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51勛圖 of the day

polyglot

[ pol-ee-glot ]

adjective

a person who speaks, writes, or reads a number of languages.

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More about polyglot

Polyglot one who speaks, writes, or reads several languages, comes from the Attic Greek 梯棗梭羸眶梭喧喧棗莽 many-tongued (i.e., of an oracle); speaking many languages, a compound of the prefix poly– much, many (from the neuter adjective 梯棗梭羸) and familiar in English, for example, in polychrome, polygamous, and polygon. The combining form –眶梭喧喧棗莽 having a tongue, using a specific tongue or language is a derivative of 眶梭繫喧喧硃 “tongue.” Attic Greek is one of the four Greek dialects in which serious literature is composed, the other dialects being Ionic (Herodotus Histories, for example), Aeolic (the lyric poetry of the poets Sappho and Alcaeus), and Doric (the traditional dialect of choral odes in tragedy). The other dialects have the form 梯棗梭羸glssos and the noun 眶梭繫莽莽硃, source of English gloss a marginal or interlinear translation or explanation of an unusual or difficult word or phrase. Polyglot entered English in the mid-17th century.

how is polyglot used?

There is a thriving online community of ardent linguaphiles who are, or who aspire to become, polyglots

Judith Thurman, "The Mystery of People Who Speak Dozens of Languages," The New Yorker, August 27, 2018

A taxi cuts you off in Rome. A Mumbai merchant spurns your best offer. A maitre d’ snubs you in Beirut. At times like these, words can fail even the most seasoned polyglot.

James Gibney, "The World's Rudest Hand Gestures," The Atlantic, September 17, 2011

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darg

[ dahrg ]

noun

a day's work.

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More about darg

If you know that darg means a days work, you may be able to figure out that it comes from day and work. Darg comes from Middle English daiwerk, daiwark, daiwork a days work or customary service; a days fighting; the amount of land that can be plowed by a team in one day. The development of the sound seems to be from daiwark to dawark to dark and darg. Darg is the usual form in Scotland and North England. In Australia darg means a fixed or definite amount of work; a work quota, a sense that is also found as a coal mining term in mid-19th century Northumberland and Durham, counties in northern England. Darg entered English in the early 15th century.

how is darg used?

I have a lang day’s darg afore me …

Sir Walter Scott, The Heart of Mid-Lothian, 1818

I do not like our slack days …. Always feel as if I were not doing my full ‘darg‘ on such; but they give me time for reading, and one is glad to secure that.

J. A. Dyer, "Letter to Dr. Fry, August 27, 1913," Quarterly Paper, Edinburg Medical Missionary Society, November 1913

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decussate

[ verb dih-kuhs-eyt, dek-uh-seyt ]

verb (used with or without object)

to cross in the form of an X; intersect.

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More about decussate

The verb decussate to cross in the form of an X; intersect, comes from Latin 餃梗釵喝莽莽櫻喧-, the inflectional stem of 餃梗釵喝莽莽櫻喧us, the past participle of the verb 餃梗釵喝莽莽櫻娶梗 to mark with a cross or an X. 嗨梗釵喝莽莽櫻娶梗 is a derivative of the noun decussis a bronze ten-piece coin; the number ten, a decade; an X-shaped mark (X was the Latin symbol for 10). Decussis is a reduced form of decem ten and as (also assis) a copper coin or monetary unit; a penny. Decussate entered English in the second half of the 17th century.

how is decussate used?

So if you decide you want to move your right arm, or your right leg, the signal would leave the motor cortex of the left hemisphere, travel down towards your brainstem, and then at the level of themedulla, it woulddecussate, or cross over to the right side of the brainstem, and then continue into your spinal cord.

Jason G. Goldman, "Ask a Scienceblogger: Sensation and Perception Basics," Scientific American, June 30, 2010

the leaf-stalks of the second pair decussate with those of the first, and are just so much longer as to bring up that pair nearly, or quite, to a level with the first …

Sir John Lubbock, "On Leaves," Popular Science Monthly, July 1885

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