valence (noun) = the capacity of one person (or thing) to affect another in some special way (pronounced ‘vey-luhns’) from the Latin, valentia: strength
e.g. On a first date, both parties are influenced – without realising it – by the valences of the other person’s smell
valetudinarian (adj.) = a sickly person who is justifiably concerned with their health; OR (ironic in tone) a person who is in fact healthy and is needlessly concerned with their health from the Latin, valetudinarius: in ill health, from valetudo: health, from valere: to be well
e.g. When his Navy patrol boat was sunk in World War II, JFK suffered terrible injuries that rendered him a lifelong valetudinarian
to vamp for (someone) (verb) = to improvise for someone’s benefit ‘to vamp’ literally means ‘to improvise a musical accompaniment in jazz’
e.g. If a guest is struggling to answer his questions, a TV interviewer will start vamping for that guest in an attempt to take the conversation off on a new tangent
vassal (adj.) = (of a person or of a whole nation) in a subordinate position to another (because the vassal has declared fealty to the other, see the entry for fealty earlier) (pronounced ‘vas-uhl’) from the medieval Latin, vassallus: retainer
e.g. Some journalists say the United States regards the United Kingdom as no more than a vassal state that will come running when called
vastation (noun) = a laying waste from the
Latin, vastatio: vastation, from vastare: to lay waste
e.g. Auschwitz was a vastation that shook up the world
venturesome (adj.) = willing to take on risks or dangers from the English words venture + - some
e.g. Bruce Lee’s home was once broken into by a venturesome individual who was intent on making a name for himself by confronting Lee; but just one kick from the martial arts guru was enough to incapacitate the intruder
to veer between the Scylla of (one danger) and the Charybdis of (a second danger) (set phrase) = to attempt to circumnavigate two equally terrifying dangers (knowing that, if you steer clear of one, you are putting yourself in the path of the other) (‘Scylla’ is pronounced ‘sil-uh’; and ‘Charybdis’ as ‘Kuh-rib-dis’) for full explanation, see box below
e.g. To beat Roger Federer, you have to not only veer between the Scylla of his forehand and the Charybdis of his backhand; but also to then remember to hit a winner yourself
‘Scylla’ and ‘Charybdis’ were two terrifying monsters in Ancient Greek mythology. They lived opposite each other, with just a narrow channel of water separating them: thus, they posed a huge risk to sailors, who had to attempt to veer an even course between these two horrors. For Scylla had six heads – each equipped with three rows of razor-sharp teeth – and a cat’s tail; whilst Charybdis was one giant bladder of a creature, whose face was all mouth and whose arms and legs were tiny flippers. (Charybdis was built this way because three times a day she’d swallow a huge amount of water before belching it back out again, so as to create dangerous whirlpools to sink passing ships with.)
Both monsters started life as beautiful women, but then fell foul of the gods, who transformed them into beasts. In the case of Scylla, she was originally a gorgeous nymph, but then the goddess Circe (Scylla’s love rival) poured poison into the pool where Scylla bathed, turning Scylla into a six-headed monster. From then on, whenever the embittered Scylla spied a ship, each of her six heads would seize one of the crew and devour them alive. As for Charybdis, it was Zeus, king of the gods, who turned this one-time beauty into an unsightly monster. Her crime? Well, Charybdis began life as daughter of the sea god Poseidon, and fought alongside her father in his endless feud against Zeus (Charybdis’s signature move was to wait for her father to stir up an ocean storm, then drive the resulting waves onto land, swamping whole villages and claiming them for the sea. No wonder Zeus had it in for her.)
In Homer’s epic poem the Odyssey (c. 800 BC), the hero Odysseus attempted to steer his ship on a perfectly even course, right down the middle of these two monsters, thus avoiding them both. But so keen was he to avoid Charybdis – whom Odysseus considered the more dangerous since her whirlpools could submerge his entire ship – that Odysseus ended up sailing too close to Scylla, who promptly grabbed six of his men and ate them whole. Traditionally, the two monsters have been associated with a real place: the Strait of Messina off the coast of Sicily, where a vortex – identified with Charybdis – is caused by the meeting of currents, whilst the rock opposite on the Italian mainland is identified with Scylla. Regardless of whether this place gave birth to the myth or not, the phrase ‘veering between Scylla and Charybdis’ continues to mean ‘steering between two great dangers’ today.
