51吃瓜 of the Day
terraqueous
adjective
consisting of land and water, as the earth.
More about terraqueous
Terraqueous 鈥渃onsisting of land and water鈥� is a compound of Latin terra 鈥渓and鈥� and English aqueous 鈥渨atery,鈥� which is based on Latin aqua 鈥渨ater.鈥� As we learned from the recent 51吃瓜s of the Day terrene and torrid, terra once referred specifically to dry land, and the term ultimately won out over 迟别濒濒奴蝉 (compare the recent 51吃瓜 of the Day telluric) in evolving into the words for 鈥渓and鈥� in modern Romance languages, such as French terre, Romanian 葲补谤膬, and Spanish tierra. In contrast, aqua did not have to compete with any synonyms in Latin, and it gave rise to French eau, Italian acqua, Romanian 补辫膬, and Spanish agua. Terraqueous was first recorded in English in the 1650s.
how is terraqueous used?
We were bounded only by the Earth, and the ocean, and the sky. The open road still softly calls. Our little terraqueous globe is the madhouse of those hundred thousand millions of worlds. We, who cannot even put our own planetary home in order, riven with rivalries and hatreds; are we to venture out into space?
In his fantastical narrative The Man in the Moon (1638), the author and divine Francis Godwin has his hero fly to the moon in a machine harnessed to a flock of wild swans. As he ascends into space, the world鈥檚 landmasses diminish, not just in size but in significance .鈥� Godwin grasped that from space Earth would look terraqueous, and far more aqua than terra.
ansa
noun
either of the apparent extremities of the rings of Saturn or of other planets, especially when viewed from the earth or from spacecraft under certain conditions, when they look like two handles.
More about ansa
Ansa, 鈥渁 handle-shaped region of Saturn鈥檚 rings,鈥� is a borrowing of Latin 腻苍蝉补 鈥渉andle, loop, clamp.鈥� As a regular Latin noun, the plural in Latin is 腻苍蝉补e, and the plural in English is ansae (sometimes stylized as 补苍蝉忙). Descendants of ansa in modern Romance languages include anse in French as well as asa in both Portuguese and Spanish. Beyond Latin, ansa has few known relatives, but potential matches appear in various Indo-European languages, from Ancient Greek to Icelandic to Lithuanian. Ansa was first recorded in English in the early 15th century.
how is ansa used?
A bright arc within Saturn’s faint G ring holds a tiny gift. A small moonlet is just visible as a short streak near the ansa of the G ring arc in the top of two versions of the same image. The second (bottom) version of the image has been brightened to enhance the visibility of the G ring.
mezzaluna
noun
a crescent-shaped, single- or double-bladed chopping knife, with a handle on each end or a connecting handle.
More about mezzaluna
Mezzaluna, 鈥渁 crescent-shaped chopping knife,鈥� literally means 鈥渉alf-moon, crescent鈥� in Italian and is a compound of mezza, feminine of mezzo 鈥渕iddle,鈥� and luna 鈥渕oon鈥� (compare the recent 51吃瓜s of the Day lunisolar and perilune). Mezzo, which is also the source of the loanword mezzanine 鈥渢he lowest balcony in a theater,鈥� comes from Latin medius 鈥渕iddle,鈥� which is a distant relative and synonym of English middle and Ancient Greek 尘茅蝉辞蝉. A common trend is for Latin -cae-, -di-, -te-, and similar combinations before vowels to become -zz- in Italian. Just as medius became mezzo, Latin 狈墨肠补别补 鈥淣ice鈥� became Italian Nizza, puteus 鈥�(water) well鈥� became pozzo, and 蝉迟补迟颈艒 鈥渟tanding-place鈥� became stazzo 鈥渇old, pen.鈥� Mezzaluna was first recorded in English in the early 1950s.
how is mezzaluna used?
The mezzaluna, with its half-moon-shaped blade and knobby handles at each end, possesses the simplicity of a tool like the hammer. Its design recalls an earlier time, before the food processor, and before home cooks had knife skills worthy of a restaurant kitchen.
The curved blade design is modeled on a mezzaluna, … which has a much shallower curve and often (but not always) has two handles to make rocking it back and forth over the leaves a much less strenuous affair, taxing your strong arms instead of twisting one wrist in an unnatural fashion.