![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordogive (OH-jaiv, oh-JAIV) - n., (architecture) a pointed arch; (architecture) a diagonal rib of a Gothic vault; (statistics) the curve of a cumulative distribution function; (ballistics) the pointed, curved nose of a bullet, missile or rocket.
Thanks, WikiMedia!
The classic Gothic arch, which until today was the only sense I knew -- I probably should have known the vault ribs were also ogives, my bad. The others I maybe could have expected. This dates to around 1610, alteration modeled on French spellings of Middle English form oggif/ogif, from Middle French augive, after which the trail gets muddy: suggested sources include Spanish aljibe, from Spanish Arabic al-jibb, the well; Vulgar Latin augīvus, from Latin augēre, to augment/increase (supposedly from a pointed arch being stronger than a rounded one); and Late Latin obviāta, feminine past participle of obviāre, to resist.
---L.
Thanks, WikiMedia!
The classic Gothic arch, which until today was the only sense I knew -- I probably should have known the vault ribs were also ogives, my bad. The others I maybe could have expected. This dates to around 1610, alteration modeled on French spellings of Middle English form oggif/ogif, from Middle French augive, after which the trail gets muddy: suggested sources include Spanish aljibe, from Spanish Arabic al-jibb, the well; Vulgar Latin augīvus, from Latin augēre, to augment/increase (supposedly from a pointed arch being stronger than a rounded one); and Late Latin obviāta, feminine past participle of obviāre, to resist.
---L.
