51吃瓜 of the Day
ineffable
adjective
incapable of being expressed or described in words; inexpressible.
More about ineffable
Ineffable ultimately comes from Latin 颈苍别蹿蹿腻产颈濒颈蝉 鈥�(of a word) unpronounceable,鈥� and in Late Latin and Christian Latin 鈥�(of the divine name) that cannot or must not be spoken.鈥� 滨苍别蹿蹿腻产颈濒颈蝉 is a compound of in-, the Latin negative prefix that is equivalent to English un– (as in unspoken), and the verb 别蹿蹿腻谤墨 鈥渢o speak, speak out, speak solemnly, declare鈥� (itself a compound of the preposition and prefix ex, ex– 鈥渙ut, out of鈥� and 蹿腻谤墨 鈥渢o speak鈥�). Another English derivative, infant, comes from Latin 颈苍蹿腻苍蝉 (inflectional stem infant-) 鈥渟mall child, infant,鈥� literally 鈥渘onspeaking,鈥� formed from the same prefix in– and 蹿腻苍蝉, the present participle of 蹿腻谤墨. Ineffable entered English in the late 14th century.
how is ineffable used?
As a child, I loved reading the dictionary in search of the precise words for everything. Reading this poem, whose title is a Japanese word often translated as 鈥樷�榮unshine filtering through leaves,鈥欌�� I felt that wonder again鈥攈ow the language of poetry can move us closer to naming what is ineffable.
Again, I was listening very hard to jazz and hoping, one day, to translate it into language, and Shakespeare’s bawdiness became very important to me since bawdiness was one of the elements of jazz and revealed a tremendous, loving and realistic respect for the body, and that ineffable force which the body contains …
ineffable
vale
noun
the world, or mortal or earthly life: this vale of tears.
More about vale
Vale听may be familiar to some readers from the woeful expression vale of tears, which casts the world as a place of sorrow and difficulty.听Vale, 鈥渁 valley, a low-lying piece of land usually having a brook,鈥� comes from Middle English val, valle, vaile (and more variants), from Old French val, vau, vauls (and more variants), from Latin 惫补濒濒脓蝉 (inflectional stem valli-) 鈥渧alley.鈥� Vale in its literal sense as a geographical feature dates from the second half of the 14th century; the extended, figurative sense, 鈥渢he world, mortal life, earthly existence,鈥� dates from the first half of the 15th century.
how is vale used?
all he really wanted to do in company was to make jokes, to turn the world upside down and laugh at it, to enrich and enliven this vale of tears with a little fantasy.
As Keats witnessed more and more suffering鈥攈is brother Tom鈥檚 death; the infectious illnesses sweeping London鈥攈e connected his aesthetic vision to lived experience, and wrote in a letter that life is 鈥渁 vale of soul-making鈥�: 鈥淒o you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul?鈥�
vale
somnambulism
noun
sleepwalking.
More about somnambulism
Somnambulism, 鈥渟leepwalking,鈥� comes via French somnambulisme from New Latin somnambulismus, a pretty transparent compound of the noun somnus 鈥渟leep鈥� and the verb 补尘产耻濒腻谤别 鈥渢o walk, take a walk, stroll,鈥� source of English amble. Somnus is the Latin result of the very common Proto-Indo-European root swep-, swop-, sup– 鈥渢o sleep.鈥� In Latin, the derivative noun swepnos (or swopnos) becomes sopnos, then somnus. The derivative noun supnos becomes 丑媒辫苍辞蝉 in Greek. Another derivative noun, swep–os-, becomes sopor– “sleep” in Latin (via swop–os-, then sopor-), as in English soporific 鈥渃ausing sleep.鈥� Swepnos becomes swefn 鈥渟leep, dream鈥� in Old English and sweven 鈥渄ream, dream-vision鈥� in Middle English. William Langland, usually considered to be the author of Piers Plowman, fell into a merveilouse swevene, a 鈥渃urious dream,鈥� one May morning in the Malvern Hills in Hereford and Worcestershire, England, and Piers Plowman is the narrative of his dream. Somnambulism entered English at the end of the 18th century.
how is somnambulism used?
Sleepwalking, or听somnambulism, doesn鈥檛 always involve walking. A person is said to be sleepwalking if they are performing a complex task鈥攖alking, sitting up in bed, getting dressed鈥攚hile in a state of deep sleep, according to the National Sleep Foundation.
Out and about, I spotted drowsy or dozing people everywhere; and I realized that a kind of mechanized mass somnambulism is an essential component of modern life ….
somnambulism