51吃瓜 of the Day
misbegotten
adjective
badly conceived, made, or carried out.
More about misbegotten
Misbegotten 鈥渂adly conceived, made, or carried out,鈥� is hard to figure out from its component parts. Misbegotten is made up of the prefix mis– 鈥渨rongly, incorrectly,鈥� from the Germanic prefix missa– 鈥渁stray, wrong鈥� (from the same root as the verb miss 鈥渢o fail to hit or strike鈥�), as in Gothic missadeths 鈥渢ransgression, offense,鈥� which occurs in Old English as 尘颈蝉诲墙诲 and in English as misdeed. Begotten is the past participle of beget, which comes from the Old English verb begietan 鈥渢o get, acquire,鈥� which since the second half of the 14th century has meant 鈥渢o generate offspring; produce as an effect.鈥� Beget is a compound of the prefix be-, a Germanic prefix originally meaning 鈥渁bout, around, on all sides,鈥� with many other meanings, but here having a figurative sense (as also with befall, begin, behave). The verb get is from Old Norse geta 鈥渢o get, be able to, beget, engender.鈥� Misbegotten entered English in the first half of the 16th century in the sense “illegitimate child.”
how is misbegotten used?
It is long past time to end U.S. support for this misbegotten and unwinnable war.
Does our respect for companion creatures herald a new way of relating to non-humans, rejecting centuries of misbegotten thinking about animals as unfeeling biological machines?
misbegotten
lyceum
noun
an institution for popular education providing discussions, lectures, concerts, etc.
More about lyceum
The English noun lyceum comes from Latin 尝测肠墨耻尘, 尝测肠脓耻尘, from Greek 尝媒办别颈辞苍, the name of a gymnasium in southeast Athens with a neighboring sanctuary of 础辫贸濒濒艒苍 尝媒办颈辞蝉 / 尝媒办别颈辞蝉. The area was one of the places where Socrates used to ask his good-humored but troublesome questions, and where Aristotle used to lecture. The sanctuary also gave its name to Aristotle鈥檚 school, the 尝媒办别颈辞苍. It is unclear what exactly 濒媒办别颈辞蝉 means: It may mean 鈥渂elonging to a wolf鈥� (濒媒办辞蝉) because of the Athenian military and athletic cult of 础辫贸濒濒艒苍 尝媒办颈辞蝉 鈥淲辞濒蹿-础辫辞濒濒辞.鈥� 尝媒办别颈辞蝉 is also an epithet of Apollo meaning 鈥淟ycian (Apollo),鈥� i.e., Apollo was born in Lycia (his mother Leto was Lycian). Finally, because of Apollo鈥檚 association with the sun, 濒媒办别颈辞蝉 may be from the same root as Greek 濒媒肠丑苍辞蝉 鈥渓antern, lamp鈥� and Latin lux (stem luc-) 鈥渓ight.鈥� Modern authorities consider the connection with Lycia and Leto to be the most probable one. Lyceum entered English in the second half of the 16th century.
how is lyceum used?
At a lyceum, not long since, I felt that the lecturer had chosen a theme too foreign to himself, and so failed to interest me as much as he might have done.
On the lyceum circuit, they travelled from town to town, an adult-education campaign offering lectures on everything from physical exercise to the moral crisis of slavery.
lyceum
avuncular
adjective
acting like an uncle, as in being kind, patient, generous, etc., especially to younger people.
More about avuncular
Avuncular typically means 鈥渁cting in a kindly, benevolent manner towards one鈥檚 nieces and nephews.鈥� Avuncular comes from the Latin noun avunculus 鈥渕other鈥檚 brother, uncle,鈥� a derivative of the noun avus 鈥済randfather, forefather, ancestor.鈥� (English uncle comes via Old French and Anglo-French oncle, uncle from avunculus.) Latin avus comes from Proto-Indo-European awos 鈥済randfather, maternal grandfather.鈥� Awo– is also the source for Armenian hav 鈥済randfather,鈥� Old Irish 谩耻别, Middle Irish 贸(补), 煤补, both meaning 鈥済randson, descendant,鈥� and the source of 翱鈥� in Gaelic surnames, such as 翱鈥機onnor 鈥渄escendant of Connor.鈥� Variants of the stem appear in Lithuanian 补惫媒苍补蝉 鈥渕aternal uncle,鈥� Old Prussian awis, and Old Church Slavonic 耻箩沫, both meaning 鈥渦ncle.鈥� The Latin term for father鈥檚 brother, paternal uncle is patruus (a derivative of patr– father), for maternal aunt matertera (a derivative of 尘腻迟谤-), and for paternal aunt amita. Latin is interesting to anthropologists because of its unusually full and exact kinship terms, every possible kinship relation having its own term and not a descriptive compound noun, for example, 鈥渇ather鈥檚 brother, mother鈥檚 mother, sister鈥檚 son.鈥� (The Latin system of kinship terms is an excellent example of the so-called Sudanese pattern.) Indeed, anthropologists use Latin kinship terms as the basis of a general terminology for cross-cultural use. Avuncular entered English in the first half of the 19th century.
how is avuncular used?
Immersed in bubbles, fully suited, he [Stephen Colbert] provided his signature mix of acid critique and avuncular reassurance.
He also, later on, has a consoling, avuncular chat with his frightened boy-self.
avuncular