51吃瓜 of the Day
lucida
noun
the brightest star in a constellation.
More about lucida
Lucida is the feminine singular of the Latin adjective 濒奴肠颈诲耻蝉 meaning 鈥渂right, shining鈥�; the Latin phrase 濒奴肠颈诲补 stella simply means 鈥渂right star鈥�; the modern sense 鈥渢he brightest star in a constellation鈥� is a New Latin usage dating from the first half of the 18th century. 尝奴肠颈诲耻蝉 is a derivative of the verb 濒奴肠脓谤别 鈥渢o emit light, shine,鈥� which in turn is a derivative of the noun lux, inflectional stem 濒奴肠– 鈥渓ight, a light.鈥� Stella comes from an unrecorded Latin sterla, literally 鈥渓ittle star,鈥� from the Proto-Indo-European root ster– 鈥渟tar,鈥� which appears in Proto-Germanic as 蝉迟别谤锄艒苍-, and in the recorded Germanic languages as 蝉迟补铆谤苍艒 in Gothic, sterno in Old High German, stjarna in Old Norse, steorra in Old English, sterre in Middle English, and star in Modern English. Greek 补蝉迟岣梤 shares an initial a with Armenian 补蝉迟艂, both meaning 鈥渟tar.鈥�
how is lucida used?
Interestingly, the old astronomy books and sky charts, which depicted the constellations as allegorical drawings, placed the lucida (brightest star) of Lynx in the tuft of its tail. From these drawings it would seem that nearby Leo Minor, the Smaller Lion, is about to provoke a cat fight by biting Lynx鈥檚 tail.
At its [Scorpius’s] heart lies its lucida or brightest star, the red Antares, so named because its color makes of it a rival to Mars whenever that red planet is nearby.
lucida
propinquity
noun
nearness in place; proximity.
More about propinquity
Propinquity, 鈥渃loseness in space, time, kinship,鈥� comes via Middle English propinquite from Old French propinquite, from Latin 辫谤辞辫颈苍辩耻颈迟腻迟-, the inflectional stem of the noun 辫谤辞辫颈苍辩耻颈迟腻蝉. The English, Middle English, Old French, and Latin nouns even share the same meanings. 笔谤辞辫颈苍辩耻颈迟腻蝉 is a derivative of the adjective propinquus, itself a derivative of the preposition and adverb prope 鈥渘ear, nearby, close.鈥� The suffix –inquus is very rare in Latin, but it also occurs in the adjective longinquus 鈥渇ar, far off, remote,鈥� the opposite of propinquus. Prope and propinquus are the positive degree whose comparative degree is the regularly formed propinquior 鈥渃loser, nearer鈥�; the superlative degree is the irregular proximus 鈥渘ext, next to, nearest, adjacent,鈥� from which English derives proximate. Propinquity entered English in the first half of the 15th century.
how is propinquity used?
when he was called to New York, to become a partner in his father鈥檚 banking-house, I realized that our interests had already diverged, and that only propinquity had served to hold us together. For poor George had already allowed himself to be mastered by a fatal vice鈥攖he passion for money-making …
In the case of the pictures in 鈥�#nyc,鈥� closeness involves not just a physical propinquity but also a kind of psychic insight into others鈥� hearts and minds.
propinquity
vibrissa
noun
one of the stiff, bristly hairs growing about the mouth of certain animals, as a whisker of a cat.
More about vibrissa
Vibrissa, 鈥渙ne of the stiff hairs growing about the mouth of an animal, such as a cat鈥檚 whisker,鈥� is restricted pretty much to (human) anatomy, ornithology, and zoology. Vibrissa is the singular of the Late Latin plural noun vibrissae, a word that occurs only once, in a work by Sextus Pompeius Festus, a Roman grammarian and lexicographer who flourished in the late 2nd century a.d. Festus defines vibrissae as 鈥渢he nose hairs of a human being, so called because when they are pulled out, the head shakes (caput 惫颈产谤腻迟耻谤)鈥� (vibrissae does in fact derive from the Latin verb 惫颈产谤腻谤别 鈥渢o shake鈥�). This 鈥渉uman鈥� sense is the original meaning in English in the late 17th century, but it is no longer common; the more general zoological and ornithological meaning arose in the first half of the 19th century. The singular form vibrissa first appears in English in the first quarter of the 19th century.
how is vibrissa used?
I stroked his splendid vibrissae, the stiff, sensitive whiskers that a walrus uses to search for bivalves through the seabed’s dark murk, and that feel like slender tubes of bamboo.
Whiskers 鈥� technically called vibrissae in mammals 鈥� are an important part of my cats鈥� sensory arrays. When Margarita abruptly tears across the apartment for reasons I can only speculate about, her whiskers can tell her if she鈥檚 cutting to[o] close to a wall so that she doesn鈥檛 run headlong into the doorway.
vibrissa