51吃瓜 of the Day
paraselene
noun
Meteorology.
a bright moonlike spot on a lunar halo; a mock moon.
More about paraselene
Paraselene 鈥渁 bright moonlike spot on a lunar halo; a mock moon, a moon dog,鈥� is a compound noun formed from the Greek preposition and prefix 辫补谤谩, para– 鈥渁longside, contrary to鈥� and the noun 蝉别濒岣梟脓 鈥渕oon, the moon.鈥� 厂别濒岣梟脓 is the Attic Greek form (when people say they are studying classical Greek, they mean the Greek of Attica, whose chief city was Athens); other dialects have 蝉别濒腻虂苍腻 (Doric Greek and most other dialects); as usual, Aeolic Greek goes its own way with 蝉别濒谩苍苍腻 (Aeolic is the dialect of the lyric poets Sappho and Alcaeus). All the Greek forms derive from an unrecorded 蝉别濒补蝉苍腻, a derivative of the neuter noun 蝉茅濒补蝉 鈥渓ight, glow, beam.鈥� Sixty percent of Greek words have no clear etymology; 蝉别濒岣梟脓, 蝉别濒腻虂苍腻, 蝉别濒谩苍苍腻 is among them. Paraselene entered English in the mid-17th century.
how is paraselene used?
In this image, the聽first quarter moon聽is flanked on both sides of a halo by “mock moons,” also known as paraselenae or “moondogs.” The apparitions are formed when moonlight is refracted through thin, plate-shaped ice crystals in cirrus clouds.
The darkest part of the winter is from the middle of December to the middle of January, when the aurora transforms the sky into a vault of fire, and paraselene appear, surrounding the moon with blazing cresses, circles, and mock-moons, scarcely surpassed by the wonderful deceptions of the solar rays.
paraselene
misbegotten
adjective
badly conceived, made, or carried out.
More about misbegotten
Misbegotten 鈥渂adly conceived, made, or carried out,鈥� is hard to figure out from its component parts. Misbegotten is made up of the prefix mis– 鈥渨rongly, incorrectly,鈥� from the Germanic prefix missa– 鈥渁stray, wrong鈥� (from the same root as the verb miss 鈥渢o fail to hit or strike鈥�), as in Gothic missadeths 鈥渢ransgression, offense,鈥� which occurs in Old English as 尘颈蝉诲墙诲 and in English as misdeed. Begotten is the past participle of beget, which comes from the Old English verb begietan 鈥渢o get, acquire,鈥� which since the second half of the 14th century has meant 鈥渢o generate offspring; produce as an effect.鈥� Beget is a compound of the prefix be-, a Germanic prefix originally meaning 鈥渁bout, around, on all sides,鈥� with many other meanings, but here having a figurative sense (as also with befall, begin, behave). The verb get is from Old Norse geta 鈥渢o get, be able to, beget, engender.鈥� Misbegotten entered English in the first half of the 16th century in the sense “illegitimate child.”
how is misbegotten used?
It is long past time to end U.S. support for this misbegotten and unwinnable war.
Does our respect for companion creatures herald a new way of relating to non-humans, rejecting centuries of misbegotten thinking about animals as unfeeling biological machines?
misbegotten
lyceum
noun
an institution for popular education providing discussions, lectures, concerts, etc.
More about lyceum
The English noun lyceum comes from Latin 尝测肠墨耻尘, 尝测肠脓耻尘, from Greek 尝媒办别颈辞苍, the name of a gymnasium in southeast Athens with a neighboring sanctuary of 础辫贸濒濒艒苍 尝媒办颈辞蝉 / 尝媒办别颈辞蝉. The area was one of the places where Socrates used to ask his good-humored but troublesome questions, and where Aristotle used to lecture. The sanctuary also gave its name to Aristotle鈥檚 school, the 尝媒办别颈辞苍. It is unclear what exactly 濒媒办别颈辞蝉 means: It may mean 鈥渂elonging to a wolf鈥� (濒媒办辞蝉) because of the Athenian military and athletic cult of 础辫贸濒濒艒苍 尝媒办颈辞蝉 鈥淲辞濒蹿-础辫辞濒濒辞.鈥� 尝媒办别颈辞蝉 is also an epithet of Apollo meaning 鈥淟ycian (Apollo),鈥� i.e., Apollo was born in Lycia (his mother Leto was Lycian). Finally, because of Apollo鈥檚 association with the sun, 濒媒办别颈辞蝉 may be from the same root as Greek 濒媒肠丑苍辞蝉 鈥渓antern, lamp鈥� and Latin lux (stem luc-) 鈥渓ight.鈥� Modern authorities consider the connection with Lycia and Leto to be the most probable one. Lyceum entered English in the second half of the 16th century.
how is lyceum used?
At a lyceum, not long since, I felt that the lecturer had chosen a theme too foreign to himself, and so failed to interest me as much as he might have done.
On the lyceum circuit, they travelled from town to town, an adult-education campaign offering lectures on everything from physical exercise to the moral crisis of slavery.
lyceum