51吃瓜 of the Day
barchan
noun
a crescent-shaped sand dune with the convex side in the direction of the wind.
More about barchan
Barchan 鈥渁 crescent-shaped sand dune鈥� is a borrowing by way of Russian barkhan from Kazakh barxan, of the same meaning. Kazakh is a member of the Turkic language family, which is found in large pockets from the eastern Mediterranean to central Siberia, as we learned about in the etymology for the recent 51吃瓜 of the Day yurt. Because most Turkic language-speaking countries today were once part of the former USSR, the Russian language has absorbed numerous loanwords from Turkic tongues, from Abkhaz and Azerbaijani in the west of Asia to Kazakh and Kyrgyz in the center. Barchan was first recorded in English in the late 1880s.
how is barchan used?
If Star Wars: The Phantom Menace had an epilogue, you might call it The Barchan Invasion. That’s because a crescent-shaped sand dune called a barchan is slowly swallowing the spot in the Sahara that played Anakin Skywalker’s hometown in the movie. The set, erected outside the Tunisian city of Tozeur and used as a backdrop for the 1999 film鈥攁 “prequel” to George Lucas’s wildly popular Star Wars trilogy鈥攈as become a pilgrimage site for truly devoted fans .鈥� Eventually, it will roll right over Mos Espa鈥攑robably crushing the movie set鈥攁nd keep on moving.
Smaller barchan dunes often bump into larger ones from behind because they move faster and are carried by winds blowing in one direction …. [W]hen two dunes are close enough in size, they can create the illusion that one slithers right through the other. The slightly smaller one, approaching from behind, swallows so much sand as it begins to fuse with the larger, more sluggish barchan that at some point it becomes bigger. The dune that was initially larger is now small enough to dart away.
barchan
oenology
noun
the science of viniculture.
More about oenology
Oenology 鈥渢he science of viniculture鈥� derives from Ancient Greek 辞卯苍辞蝉 鈥渨ine,鈥� plus the suffix -logy, which derives from Ancient Greek 濒贸驳辞蝉 鈥渨ord, saying鈥� but is often used in English to denote a field of study. 翱卯苍辞蝉 (earlier woinos) is a cognate of Latin 惫墨苍耻尘 鈥渨ine,鈥� and as we learned about in the etymology for the recent 51吃瓜 of the Day violescent, 辞卯苍辞蝉 and 惫墨苍耻尘 belong to a small family of cognate pairs (along with 铆辞苍/惫颈辞濒补 鈥渧iolet鈥� and 别濒补铆腻/辞濒墨惫补 鈥渙live鈥�) that demonstrate how Ancient Greek dropped its w sound (represented by the letter digamma) while Latin retained its v (pronounced as w). In the field of linguistics, one never knows how the presence of a sound in one language can hint at the loss of an entire letter in another language. Oenology was first recorded in English circa 1810.
how is oenology used?
The vineyards of Issoudun produce a wine which is drunk throughout the two departments, and which, if manufactured as Burgundy and Gascony manufacture theirs, would be one of the best wines in France. Alas, 鈥渢o do as our fathers did,鈥� with no innovations, is the law of the land. Accordingly, the vine-growers continue to leave the refuse of the grape in the juice during its fermentation, which makes the wine detestable, when it might be a source of ever-springing wealth, and an industry for the community. Thanks to the bitterness which the refuse infuses into the wine, and which, they say, lessens with age, a vintage will keep a century. This reason, given by the vine-grower in excuse for his obstinacy, is of sufficient importance to oenology to be made public here…
Wine science, or oenology, has three pillars鈥揼rape culture, wine production, and sensory analysis evaluation. It is also concerned with chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, and large scale [sic] production of wine or engineering. Oenology is defined as the science of wine making, comprising the horticultural, biological, and food sciences, technological and engineering aspects of the process, as well as economics and marketing angles. Thus, it is a combination of several aspects of knowledge and is an interdisciplinary subject.
oenology
guillemet
noun
one of two marks 芦 or 禄 used in French, Italian, and Russian printing to enclose quotations.
More about guillemet
Guillemet 鈥渁 mark used in French to enclose quotations鈥� is a diminutive of the name Guillaume, the French cognate of William. As we learned in the etymology for the recent听51吃瓜 of the Day 飞颈濒濒-辞鈥�-迟丑别-飞颈蝉辫, William comes from a Germanic name roughly meaning 鈥渄esired helmet.鈥� Although guillemets first appeared in 1527, they may have been named after the French printer Guillaume Le B茅, who would have been a toddler in the late 1520s when guillemets emerged in print. When an item is named after its inventor, it is often called a namesake or an eponym, but in the case of the guillemet, which takes its name from someone incorrectly assumed to be its inventor, it is a misnomer 鈥渁 misapplied or inappropriate name or designation.鈥� Guillemet was first recorded in English in the early 20th century.
how is guillemet used?
guillemet