Word of the Day: Gurgitation

Most of us are familiar with the word 'regurgitation', and most of us would think of its meaning as 'to throw up' (technically) or 'to reproduce uncritically wholesale' (educationally). That isn't very far away from its original meaning, but there are some lost nuances.

The word 'regurgitate' is an offshoot of Latin gurgitare, which means 'engulf'; this in turn comes from gurges = "whirlpool" or "abyss", from which we get the English words 'gorge' and 'gurgle'. To be gurgitated, I suppose, would mean to be swallowed down. Gurgitation would then be the act of swallowing down (technically) or 'absorbing uncritically wholesale' (educationally).

Somehow, though, I am always reminded of this character named Gurgi, the curious creature from Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain.