51吃瓜 of the Day
piacular
adjective
expiatory; atoning; reparatory.
More about piacular
Piacular comes directly from the Latin adjective 辫颈腻肠耻濒腻谤颈蝉 鈥�(of a rite or sacrifice) performed or offered by way of atonement; expiatory.鈥� 笔颈腻肠耻濒腻谤颈蝉 is a derivative of the noun 辫颈腻肠耻濒耻尘 鈥渁 sacrificial victim or expiatory offering,鈥� itself a derivative of the verb 辫颈腻谤别 鈥渢o propitiate a god, remove or avert by expiation.鈥� Finally, 辫颈腻谤别 is a derivative of the adjective pius 鈥渇aithful, loyal, and dutiful to the gods, one鈥檚 country, family, kindred and friends.鈥� Pius is one of the most potent words in Latin and typical of the Romans. The phrase pius Aen膿膩s 鈥渓oyal, faithful, dutiful Aeneas鈥� occurs 17 times in the Aeneid. Piacular entered English in the 17th century.
how is piacular used?
T. S. Eliot made a fetish of using long-dormant adjectives like defunctive, anfractuous, and polyphiloprogenetive; he apparently felt piacular (meaning something done or offered in order to make up for a sin or sacrilegious action) was too run-of-the-mill, so he made up a new form: piaculative.
Sacrifices have generally been divided into three classes of (1) honorific, where the offering is believed to be in some sense a gift to the deity; (2) piacular, or sin-offerings, where the victim was usually burnt whole, no part being retained for eating …
interregnum
noun
any period during which a state has no ruler or only a temporary executive.
More about interregnum
Interregnum, a straightforward borrowing from Latin, applies far back in Roman history, to the period of kings (traditionally, 753 b.c.鈥�509 b.c.). An interregnum was the period between the death of the old king and the accession of the new one. During the time of the Roman Republic (509 b.c.鈥�27 b.c.), an interregnum was a period when both consuls or other patrician magistrates were dead or out of office. The Roman Senate then appointed from among themselves an interrex (or a series of 颈苍迟别谤谤别驳脓蝉) with consular powers for five-day terms whose principal duty was to supervise the election of new consuls. Interregnum entered English in the 16th century.
how is interregnum used?
But now, he has been on the job for two decades, save for a brief interregnum when he switched posts with his prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev.
During the two years of interregnum, during Dr. Aagaard’s administration and in the year of two following his resignation to accept a similar position at the University of Washington, all major clinical chairmanships fell vacant and new appointments had to be made.
More about exoteric
Exoteric, the opposite of esoteric, comes from Latin 别虫艒迟别谤颈肠耻蝉 鈥減opular (e.g., of books); not overly technical or abstruse,鈥� a borrowing of Greek 别虫艒迟别谤颈办贸蝉 鈥渆xternal, outside, popular.鈥� The first element of the Greek word is the adverb 茅虫艒 鈥渙ut, out of, outside鈥�; the last element, -颈办贸蝉, is a typical adjective suffix. The middle element, -ter-, is usually called a comparative suffix, which is only one of its functions. The suffix -ter is also used in Latin and Greek to form natural or complementary pairs, e.g., Latin 苍艒蝉迟别谤 鈥渙ur鈥� and vester 鈥測our,鈥� and dexter 鈥渞ight (hand)鈥� and sinister 鈥渓eft (hand).鈥� The Latin adjectives correspond with Greek 丑脓尘茅迟别谤辞蝉 鈥渙ur鈥� and 丑测尘茅迟别谤辞蝉 鈥測our,鈥� and 诲别虫颈迟别谤贸蝉 鈥渞ight (hand)鈥� and 补谤颈蝉迟别谤贸蝉 鈥渓eft (hand).鈥� 础谤颈蝉迟别谤贸蝉 is a euphemism meaning 鈥渂etter (hand)鈥� (谩谤颈蝉迟辞蝉 means 鈥渂est鈥� in Greek, as in aristocracy 鈥渞ule of the best鈥�). Exoteric entered English in the 17th century.
how is exoteric used?
I was on a holiday, and was engaged in that rich and intricate mass of pleasures, duties, and discoveries which for the keeping off of the profane, we disguise by the exoteric name of Nothing.
Practical or exoteric alchemy was concerned chiefly with attempts to prepare the philosopher’s stone, a hypothetical transmuting and healing agent capable of curing the imagined diseases of metals and the real ones of man.