51吃瓜 of the Day
ruminate
verb (used without object)
to meditate or muse; ponder.
More about ruminate
Ruminate, 鈥渢o meditate, muse, or ponder,鈥� comes from Latin 谤奴尘颈苍腻迟耻蝉, the past participle of 谤奴尘颈苍腻谤别, 谤奴尘颈苍腻谤墨 鈥�(of cattle) to chew the cud; (of humans) to turn over in the mind, ponder鈥� (Roman cattle were famous throughout the ancient Mediterranean for their contemplativeness). 搁奴尘颈苍腻谤别 is a derivative of the noun 谤奴尘别苍 (inflectional stem 谤奴尘颈苍) 鈥渢hroat, gullet.鈥� 搁奴尘别苍 is possibly related to Sanskrit romantha– 鈥渃ud-chewing鈥� and Welsh rhumen 鈥渂elly, paunch, udder.鈥� Ruminate entered English in the first half of the 16th century.
how is ruminate used?
“Good night, little ones!” said the Professor. “You may leave me now鈥攖o ruminate. I’m as jolly as the day is long, except when it’s necessary to ruminate on some very difficult subject. All of me,” he murmured sleepily as we left the room, “all of me, that isn’t Bonhommie, is Rumination!”
One of the hardest parts of napping on a schedule is quieting a too-loud brain. It鈥檚 easy to ruminate and stress, and to spend half an hour digging through your mind鈥檚 detritus rather than unplugging.
ruminate
apopemptic
adjective
pertaining to leave-taking or departing; valedictory.
More about apopemptic
The English apopemptic is a straightforward borrowing of the Greek adjective 补辫辞辫别尘辫迟颈办贸蝉, 鈥減ertaining to dismissal, valedictory,鈥� a derivative of the adverb and preposition 补辫峤�- 鈥渙ff, away鈥� and the verb 辫茅尘辫别颈苍 鈥渢o send,鈥� a verb with no clear etymology. The Greek noun 辫辞尘辫岣�, a derivative of 辫茅尘辫别颈苍, means 鈥渆scort, procession, parade, magnificence,鈥� adopted into Latin as pompa (with the same meanings), used in Christian Latin to refer to the ostentations of the devil, especially in baptismal formulas, e.g., 鈥淒o you reject the devil and all his pomps?鈥� Apopemptic entered English in the mid-18th century.
how is apopemptic used?
As Opal Codd said sweetly my last day, her apopemptic word for me was “agathism.” Once again, I could do no more but ask her to translate. “My dear,” she said, “apopemptic! Pertaining to farewell, of course.” “Of course. But ‘agathism’? A belief in Agatha Christie?”
For you the gods of song forgo their quarrel; / Panther and Wolf forget their former anger; / For you this ancient ceremony of greeting / Becomes a solemn apopemptic hymn.
apopemptic
tohubohu
noun
chaos; disorder; confusion.
More about tohubohu
Tohubohu, 鈥渃haos; disorder; confusion,鈥� comes from Hebrew t艒h奴 w膩-bh艒h奴, a phrase occurring in Genesis 1:2, and translated in the King James version as 鈥�(And the earth was) without form, and void.鈥� 罢艒丑奴 w膩-bh艒h奴 is an example of hendiadys, a rhetorical device in which two similar words are connected by and to express a single idea, here emptiness, void. 罢艒丑奴 means 鈥渆mptiness, waste, desert, vanity, nothing.鈥� 叠艒丑奴 is traditionally translated as 鈥渧oid, emptiness鈥�; it is used in Genesis for its paronomastic or rhyming effect. Another example of hendiadys comes from the Gospel of Matthew (7:14): 鈥淏ecause strait is the gate, and narrow is the way,鈥� which was later misinterpreted to be 鈥渟traight and narrow (path).鈥� Tohubohu entered English in the first half of the 17th century.
how is tohubohu used?
What we have in poetry, it appears, is poetry in a vacuum, which is even worse than poetry in a Salad Shooter or a hot-air corn popper. There is no consensus about the culture, and therefore no common ground on which poets, critics, scholars, students or even readers (are there any left?) can share assumptions and discuss with some coherence the great questions of life and art.
To suggest this tohubohu in a manner that may be unfair but is quick, efficient and vivid, let me cite a few blurbs from the pile of poetry collections on my table …
The Atlantic declared 2015 鈥渢he best year in history for the average human being,鈥� a laughable departure from our recent state of political and pandemic-born tohubohu.
tohubohu