colporteur

****************************************************************
Do you enjoy challenging word games? Try WORD SWEEP!, the new board game 
featuring official Merriam-Webster definitions!
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780971348769&itm=2
****************************************************************

The Word of the Day for February 24 is:

colporteur   \KAHL-por-ter\   noun
     : a peddler of religious books 

Example sentence: 
     When she was working as a colporteur, Lena found some people to be more 
receptive to her offerings than others.

Did you know?
     In 19th-century America, the word "colporteur" (a French borrowing meaning 
"peddler") came to be used especially of door-to-door peddlers of religious 
books and tracts, and it has carried that specific sense into the 21st century. 
The word traces to the Latin prefix "com-" ("together") plus the verb "portare" 
("to carry"), two elements that were brought together to create "comportare" 
("to bring together"). Middle French speakers tucked that word into their 
linguistic pack as "comporter" ("to carry" or "to peddle"), giving rise to 
"comporteur." Over time, perhaps influenced by the phrase "porter a col" ("to 
carry on one's back or neck"), the term's spelling shifted to the form now used.






You Are Subscribed As: gclw-mw-wod7@xxxxxxxxx
To unsubscribe, change your e-mail address or to subscribe to the html
version of Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day, featuring audio
pronunciations, please visit:

http://www.startsampling.com/sm/wod/changeofaddress.iphtml

(c) 2007 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated

Merriam-Webster, Inc.
47 Federal Street
P.O. Box 281
Springfield, MA 01102