51吃瓜 of the Day
flageolet
noun
a small end-blown flute with four finger holes in front and two in the rear.
More about flageolet
Flageolet 鈥渁 small end-blown flute鈥� comes from Old French flajolet, which comprises flajol 鈥渇lute鈥� and the diminutive suffix -et. Flajol is originally a word from the Proven莽al language, also known as Occitan, which was once widely spoken throughout what is now southern France and still survives thanks to language revitalization efforts. Ultimately, flageolet may come from the Latin verb 蹿濒腻谤别 鈥渢o blow,鈥� which is the source of deflate, inflate, and even flavor. Because Latin f tends to correspond to English b, cognates of flageolet in English include blow, blast, and perhaps bladder and blather, the latter two from a Germanic source roughly translated as 鈥渟omething blown up.鈥� Flageolet was first recorded in English in the 1650s.
how is flageolet used?
Beginning with a few flutes that he used for a children’s program, Mr. [Trevor] Wye, a collector of rare and unusual flutes, gradually developed a program he called “Afflatus.” In it, he uses 40 different types of flutes, which he plays one after another, including the rare “triple flageolet” and a flute that catches fire…
More about vexillology
Vexillology 鈥渢he study of flags鈥� is a compound of the Latin noun vexillum 鈥渇lag鈥� and the combining form -logy, which indicates the study of a subject and is of Ancient Greek origin. Vexillum (also spelled 惫脓虫颈濒濒耻尘) is a diminutive of 惫脓濒耻尘 鈥渟ail, covering,鈥� making vexillum literally mean 鈥渓ittle sail.鈥� The reason why vexillum, rather than a word such as 鈥�惫脓濒颈濒濒耻尘,鈥� is the diminutive of 惫脓濒耻尘 is likely because of the recent 51吃瓜 of the Day syncope, or the loss of a sound from the middle of a word. 痴脓濒耻尘 probably was once pronounced like 鈥�vexlum鈥� in the early days of Latin, and the x was eventually dropped鈥攂ut not before the stem vex- could be combined with the suffix -illum to create vexillum. If that sounds a little odd, bear in mind that English lord comes from Old English 丑濒腻蹿飞别补谤诲 鈥渓oaf-keeper,鈥� which shed half its consonants! Vexillology was coined in the late 1950s.
how is vexillology used?
Of the millions of pages of documents and reports generated by the first moon landing, none is more telling, to me anyway, than an eleven-page paper [“Where No Flag Has Gone Before: Political and Technical Aspects of Placing a Flag on the Moon”] presented at the twenty-sixth annual meeting of the North American Vexillological Association. Vexillology is the study of flags, not the study of vexing things, but in this case, either would fit.
Whitney Smith, who聽turned a childhood fascination with flags into a scholarly discipline鈥�vexillology鈥攐f which he was the leading light, 鈥� coined the term vexillology, combining the Latin word for flag, 鈥渧exillum,鈥� with the Greek suffix meaning 鈥渢he study of.鈥� 鈥淚鈥檝e been criticized because it combines Latin and Greek, a barbarism,鈥� he told Smithsonian, 鈥渂ut I say, 鈥業 was a teenager!鈥欌��
volplane
verb (used without object)
to glide toward the earth in an airplane, with no motor power or with the power shut off.
More about volplane
Volplane 鈥渢o glide toward the earth in an airplane with no power鈥� is an adaptation of the French noun vol 辫濒补苍茅 鈥済lided flight.鈥� French vol can mean either 鈥渇light鈥� or 鈥渢heft鈥� depending on the context, which gives the name of the nearly invincible villain Voldemort from the Harry Potter series the double meaning of 鈥渇light from death鈥� or 鈥渢heft of death.鈥� Vol comes from the Latin verb 惫辞濒腻谤别 鈥渢o fly,鈥� which is the source of volatile as well as the recent 51吃瓜 of the Day volant. French 辫濒补苍茅 is the past participle of planer 鈥渢o glide,鈥� which ultimately comes from the Latin adjective 辫濒腻苍耻蝉 鈥渇lat,鈥� likely in reference to how gliding is a horizontal motion. Of course, airplane is related to volplane, but airplane comes instead by way of the French adjective plan 鈥渇濒补迟.鈥� Volplane was first recorded in English between 1905 and 1910.
how is volplane used?
So cleverly did he [Frank H. Burnside, an experienced pilot] bring the disabled aircraft around in a graceful spiral, coming head-on into the wind to volplane safely into the mouth of a broad inlet, that the explorer [Rear-Admiral Robert E. Peary] knew nothing of the accident until he was told the flying-boat would have to be towed ashore.
The next time [Harriet] Quimby made headlines in 1912, it was in the screaming, sensational font of disaster too. While flying her new 70-horsepower Bleriot monoplane during a Boston airshow, the 37-year-old Quimby hit turbulence. “Heading back into the eight mile gusty wind, Miss Quimby started to volplane,” recounted The Rock Island Argus.