51吃瓜 of the Day
archetypal
adjective
of or having the nature of an original model or prototype.
More about archetypal
Archetypal 鈥渉aving the nature of an original model,鈥� the adjective form of the noun archetype, comes from Ancient Greek 补谤肠丑茅迟测辫辞苍 鈥渁 model, pattern.鈥� The first element in 补谤肠丑茅迟测辫辞苍 is based on one of three related words鈥�补谤肠丑岣� 鈥渂别驳颈苍苍颈苍驳,鈥� 谩谤肠丑辞蝉 鈥渓别补诲别谤,鈥� 谩谤肠丑别颈苍 鈥渢o be the first, command鈥濃�攁ll of uncertain ultimate origin. The second element is 迟媒辫辞蝉 鈥渕old, type鈥� (earlier 鈥渂low, impression鈥�), which may be distantly related to a variety of English st- words once connected to pushing, knocking together, cutting off, or sticking out, including steep, steeple, stepchild, stint, stock, stoop, stub, stunt, and stutter. Archetypal was first recorded in English in the 1640s.
how is archetypal used?
Often cited as the archetypal 鈥淩enaissance man,鈥� Leonardo came from an era in which the well-rounded individual, prolific and curious of mind, was highly valued.
In their book The Fourth Turning, Howe and Strauss identified four generational archetypes: Hero, Artist, Prophet, and Nomad. Each consists of people born in a roughly 20-year period. As each archetypal generation reaches the end of its 80-year lifespan, the cycle repeats.
intercalate
verb (used with object)
to insert (an extra day, month, etc.) in the calendar.
More about intercalate
Intercalate 鈥渢o insert an extra day in the calendar鈥� is based on the Latin verb 颈苍迟别谤肠补濒腻谤别, of the same meaning, which is a compound of the preposition inter 鈥渂etween, among鈥� and the verb 肠补濒腻谤别 鈥渢o proclaim.鈥� Though 肠补濒腻谤别 looks and sounds quite a bit like English call, the two are not related; Grimm鈥檚 law shows that Latin c tends to correspond to Old English h, while Old English c is equivalent to Latin g. In this way, Latin 肠补濒腻谤别 is related to Old English 丑濒艒飞补苍 鈥渢o roar,鈥� becoming English low 鈥渢o moo.鈥� Meanwhile, English call may be related to Latin gallus 鈥渞辞辞蝉迟别谤.鈥� Intercalate was first recorded in English circa 1610.
how is intercalate used?
Chinese New Year, like Passover, Rosh Hashanah and all Jewish holidays, pops up at various times each year within two months of the Gregorian calendar (January and February), because the Chinese calendar, like the Hebrew calendar, is based on the Metonic cycle, a lunisolar calendar that intercalates an extra month seven times in a 19-year cycle (as opposed to the Gregorian, with its months of varying lengths and its additional day every four years).
Once the existence and the length of the fraction of a day has been discovered, this difficulty can be corrected, as it is in our calendar, by intercalating a single day at regular intervals, but the discovery requires very precise methods of measurement, and throughout antiquity only approximate values for the fraction were known.
hoary
adjective
tedious from familiarity; stale.
More about hoary
Hoary 鈥渢edious from familiarity鈥� is an adjective based on the noun hoar 鈥渇rost, a grayish-white,鈥� which is of Germanic origin. Because English and German are both Germanic languages, hoary has two cognates in German鈥�hehr 鈥渟ublime, noble鈥� and Herr 鈥済entleman, sir, mister鈥濃�攖hat show a shift in definition from gray hair alone to words of respect for gray-haired individuals. From there, there are at least three possibilities for the ultimate origin of hoary: one hypothesis connects hoary to the same root for color-related words that gives rise to hue, a second option links hoary to an ancient root meaning 鈥渢o shine,鈥� and a third proposes that hoary shares a source with obscure (via Latin), shadow (via Old English), and the recent 51吃瓜 of the Day sciamachy (via Ancient Greek). Hoary was first recorded in English in the 1520s.
how is hoary used?
It鈥檚 a hoary old debate: how much do our genes define how we grow and learn, and how much is due to the environment? A new study by [Augustine] Kong and colleagues shows that parents鈥� genes, even those not passed on to children, have major effects on kids鈥� health and educational attainment.
Webster included [in the dictionary] new American words like 鈥渟ubsidize鈥� and 鈥渃aucus,鈥� and left out hoary Britishisms like 鈥渇ishefy.鈥� John Quincy Adams, the future president, was shocked by the 鈥渓ocal vulgarisms,鈥� and doubted that Harvard, of which he was a trustee, would ever endorse such a radical 鈥渄eparture from the English language.鈥