Grammar Moses: This column isn't humongous, but it's still plenty scary

We often make assumptions about the meanings of words simply because they look or sound like words with which we are familiar.

Take the everyday word "homunculus." You probably envision an enormous, grotesque monster that could crush your Volkswagen Beetle.

Or perhaps that's just what I envision in my night terrors.

You might base that assumption on your knowledge of the word "humongous," which sounds like it must at least live in the same neighborhood as "homunculus."

You couldn't be further from the truth.

During the age of alchemy in the 16th century, a "homunculus" was fabled to be a tiny, fully formed re-creation of a man. Think of the irate warrior idol that comes to life and stabs the living daylights out of and then injects its soul into Karen Black in "Trilogy of Terror."

A homunculus wouldn't crush your Beetle, but it could do some serious damage under the hood.

"Homunculus" was derived from the Latin homo (meaning "man") coupled with the diminutive -culus and has been used for half a millennium.

"Humongous" has existed only since 1972 or so and is the portmanteau of "huge" and "monstrous."

To those of you who believe "monstrous" means big, it means only that it resembles a monster. Count Dracula was monstrous, but not necessarily huge.

Bela Lugosi was 6-foot-1, so he was monstrous but not huge. Christopher Lee, who starred as Dracula in the Hammer films of the 1950s, '60s and '70s, was quite monstrous.

Because he was 6-foot-5, I also considered him to be humongous.

Remunerate

Here is a word that often is misspelled and mispronounced.

Why? My theory is people are more familiar with the verb "enumerate" and assume it's built on the same chassis.

Au contraire!

The Online Etymology Dictionary, a terrific resource, tells us "enumerate" was derived from Latin in 1640 to mean "to reckon up or count over."

If you were to enumerate every bit of wisdom you derive from this column, you could write it on the head of a pin and have room left over.

"Remunerate," while also derived from Latin, albeit 120 years earlier, means to repay or reward. It's actually a back-formation of the noun "remuneration."

Different root words, yet one word is essentially the other put through a blender.

Diffuse

Eagle Eye Jake Griffin pointed out during the coverage of the tense meeting in Washington, D.C., between the Kentucky high school students and the Native American activist with a drum what probably was on everyone's mind: The Daily Mail published a homophone in its headline.

The horror!

"Catholic MAGA hat-wearing student who was filmed staring down a Native American man is identified - as he insists he is not racist and thought he was 'was helping to diffuse the situation,'" the web headline read.

Please don't put misspellings in a high school student's mouth.

One defuses a situation by either removing a fuse from a bomb or, more likely, easing tension or making something safer.

"Diffuse" (with a soft "i" and a "z" sound) sounds a lot like "defuse." It can be used as a transitive verb that means "to spread out."

Once something is spread out it can be described as "diffuse" (with an "s" sound.)

Premiere

A "premiere" is the first public showing of a play or film. As a verb, it maintains the spelling. So, a premiere premieres.

Now "premier" is an adjective describing something that is tops in its milieu: Skippy Extra Chunky is the premier peanut butter.

Not surprisingly, some political leaders are described as premiers, given their status as the head honcho.

Had Kim Jung Il, who was fond of Hollywood movies, maintained the title his father once held, in North Korea the premier would have premiered plenty of premieres.

Write carefully!

• Jim Baumann is vice president/managing editor of the Daily Herald. Write him at jbaumann@dailyherald.com. Put Grammar Moses in the subject line. You also can friend or follow Jim at facebook.com/baumannjim.