51吃瓜 of the Day
esemplastic
adjective
having the ability to shape diverse elements or concepts into a unified whole.
More about esemplastic
Esemplastic 鈥渉aving the ability to shape diverse elements into a unified whole鈥� is a coinage by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, author of such works as The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Coleridge, inspired by German philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling鈥檚 own coinage Ineinsbildung (literally 鈥渋nto one formation鈥�), based esemplastic on three Ancient Greek elements. The first of these is es-, a variant of eis- 鈥渋nto, to鈥�; compare the name of the city Istanbul, which emerged as a corruption of the Byzantine Greek phrase eis t岣昻 P贸lin 鈥渢o the City.鈥� The second of these elements is (丑)茅苍, the neuter of 丑别卯蝉 鈥渙ne,鈥� which has largely been replaced in English by mono-, from Ancient Greek 尘贸苍辞蝉 鈥渁lone.鈥� The final element is 辫濒补蝉迟颈办贸蝉 鈥渕oldable,鈥� from 辫濒谩蝉蝉别颈苍 鈥渢o form.鈥� Esemplastic was first recorded in English in the 1810s.
how is esemplastic used?
He was really all about the work, every single thing he saw he processed as potential fodder for the project. He was one of these totally…esemplastic kind of guys鈥攜’know, he had a very synthetic, very practical and resourceful kind of sensibility, always about cobbling together the most disparate, miscellaneous things.
[A]n esemplastic, eclectic, deep and complex mind such as we can ascribe to [Wole] Soyinka, … must contradict himself occasionally. In fact, holding on to an opinion even after one has found reason to change it is not a virtue. It is a vice that hints at bigotry, a disease of the mind symptomized by its rigidity.
esemplastic
hieroglyphic
adjective
designating or pertaining to a pictographic script, particularly that of the ancient Egyptians, in which many of the symbols are conventionalized, recognizable pictures of the things represented.
More about hieroglyphic
Hieroglyphic 鈥渄esignating or pertaining to a pictographic script鈥� derives by way of Late Latin hieroglyphicus from Ancient Greek 丑颈别谤辞驳濒测辫丑颈办贸蝉 鈥減ertaining to sacred writing,鈥� which is a compound of 丑颈别谤贸蝉 鈥渉oly, sacred鈥� and 驳濒测辫丑岣� 鈥渃arving.鈥� The adjective 丑颈别谤贸蝉 is likely a cognate of Latin 墨谤补 鈥渁nger鈥� (compare irate and irascible); both appear to come from a Proto-Indo-European root that indicates words of passion. The noun 驳濒测辫丑岣� derives from the verb 驳濒媒辫丑别颈苍 鈥渢o carve, hollow out,鈥� which has a few unexpected cognates in English. Grimm鈥檚 law, which we learned about from our recent 51吃瓜s of the Day cordiform, togated, and transcendental, states that Ancient Greek g often corresponds to English c and k. With this in mind, compare Ancient Greek 驳濒媒辫丑别颈苍 with English cleave, cleft, and cloven, all three of which involve splitting something apart. Hieroglyphic was first recorded in English circa 1580.
how is hieroglyphic used?
The ancient language also offers clues as to how 鈥� iron was perceived by Egyptians鈥揳nd that they knew meteorites were a source of the metal聽…. From the beginning of the 19th Dynasty (approximately 1295 BC) a new hieroglyphic word for iron appeared: 鈥渂i-A-n-pt,鈥� which literally translates as 鈥渋ron from the sky.鈥� Why this new word appears in this exact form at this time is unknown but it was later applied to all metallic iron. An obvious explanation for the sudden emergence of the word would be a major impact event or large shower of meteorites.
Thousands of years after the Egyptians wrote the first hieroglyphic scripts, the spread of emoji seems to be bringing us back to a picture-based writing system. That may look like a retrograde step to a more primitive, childish form of communication. But it isn鈥檛, because both hieroglyphs and emoji are far more powerful than they appear.
hieroglyphic
misnomer
noun
a misapplied or inappropriate name or designation.
More about misnomer
Misnomer 鈥渁 misapplied or inappropriate name or designation鈥� comes by way of Middle English and Anglo-French from the Middle French verb mesnomer 鈥渢o misname,鈥� which is a compound of the prefix mes- 鈥渘ot鈥� and the verb nomer 鈥渢o name.鈥� Despite the common misconception that mes- is the French cognate of Spanish menos- and derives from Latin minus 鈥渟maller,鈥� it is likely that mes- is in fact of Germanic origin and related to the English verb miss 鈥渢o fail to hit or reach.鈥� The verb nomer comes from Latin 苍艒尘颈苍腻谤别 鈥渢o name, call by name,鈥� which is also the source of denominator, nominate, and even renown. Misnomer was first recorded in English in the mid-15th century.
how is misnomer used?
鈥婭t鈥檚 a well-known fact among entomologists that whoever first named the millipede was being a touch dramatic. The name means 鈥渢housand-footed,鈥� but no millipede has a thousand feet. At least, that was true until now. A discovery deep below the surface of Australia has shown that 鈥渕illipede鈥� isn鈥檛 always a misnomer. Researchers found a new species that can have more than 1,300 legs.
Ghost towns tend to start as boomtowns, and contemporary China more than likely has more boomtowns than any other country in history …. This rapid growth has resulted in [a] peculiar side effect: ghost cities, everywhere. Although the term 鈥済host town鈥� is technically a misnomer in this case. A ghost town is a place that has become economically defunct鈥攊n other words, a place that has died. What China has is the opposite of ghost towns: It has new cities that have yet to come to life.
misnomer