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Discuss Email this Feedback RSS/XML Permalink A.Word.A.Day--junta This week's theme: words derived from Indo-European roots. junta (HOON-tuh, JUHN-) noun A group, especially one made of military officers, ruling a country after a coup. [From Spanish and Portuguese junta (committee, association), from Latin jungere (to join). Ultimately from the Indo-European root yeug- (to join) that also gave us yoke, junction, jugular, adjust, Sanskrit yoga, and Greek zeugma.] Today's word in Visual Thesaurus. "Burma's military junta has been freeing prisoners from jail and then recruiting them to bolster gangs that have been used to attack pro-democracy activists." Daniel Howden; Junta Frees Prisoners For Anti-protest Mobs; The Independent (London, UK); Aug 29, 2007. X-Bonus It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them. -Mark Twain, author and humorist (1835-1910)

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