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Today's word comes from the "you learn something new everyday" files and www.m-w.com...
Prosopography
Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin prosopographia, from Greek prosOpon person + -graphia -graphy: a study that identifies and relates a group of persons or characters within a particular historical or literary context
(Prosopography as a historical method is associated with Sir Lewis Bernstein Namier, a Polish-born English historian. It came up in my class on the American Revolution today and none of the students had any idea what the word meant. It is a rather unusual and thus noteworthy word, not to mention the fact that it is rather amusing to say! If I come away from that class with nothing else, at least I now know what prosopography means...)

As an update to an earlier post, I think I officially enjoy wensleydale cheese!