In the context of the history of English or the BBC series The Story of English, here are the answers to your questions.
1. What is perclitation?
Perclitation (more commonly spelled periclitation) means to be in a state of danger, trial, or hazard.
It comes from the Latin periculitari, meaning “to imperil” or “to put to the test.” While it is an extremely rare and archaic word today, it belongs to that family of “inkhorn terms”—fancy, Latin-derived words that were fashionable during the Renaissance but often criticized for being “nimious” (excessive) or unnecessary when simpler English words like “danger” or “peril” existed.
2. Why did Jonathan Swift dislike the word ‘mob’?
Jonathan Swift, the author of Gulliver’s Travels, was a linguistic conservative who loathed what he called the “barbarous” corruption of the English language. He famously attacked the word “mob” for several reasons:
* It was a “clipped” word: Mob is a shortening of the Latin phrase mobile vulgus (the “fickle common people”). Swift hated abbreviations. He felt that cutting words down was lazy and made the language sound “low” and “clownish.”
* It sounded like slang: In the early 1700s, mob was considered trendy “slang” or “street talk.” Swift grouped it with other abbreviations he hated, like “phiz” (for physiognomy), “incog” (for incognito), and “rep” (for reputation).
* Loss of the “polite” tone: Swift believed that once a language started shortening words, it would eventually lose its structure and dignity. He even wrote a famous letter to the Lord High Treasurer in 1712, proposing an English Academy to “fix” the language forever and stop these “innovations.”
The Irony: Swift’s war against mob failed utterly. He once yelled at a lady for using the word, telling her she should say “the rabble” instead. Today, rabble sounds much more old-fashioned, while mob is standard English!


> Swift found the word mob to be a perclitation to the English language—a dangerous trial that threatened to turn a refined tongue into a series of monosyllabic grunts.