who is neither an all-the-time extrovert nor an all-the-time introvert may be called an ambivert. The American Psychological Association's "APA Dictionary of Psychology" recognizes the term.