sali-, salt-, sult-
(Latin: to leap, to jump, to spring forward)
Don't confuse this sali-, salt-; "jump" unit with another sal-, sali- unit which refers to "salt".
Latin origins of words in English (jump, spring forward)
When someone has been "jumped on", as is sometimes used figuratively in English, that person is using a classical authority as the source for "insult"; which is the Latin insultare, "to jump on".
Expanding the meanings of related words, we have resultare, "to spring back", and the "result" of an action is that which "comes back" to a person. Also, "to exult" is to leap out or up and is a vivid way of expressing a strong feeling.
Etymologically, all of these words come from salire, "to leap". Sometimes we hear the expression "salient features" or "salient points", meaning those features or points which leap up to attract attention. "Resiliency" is the power of "springing back" or "recovery".
An unusual word which is a member of this family unit is saltare, which means to leap often or continuously; that is, "to dance". If you would like to be more sophisticated, instead of using the word "dance", you could say that you were participating in a "saltatorial-social activity".
assail
1. To attack vigorously or violently; to assault.
2. To attack with arguments, criticism, ridicule, to abuse, etc.: "As a politician, he was always ready to assail his opponent with slander."
3. To undertake a task with the purpose of mastering it: "She assailed her university studies with new determination."
4. To impinge upon; to make an impact on; to beset: "Our minds were assailed by all of the conflicting arguments presented by the speaker."
assailability
Vulnerability to forceful attack.
assailable
Not defended or capable of being defended.
assailant
1. Someone who violently attacks somebody else, usually causing physical injury.
2. Someone who assaults, attacks, or invades with violence.
assailed
Assaulted, invaded, or attacked with violence.
assault
assaulter
desultorily
In a desultory manner; without method; loosely.
desultoriness
Unconnectedness; a passing from one thing to another without order or method.
desultory
1. Aimlessly passing from one thing to another: "She was talking in a desultory manner."
2. Happening in a random, disorganized, or unmethodical way.
3. Marked by a lack of a definite plan, regularity, or purpose; jumping from one thing to another: "He could only come up with desultory thoughts."
exult
exultant
exultation
exultingly
insult
1. A deliberately offensive act or something producing the effect of an affront: "When she turned her back on me, it was a deliberate insult."
2. A rude expression intended to offend or to hurt someone.
3. To treat or to speak to someone insolently or with contemptuous rudeness; to affront (to insult intentionally, especially openly; to offend or to confront).
2. To affect as an affront; to offend or to demean.
3. Historically, its earlier usage meant, "to attack"; "to assault".
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