51吃瓜 of the Day
cryonaut
noun
a person whose dead body has been preserved by the technique of cryonics.
More about cryonaut
The rare noun cryonaut derives clearly and simply from the Greek nouns 办谤媒辞蝉 鈥渋cy cold鈥� and 苍补煤迟脓蝉 鈥渟补颈濒辞谤.鈥� 碍谤媒辞蝉 comes from the Proto-Indo-European root kreus-, krus- 鈥渢o freeze, form a crust,鈥� from which Greek also derives 办谤媒蝉迟补濒濒辞蝉 鈥渋ce鈥� (English crystal). Krus- is also the source of Latin crusta 鈥渁 hard covering, scab, crust.鈥� 狈补煤迟脓蝉 is a derivative of the noun 苍补没蝉 鈥渟丑颈辫,鈥� from the same Proto-Indo-European source as Latin 苍腻惫颈蝉 鈥渟丑颈辫,鈥� nauta 鈥渟ailor,鈥� and 苍腻惫颈驳腻谤别 鈥渢ravel by ship.鈥� Cryonaut entered English in the 20th century.
how is cryonaut used?
… cryonics … has now been around for 60 years, since the death of retired psychology professor James H. Bedford. Alcor, the company that still has his body in a frozen chamber, calls him the first 鈥�cryonaut.鈥�
For the moment, preservation is a pricey proposition, largely because each “cryonaut” must set aside enough capital to pay for maintenance indefinitely out of interest alone.
thunderstone
noun
any of various stones or fossils formerly thought to be fallen thunderbolts.
More about thunderstone
Thunderstone in the sense 鈥渢hunderbolt鈥� dates from the end of the 16th century; the sense 鈥渟tone or fossil鈥� dates from the late 17th century.
how is thunderstone used?
Palta might not be hidden from the sky; thus the sacred thunder-stone of Terminus at Rome stood under a hole in the roof of Jupiter’s temple …
In Germany until the early 20th century people believed in the magic properties of the devil’s fingers, known also as catstones, thunderstones, wombstones or even candles of the dead. According to ancient lore these strange stones are falling from the sky and witches can use them to cause thunderstorms.
More about linguaphile
Linguist has existed in English since the 16th century. It means 鈥渙ne who is adept at learning and using foreign languages; one who is a student of language or linguistics; a translator or interpreter.鈥� Linguaphile has a somewhat different meaning: 鈥渙ne who loves words or languages.鈥� The originally Greek suffix -phile (鈥渓over of鈥�) is completely naturalized in English. Lingua in Latin means 鈥渢ongue, language鈥�; its Old Latin form was dingua, from Proto-Indo-European 诲峁噂丑飞腻, which is also the source of Germanic (English) tongue, and of Celtic (Old Irish) teng, Baltic 颈苍啪农-, and Slavic (Polish) 箩臋锄测办 (with Baltic and Slavic loss of initial d-; 臋 represents a nasalized vowel). Linguaphile entered English in the late 20th century.
how is linguaphile used?
The collection has so many good passages 鈥� whole paragraphs that move into pages with never a misstep 鈥� that any linguaphile could spend a great afternoon in a little spasm of dazzle.
In the story 鈥淓ntourage,鈥� a linguaphile travels to Poland, Denmark, Germany, Turkey, and more, collecting suitcases full of books in their original languages.