What's your word today?

What do potlatch, baksheesh, goulash, laager and cabal have in common?

There are many ways to learn a word a day, and my current favorite is A.Word.A.Day. Each week has a theme, and every day I get an email with my new word. Last week's theme? Words that came to English from other languages (see potlatch, baksheesh, etc.).

And since we're on the subject of words, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the U's own Anatoly Liberman, professor of German philology and author of Word Origins...And How We Know Them. He is also known as the Oxford Etymologist where he answers your questions about word origins. He's in the midst of a series entitled "Unpleasant People."