51吃瓜 of the Day
More about kismet
The English noun kismet 鈥渇ate鈥� comes straight from Turkish kismet, which in turn comes from Persian qismat, from Arabic qisma, qismat- 鈥渓ot,鈥� from qasama 鈥�(he) divided,鈥� from the (West) Semitic root qsm- 鈥渢o divide, allot.鈥� Long before the arrival of Islam, Persian was used as an imperial administrative and literary language, contributing to the vocabulary of neighboring languages, especially the Turkic languages of Anatolia, central Asia, and some Indo-Aryan languages of the Indian subcontinent, especially Urdu. These languages received terms relating to Islam indirectly via Persian rather than directly from Arabic. Kismet entered English in the 19th century.
how is kismet used?
In the way that a randomly shuffled song on your headphones can feel like thrilling kismet, suddenly, this semi-animate speaker seemed to belong in my home.
It was kismet that it happened with you, and today!
genethliac
adjective
Astrology. of or relating to birthdays or to the position of the stars at one's birth.
More about genethliac
If any word occurs exclusively in grad school seminars, papers, theses, and dissertations, genethliac is that word. The Latin adjective and noun genethliacus 鈥減ertaining to one鈥檚 hour of birth or a birthday; an astrologer who calculates such an hour or day,鈥� is an extension of the Greek adjective 驳别苍别迟丑濒颈补办贸蝉 鈥減ertaining to a birthday.鈥� Latin also possesses a noun genethliacon 鈥渂irthday poem,鈥� derived from but not existing in Greek. Birthdays and birthday celebrations were bigger affairs among Roman men than among the Greeks because one鈥檚 birthday also involved the cult of the genius, the attendant spirit or 鈥済uardian angel,鈥� so to speak, of every freeborn male but especially of the paterfamilias. Latin genethliaca 鈥渂irthday poems鈥� arose as a distinct genre in the first century b.c. Genethliac entered English in the 16th century.
how is genethliac used?
… the mathematicians allow the very same horoscope to princes and to sots: whereof a right pregnant instance by them is given in the nativities of 脝neas and Chor忙bus; the latter of which two is by Euphorion said to have been a fool; and yet had, with the former, the same aspects and heavenly genethliac influences.
… Augustine particularly insists on the case of twins, whose fates ought to be identical, if the genethliac theory were true …
ariose
adjective
characterized by melody; songlike.
More about ariose
Ariose was first recorded in 1735鈥�45. It is an Anglicized variant of Italian arioso.
how is ariose used?
He turned and looked at her, concern for her making his ariose voice a bit rougher than usual …
… he loosed the ariose floods of his voice, till a gusty song of the spring-time seemed to fill the garden.