Quiddity has absolutely nothing to do with ‘quidditch’, the wizardly sport played on broomsticks in the Harry Potter universe. Quiddity, Verandah Magazine’s Word of the Week, courtesy of AUM PR, comes from the Medieval Latin ‘quidditas’, meaning the essence of things. Or in scholastic philosophy ‘that which distinguishes a thing from other things’ – almost literally, ‘whatness’. Its second meaning is not quite so philosophical – it’s a subtlety or triviality – a ‘quibbling’ if you will, rather than a ‘quiddling’…
