51吃瓜 of the Day
nubilous
adjective
cloudy or foggy.
More about nubilous
Nubilous 鈥渃loudy or foggy鈥� derives from Latin 苍奴产颈濒耻蝉 鈥渃loudy, overcast,鈥� equivalent to the noun 苍奴产脓蝉 鈥渃loud鈥� and the adjectival suffix -ilus. 狈奴产脓蝉 is also, by way of French, the source of English nuance, which originally referred to literal shades and hues. As we learned from last year鈥檚 51吃瓜 of the Day obnubilate, though 苍奴产脓蝉 and Latin nebula sound similar and both mean 鈥渃loud,鈥� the two words are unrelated; the stark difference between their vowels cannot be explained through regular historical sound changes. Though it is uncertain whether 苍奴产脓蝉 has any cognates in English that are of Anglo-Saxon or general Germanic origin, there is a small 鈥渃loud鈥�-related rabbit hole that we can explore: the Old Norse word for 鈥渃loud鈥� is 蝉办媒, which鈥攜ou guessed it鈥攚as borrowed into English as sky. Nubilous was first recorded in English circa 1530.
how is nubilous used?
I thought the tree was just鈥tanding there. That is true enough in winter, when the oak is dormant. But the rest of the year, its plumbing surges with food and water, coursing up, down, and out, in a living, interactive connection to the earth, sky, and sun …. Its canopy is minutely nubilous with freshly made oxygen and drifting water vapor released from millions of pores in a mist so fine we cannot see or smell it.
The water swirled around him and he panicked, unable to tell up from down …. Is this what Florence had felt like, frightened and alone in a dark cocoon of briny water? Isaac felt something bump against his back. Was it the boat? A piece of driftwood? He tried to grasp it, couldn鈥檛. But then he felt someone grab him from behind and realized Stuart had found him鈥攎iraculously鈥攊n the nubilous water.
nubilous
mise en 蝉肠猫苍别
noun
the process of setting a stage, with regard to placement of actors, scenery, properties, etc.
More about mise en 蝉肠猫苍别
Mise en 蝉肠猫苍别 鈥渢he process of setting a stage鈥� is a borrowing of a French term with the same meaning that consists of three elements: mise 鈥渁 putting, setting down,鈥� en 鈥渋n, on,鈥� and 蝉肠猫苍别 鈥渟迟补驳别.鈥� Mise is both a noun and past participle of the verb mettre 鈥渢o place, put,鈥� which derives from Latin mittere (perfect stem miss-) 鈥渢o send,鈥� the source of admit, permit, submit, and their respective noun forms (admission, permission, and submission). 厂肠猫苍别 derives by way of Latin scaena or 蝉肠脓苍补 鈥渂ackground鈥� from Ancient Greek 蝉办脓苍岣� 鈥渂ooth (where actors dressed).鈥� Although 蝉办脓苍岣� is of uncertain origin, one theory is that it is related to Ancient Greek 蝉办颈谩 鈥渟hadow,鈥� which would make 蝉肠猫苍别 (and, therefore, English scene) a distant cognate of the recent听51吃瓜 of the Day sciamachy. Mise en 蝉肠猫苍别 was first recorded in English in the early 1830s.
how is mise en 蝉肠猫苍别 used?
No writer questions the veracity of everyone and everything as effectively as Agatha Christie does. Her typical mise en scene has the suspects gathered in a room while Poirot or, occasionally Marple, unpicks each person鈥檚 defence in turn, proving they are not what they seem and are infinitely capable of murder, regardless of whether they鈥檝e actually killed or not.
Out of all the intoxicating phrases that emerge from the study of film, my personal favourite is mise-en-蝉肠猫苍别, … The phrase conjures up the splendour of the audio-visual palettes that help establish film worlds, whether they be brooding gothic horrors, deceptive melodramas, or the slick sheen of utopian space operas. If a film has worked its magic on you it will likely be through the delightful subtleties and provocations of its mise-en-蝉肠猫苍别.
mise en 蝉肠猫苍别
waka
noun
a Japanese poem consisting of 31 syllables in 5 lines, with 5 syllables in the first and third lines and 7 in the others.
More about waka
Waka 鈥渁 Japanese poem consisting of 31 syllables in 5 lines鈥� is, unsurprisingly, a borrowing from Japanese. In the Japanese language, waka is spelled with two kanji characters: the first, pronounced wa in this context, refers to Japan itself but also still preserves its original meaning of 鈥渉armony,鈥� while the second character, pronounced ka in this context, means 鈥渟ong鈥� or 鈥渢o sing.鈥� The elements wa and ka, like many Japanese words, are both adapted from Middle Chinese; for modern Chinese equivalents, compare Mandarin 丑茅 and 驳脓 as well as Cantonese wo and go. Though Japanese is a member of the Japonic language family, which also includes the many languages of the Ryukyu Islands, a substantial portion of Japanese vocabulary derives from Middle Chinese. Known as Sino-Japanese words, these terms constitute at least half of modern Japanese vocabulary, though estimates vary. Waka was first recorded in English in the late 1870s.
how is waka used?
If ours were a world
where blossoming cherry trees
were not to be found,
what tranquillity would bless
The human heart in springtime!
waka