51吃瓜 of the Day
apologia
noun
a work written as an explanation or justification of one's motives, convictions, or acts.
More about apologia
It is unsurprising that the earliest occurrences of apologia 鈥渁 defendant鈥檚 speech in a trial鈥� appear in 5th-century Athens. The Greek verb 补辫辞濒辞驳别卯蝉迟丑补颈 鈥渢o speak in defense, defend oneself鈥� and its derivative noun 补辫辞濒辞驳铆补 are first used by such heavy hitters as Thucydides, Euripides, and Plato. Plato鈥檚 础辫辞濒辞驳铆补 厂艒办谤谩迟辞耻蝉 鈥淎pology of Socrates鈥� refers to the three speeches Socrates delivered in his self-defense at his trial in 399 b.c. Apologia is similarly used in Cardinal Newman鈥檚 religious autobiography, Apologia pro Vita Sua 鈥淒efense of His Own Life鈥� (1864). Apologia entered English in the late 18th century.
how is apologia used?
Now Starr has laid out the defining saga of his life in a book. …聽鈥淚 view it as not an apologia at all,鈥� he says, 鈥渂ut simply: Tell the story.鈥�
Occasionally, we鈥檝e been accused of writing a show that鈥檚 sort of an apologia for the surveillance state.
summer
noun
a principal beam or girder, as one running between girts to support joists.
More about summer
The rare noun summer 鈥渉orizontal supporting beam鈥� comes from Old French somier, sommier, which had the semantic development 鈥減ackhorse,鈥� then 鈥渁 pack, a load,鈥� and finally 鈥渁 beam, a joist.鈥� The Old French forms come from the Late Latin (c600) adjective 蝉补耻尘腻谤颈耻蝉, a variant of Late Latin (c300) 蝉补驳尘腻谤颈耻蝉 鈥減ertaining to a packsaddle鈥� (equus 蝉补驳尘腻谤颈耻蝉 means 鈥減ackhorse鈥�). 厂补驳尘腻谤颈耻蝉 derives from Late Latin (late 4th century) sagma (inflectional stem sagmat-) 鈥減acksaddle,鈥� a loanword from Greek 蝉谩驳尘补 鈥渃overing, clothing,鈥� later also 鈥減acksaddle.鈥� Finally, the derivative noun 蝉补耻尘补迟腻谤颈耻蝉 (蝉补驳尘补迟腻谤颈耻蝉) 鈥渄river of a packhorse鈥� comes into English (via Old French sommetier) as sumpter 鈥減ackhorse, mule.鈥� Summer entered English in the 14th century.
how is summer used?
The summer was a heavy beam spanning the middle of a large room … and it served as an intermediate support for the floor joists of the story above ….
The cross beams were known as girders, summers or somers, and dormants: one of them carried the chimney, and so was called the “bressummer,” that is the breast girder.
insipience
noun
Archaic.
lack of wisdom; foolishness.
More about insipience
Insipience 鈥渇oolishness鈥� comes via Old French from Latin insipientia. The Latin prefix in-, which has a negative or privative force, as in insipientia, is the ordinary Latin development of a reduced form of Proto-Indo-European ne 鈥渘ot,鈥� which is the same source of Germanic (English un-). The Latin stem –sipient– is a reduced and combining form derived from sapientia聽鈥渞eason, soundness of mind, wisdom,鈥� hence 颈苍蝉颈辫颈别苍迟颈补听鈥渇oolishness, folly, stupidity.鈥� The root word behind sapientia and insipientia is sapere 鈥渢o taste, taste of, smell of, have good taste, feel, show good sense, be intelligent.鈥� Sapere is the source of Italian sapere, Spanish saber, and French savoir, all meaning 鈥渢o know.鈥� The Latin noun sapor 鈥渇lavor, taste, odor, smell鈥� becomes Italian sapore, Spanish sabor, French saveur, and, through French, English savor and its derivative adjective savory. Insipience entered English in the 15th century.
how is insipience used?
Too many prefer the charge of insincerity to that of insipience鈥擠r. Newman seems not to be of that number.
It has to be frustrating to know that you’re surrounded by intelligent, earnest individuals who are prone to moments of public insipience, usually when their fingers are on the voting button.