51吃瓜 of the Day
quagmire
noun
an area of miry or boggy ground whose surface yields under the tread; a bog.
More about quagmire
Quagmire 鈥渁n area of miry or boggy ground鈥� is a compound of the nouns quag and mire, both of which are synonyms of quagmire itself. Mire has a clear and well-studied history; it derives from Old Norse 尘测虅谤谤 鈥渂og鈥� and is a doublet, one of a pair of words derived from the same source but through different routes, of moss (from Old English 尘脓辞蝉)鈥攎uch like fjord and the recent 51吃瓜 of the Day firth. The story of quag, though, is far more muddled. Quag appears to be related to its dialectal English synonyms quab and quaw, and all three may be of imitative origin or come from an uncertain Old English source meaning 鈥渢o shake, tremble.鈥� For the latter hypothesis, the most popular proposal is a connection between quag and the verb quake, as in earthquake and Quaker. Quagmire was first recorded in English in the 1570s.
how is quagmire used?
More than a thousand miles downstream from the Chinese dams, the Mekong Delta鈥檚 seemingly endless network of marshes, canals, and polders鈥攖racts of reclaimed land鈥攕tretches to the South China Sea. The delta has long been a literal and metaphorical quagmire …. The mix of salt water and freshwater in the delta, and the centuries of human efforts to direct it, have resulted in a complex engineered landscape, one that is too often treated as separate from the rest of the Mekong.
The higher-than-usual temps are also keeping people off lake and river ice, as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have warned people away from such bodies of water. This problem is not new, the Canadian Press points out. Supply trucks were stranded in 2010 鈥� as winter roads thawed into muddy quagmires, prompting a few aboriginal chiefs to declare a state of emergency.
quagmire
transcendental
adjective
abstract or metaphysical.
More about transcendental
Transcendental 鈥渁bstract or metaphysical鈥� ultimately derives by way of Medieval Latin from the Latin verb 迟谤腻苍蝉肠别苍诲别谤别 鈥渢o surmount,鈥� a compound of the preposition 迟谤腻苍蝉 鈥渁cross, beyond鈥� and the verb scandere 鈥渢o climb.鈥� 罢谤腻苍蝉 is a distant cognate of the English terms thorough and through; as we learned from the 51吃瓜 of the Day togated, because of a phenomenon known as Grimm鈥檚 law, Latin t often corresponds to English th. The opposite of 迟谤腻苍蝉 is cis 鈥渙n this side.鈥� The verb scandere (with stems including scand-, scans-, scend-, scens-, and scent-) is the source of terms such as ascension, descent, and scansorial 鈥渃apable of or adapted for climbing.鈥� Transcendental was first recorded in English circa 1620.
how is transcendental used?
It was raining, and our orchestra was warming up to play with a celebrated conductor in Massachusetts’ Berkshire mountains, steps from the home of Nathaniel Hawthorne …. I felt a transcendental whoosh of history and emotional connection with my surroundings, and as I drew purposefully scratchy sounds from my instrument … I kept my eyes locked on our guest maestro, a man of my parents’ generation who had likely shared colleagues with them.
transcendental
duniewassal
noun
a gentleman, especially a cadet of a ranking family, among the Highlanders of Scotland.
More about duniewassal
Duniewassal 鈥渁 gentleman among the Highlanders of Scotland鈥� is based on a compound of Scottish Gaelic duine 鈥渕an, person鈥� and uasal 鈥渘辞产濒别.鈥� Duine is a distant descendant of the same Proto-Indo-European root, dhghem- 鈥渆arth,鈥� which is the source of two types of words in the Indo-European language family: 鈥渆arth鈥� words such as the recent 51吃瓜 of the Day chernozem (literally 鈥渂lack earth,鈥� from Russian 锄别尘濒测谩 鈥渆arth鈥�) and 鈥減erson鈥� words such as the recent 51吃瓜 of the Day hominid (from Latin 丑辞尘艒 鈥渕an, person,鈥� related to humus 鈥渆arth鈥�). There are two theories behind the origin of uasal: one connects uasal to the same root as Latin 补耻驳脓谤别 (stem auct-) 鈥渢o increase鈥� (compare auction and augment), while the other links uasal to the same ultimate source as Ancient Greek 丑媒辫蝉辞蝉 鈥渉eight鈥� (compare hypsometer 鈥渁n instrument for measuring atmospheric pressure and sometimes altitude鈥�). Duniewassal was first recorded in English circa 1560.
how is duniewassal used?
The armies differed as markedly in weapons and armour as they did in culture and language. The Islanders were on foot led by their chief and clan gentry of duniewassals … clad in … chainmail and shoulder capers 鈥� padded and quilted coats, saffron-dyed and thickly pleated long shirts, and high, conical, iron helmets. The rank-and-file clansmen had little body protection apart from round shields and relied on their speed and agility, supported by the courage inspired by their ancient warrior culture.
There are hills beyond Pentland and lands beyond Forth,
Be there lairds i鈥� the south, there are chiefs i鈥� the north!
There are brave duniewassals, three thousand times three
Will cry 鈥淗oy!鈥� for the bonnets o鈥� bonnie Dundee.
duniewassal