'Hermitage' emerges as the word of the day - New York Times

Meanwhile in the word list department, the word 'Hermitage' appeared in at least 54 New York Times articles last year.


Hermitage can also be found in the May 31 article "The Fall of Gnomes: Tasteful to Tacky" by Eve M. Kahn. Some of the lines below feature the 'Word of the Day'.

… Perhaps 200 of these hermitages were built throughout Europe and a third of them survive. Their designs were based on ancient Classical temples, druid shrines, Gothic chapels, rock caves, root cellars and icehouses. The décor consisted of log and stone tables and chairs, meager mattresses and mournful skulls and hourglasses for contemplating the passage of time. (Source)

This is as far as the count made in New York Times articles are concerned. It could be in some other media outlets as well.

Hermitage, according to Vocabulary.com means, "the abode of a hermit" or simply a housing that someone lives.

Apparently, 'Hermitage' can be traced back to a French word 'hermite', which means hermit, a person who lives alone, far from the civilization.

Nowadays, it is also being used to refer to secluded and remote areas; Areas where you don't find immediate neighbors.