Word Of The Day

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Syzygy
[siz-i-jee]
Amazingly, the only English word with three Ys also happens to describe a rare astronomical event involving three heavenly bodies. A syzygy is the alignment of three celestial bodies in a straight line, commonly the Earth, the Sun and the Moon.

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Syzygy, I like that and your explanation, I'll have to try that in a conversation with Matron to gain points

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LINEAMENT noun (lin-ee-uh-muh nt)


noun

1. Often, lineaments. a feature or detail of a face, body, or figure, considered with respect to its outline or contour: His fine lineaments made him the very image of his father.
2. Usually, lineaments. distinguishing features; distinctive characteristics: the lineaments of sincere repentance.
3. Geology. a linear topographic feature of regional extent that is believed to reflect underlying crustal structure.


Quotes

Even now, as I commence my task, his full-toned voice swells in my ears; his lustrous eyes dwell on me with all their melancholy sweetness; I see his thin hand raised in animation, while the lineaments of his face are irradiated by the soul within.
--*Mary Shelley,*Frankenstein, 1818

... out of you she sees herself more proper / Than any of her lineaments can show her.
--*William Shakespeare,*As You Like It, 1623



Origin

Lineament is from late Middle English from Latin līneāmentum “a stroke, plural, features.” This is equivalent to līneā(re) “to draw a line” (derivative of līnea, the noun use of feminine of līneus “flaxen,” which was originally applied to string). It entered English in the early 15th century.

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prosaic
[proh-zey-ik]

adjective
1.
commonplace or dull; matter-of-fact or unimaginative:
a prosaic mind.
2.
of or having the character or form of prose, the ordinary form of spoken or written language, rather than of poetry.

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ELYSIUM noun (ih-lizh-ee-uh m)


noun

1. any place or state of perfect happiness; paradise.
2. Also called Elysian Fields. Classical Mythology. the abode of the blessed after death.
3. any similarly conceived abode or state of the dead.
4. an area in the northern hemisphere of Mars, appearing as a light region when viewed telescopically from the earth.


Quotes

And, oh! if there is an Elysium on earth, / It is this, it is this.
--*Thomas Moore,*"Elysium on Earth," Lalla Rookh, 1817

Her brilliant drawing-room, with Dobbs Broughton for a companion, was not an elysium.
--*Anthony Trollope,*The Last Chronicle of Barset, 1867



Origin

Elysium is the Latin rendering of the Greek adjective Ēlýsion. Everything about Elysium (or the Elysian Fields) is obscure: there is no reliable etymology for the Greek adjective Ēlýsion “Elysian” (though pedíon “field, plain” is clear). The location of Elysium is just as unreliable. In the Odyssey (bk 4. 560 ff.) Homer places Elysium on the western edge of the earth, by the vast stream Oceanus—an imaginary place—where there is no wind or rain or storms, where the just Rhadamanthys (another name with no reliable etymology) is a judge of the Underworld and rules over demigods and heroes, who live a carefree, happy afterlife. Elysium entered English in the late 16th century.

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SEPTENARY adjective (sep-tuh-ner-ee)


adjective

1. of or relating to the number seven or forming a group of seven.
2. septennial.

noun

1. a group or set of seven.
2. a period of seven years.
3. the number seven.
4. Prosody. a line of seven feet.


Quotes

If she believes that Wiggins with his septenary names is ordained by the seven original pleiades to marry your daughter Cecilia, I should think that by the same token she would have sought a man rejoicing in the noble name of Septimus.
--*Meredith Nicholson,*The Siege of the Seven Suitors, 1910

The spears with which the Bashmourite armed his fighting men were referred to as 'septenary spears' based on the fact that the blade, which was the same width as the blade of a sword, was three cubits long, while the handle was four cubits long.
--*Salwa Bakr,*The Man from Bashmour, translated by Nancy Roberts, 2007



Origin

In Latin, the adjective septēnārius “consisting of seven,” a derivative of septem “seven,” has limited use: numerus septēnārius means “the number seven.” Its “least uncommon” usage is versus septēnārius “seven-part verse, septenarius,” for a verse form in Latin comedy. In English septenary is of limited use as well: it has been applied to the seven sacraments of the Christian church, the seven days of the week, and, in music, the seven notes of the diatonic scale. Septenary entered English in the 16th century.

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Septentrional

Pronunciation

sɛpˈtɛntɹɪənəl/

Adjective

meaning "of the north", is a word rarely used in English, but is commonly used in Latin and in the Romance languages.

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NARCOTIZE verb (nahr-kuh-tahyz)


verb

1. to make dull; stupefy; deaden the awareness of: He had used liquor to narcotize his anxieties.
2. to subject to or treat with a narcotic; stupefy.
3. to act as a narcotic: a remedy that does not heal but merely narcotizes.


Quotes

I'm not speaking of all that will happen to annoy, bore, irritate, coerce, oppose, tyrannize, narcotize, paralyze, and idiotize a man in marriage, in that struggle of two beings always in one another's presence, bound forever, who have coupled each other under the strange impression that they were suited.
--*Honoré de Balzac,*The Marriage Contract, translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley, 1885

Television, one gathers, is facing up to the new realities by flinging out its arms to the past and scheduling more of the same--bright new faces to be sure, handsome production values, glittering decor and facades for stories and situations that can narcotize a nation.
--*Thomas Thompson,*"The Crapshoot for Half a Billion," Life, September 10, 1971



Origin

The Medieval Latin verb narcotizāre “to make drowsy, benumb” was recorded in the 14th century. The Latin verb is formed from the Greek phrase narkōtiká (phármaka) “numbing (drugs),” which occurs in a work by the Greek physician Galen (c130-c200 a.d.). The prolific Late Latin suffix -izāre, an adaptation of the Greek suffix -izein, is the source of the very productive English suffix -ize. Narcotize entered English in the 16th century.

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FAIS-DODO noun (fey-doh-doh)


noun

1. Louisiana. a country dance party.


Quotes

Worse comes to worst, we'll have the wedding, then we'll have our party later. We'll have us a real fais do-do, after the honeymoon.
--*Nora Roberts,*Midnight Bayou, 2001

For six**** years, they fished, planted rice, and held fais do-do dancing parties in homes with covered verandas.
--*Elizabeth Kolbert,*"Watermark: Can southern Louisiana be saved?" The New Yorker, February 27, 2006



Origin

Fais-dodo comes to English from Louisiana French from the French expression “go to sleep!” Fais is the 2nd person singular of faire “to do, make,” and dodo is a nursery word for “sleep.” Dodo is probably based on dodeliner “to nod,” influenced by dormir “to sleep.”

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SEROTINAL adjective (si-rot-n-l)

adjective

1. pertaining to or occurring in late summer.


Quotes

As phenomena of the growing season, these were first distinguished as early spring or prevernal, vernal proper, estival, and serotinal or autumnal, but there may also be a heimal aspect ...
--*Frederic E. Clements,*"Nature and Structure of the Climax," The Journal of Ecology, Volume 24, No. 1, February 1936

The serotinal period begins during the last days of July and continues with a gradual diminution of bloomers until the close of the flowering season.
--*Report on Recent Collections: Studies in the Vegetation of the State, I, 1901



Origin

Serotinal “developing late” is a rare word, restricted to the biological sciences, e.g., botany and entomology. Serotinal comes from the Latin adjective sērōtinus “late, coming or ripening late” and derives from the adverb sērō “at a late hour, late.” A related form, sēra (hora) means evening (hour), as in the Italian greeting buona sera “good evening.” Serotinal entered English in the late 19th century.