Hello,
This week’s word is ipsedixitism. You may not know the term, but I’m fairly sure you’ve encountered what it describes. Ipsedixitism is defined as “statement presented as fact without any supporting evidence” (BBC) or “dogmatic assertion or assertiveness” (Merriam-Webster).
I’ve encountered a few people in my life who love a bit of ipsedixitism. If they make a statement in a confident, loud voice many around them will assume it to be correct and generally they dislike being asked for supporting evidence. Now it’s not a problem if the statement is self-evidently true such as “the sky is blue”, but if it’s more complex then such talk is misleading, at best.
It’s easier to pronounce than it looks, break it up into chunks, ip-se-dix-it-ism.
The word itself comes from the expression ipse dixit which is Latin and translates literally as “he said it” where the he in this case is the master. The Latin is a translation of the Greek phrase autos epha which was used by disciples of Pythagoras when they were quoting their master. The idea was that they could say something and give “Phythagoras said it so it must be true” as their justification. Ipse dixit came into English in the late 1500s and by the 1830s you could use ipsedixitism to describe any dogmatic assertion.
I wish I could claim that the falling of ipsedixitism from general use (its usage has plummeted in the last century) means that dogmatic assertions are on the decrease too, but I’m not convinced of that statement unless somebody can offer supporting proof.
Grace (@Wordfoolery)
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