verisimilitude (noun) = the appearance of reality (pronounced ‘ver-uh-si-mil-it-yood’) from the Latin, verisimilitudo, from verisimilis: probable, from veri: genitive of verus: true + simile: like
e.g. The dialogue in the TV series Gavin and Stacey was bursting with verisimilitude, right down to some characters talking over other characters who were mid-speech at the time of interruption: an unusually true-to-life technique for TV dialogue
vernal (adj.) = to do with spring (pronounced ‘vur-nul’) from the Latin, vernalis: of the spring, from ver: spring
e.g. Spring imparts a vernal optimism
vestigial (adj.) = (of a remnant) tiny, but once part of something bigger (pronounced ‘ve-stij-uhl’) from the Latin, vestigium: a footprint
e.g. Even now, ten years after the divorce, he still felt a vestigial flicker of anger whenever his ex-wife’s name was mentioned
virago (noun) = a domineering, irritable woman (pronounced ‘vi-rah-go’) from the Latin, vir: man + -ago (a suffix that re-genders the word to be female) for full explanation, see box below
e.g. To her female supporters, suffragette Emily Davison – who died when she threw herself under the King’s horse in the 1913 Epson Derby (as an act of protest on behalf of women) – was a heroine; to her male detractors, she was a shrieking virago
Greek philosophers, who believed women were inferior to men, did concede that certain women surpassed the expectations for what was believed possible for their gender, and even reached masculine-like excellence. Such a woman was called a ‘virago’, deriving from the Latin ‘vir’: ‘a man’. Originally, then, ‘virago’ was a title of respect and admiration.
In history, there are many recorded instances of women who earned the title ‘virago’ (in this positive sense) – Joan of Arc is a famous example – often when carrying out a traditionally masculine role, such as fighting battles, wearing men’s clothing or sporting the haircut of a male monk (a tonsure).
But these ‘viragos’ caused social anxiety for a certain kind of insecure male, who saw strong women as a threat. So the word ‘virago’ was hijacked and started to be used disparagingly, to imply that a woman who was a ‘virago’, far from being heroic, was in fact overbearing. Thus ‘virago’ joined the long list of pejoratives – such as ‘termagant’ and ‘shrew’ – which men have invented to demean strong women (though women have been much more gracious, and invented very few such equivalent terms to put down men).
(a) votary of (a person or group) (noun) = a devoted follower of (a person or group) (pronounced ‘voh-tuh-ree’) from the Latin, votum: a vow; a ‘votary’ is literally a person who is bound by vows of a religious nature, such as a monk or a nun
e.g. The young Charles M. Schulz, creator of Peanuts, had his drawings rejected by the high school yearbook; but 60 years later – much to the delight of Schulz’s many votaries – a five-foot-tall statue of Snoopy was placed in the school’s main office
(a) votive offering (set phrase) = an offering made in fulfilment of a vow (‘votive’ is pronounced ‘voh-tiv’) from the Latin, votivus: relating to a vow, ultimately from votum: a vow
e.g. Pan’s Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro, when in his twenties, published a 500-page book about Alfred Hitchcock, which del Toro has called ‘a votive offering to a god beyond reach’
to vouchsafe (someone) (something) (verb) = to give (something) (to someone) in a gracious or condescending way from the Old English, vouchen safe: to vouch as safe
e.g. Religious people see any good fortune in their lives as a blessing vouchsafed them by heaven
vox populi / vox pop (noun) = the opinions of the majority (‘vox populi’ is pronounced ‘voks pop-yuh-lahy’) from the Latin, vox populi: the voice of the people
e.g. Horizontal stripes actually make you look thinner, not fatter: a fact that fashionistas have officially established in various vox pop polls
vulgarian (noun) = a person who is considered unrefined, especially one who has only recently acquired influence or money (pronounced ‘vuhl-gair-ee-uhn’) from the Latin, vulgaris, from vulgus: common people
e.g. Coco Chanel was much taken by the bevelled edges of her lover’s whisky decanter: here, thought Coco, is a look that will be embraced by the chic and shunned by vulgarians, and, on the spot, she invented her iconic perfume bottle
