The Good Oil Word of the Day

The word for today is…

quodlibet (noun) -

1: a philosophical or theological point proposed for disputation. Also : a disputation on such a point 2: a whimsical combination of familiar melodies or texts

Source : Merriam-Webster

Etymology : "Whatever." Try to get philosophical nowadays and that may be the response you hear. We don't know if someone quibbling over a minor philosophical or theological point 600 years ago might have gotten a similar reaction, but we do know that Latin quodlibet, meaning "any whatever," was the name given to such academic debates. Quodlibet is a form of quilibet, from qui, meaning "what," and libet, meaning "it pleases." We can't say with certainty how quodlibet went from disputations to musical conglomerations, but English speakers have been using quodlibet for light musical mélanges since the early 19th century.

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