51吃瓜 of the Day
septentrion
noun
the north.
More about septentrion
Septentrion 鈥渢he north鈥� derives from Latin 蝉别辫迟别苍迟谤颈艒苍脓蝉, which refers to the seven stars of the asterism Big Dipper, part of the constellation Ursa Major (the 鈥淕reater Bear鈥�). These seven stars, because of their location in the northern sky near the North Star, have long had an association with the north in various cultures; we only need to look at the state flag of Alaska to see this association alive and well today! Latin 蝉别辫迟别苍迟谤颈艒苍脓蝉 is equivalent to septem 鈥渟even鈥� and 迟谤颈艒 (stem 迟谤颈艒n-) 鈥減lowing ox.鈥� Another Latin word for 鈥渢he north鈥� is the noun 产辞谤别腻蝉, the source of aurora borealis (literally, the 鈥渘orthern dawn鈥�), which is a borrowing of Ancient Greek 叠辞谤茅腻蝉, the personification of the north wind. In modern Romance languages, instead of deriving from Latin 蝉别辫迟别苍迟谤颈艒苍脓蝉 or 产辞谤别腻蝉, the words for 鈥渘orth鈥� (such as French nord and Spanish norte) are adapted from Old English north. Septentrion was first recorded in English in the late 14th century.
how is septentrion used?
Past midnight I awoke. Overhead there was such a bright light I almost had to shade my eyes. Then I realized what I was looking at, the Milky Way. What joy I felt as I recognized my lost constellation, Ursa Major. I now knew in fact what prompted Paul Fort to write, 鈥淭he sky is one great emerald from south to septentrion.鈥� With joy I knew again the seven stars of Ursa Major, the Great Bear, now commonly known as the 鈥淏ig Dipper鈥�. From Latin: septem (seven) and triones (a team of three plow oxen). I now knew septentrion, to the north, as did Paul Fort.
On the very ground Alone she sat, as she had there been left A guard upon the wain, which I beheld Bound to the twyform beast. The seven nymphs Did make themselves a cloister round about her, And in their hands upheld those lights secure From blast septentrion and the gusty south.
septentrion
abient
adjective
tending to move away from a stimulus or situation.
More about abient
Abient 鈥渢ending to move away from a stimulus or situation鈥� comes from the Latin term 补产颈脓苍蝉 (stem abient-) 鈥済oing away,鈥� the present participle of the verb 补产墨谤别 鈥渢o go away, exit, depart.鈥� 础产墨谤别 is formed from the preposition ab 鈥渇rom, away鈥� and the verb 墨谤别 鈥渢o go,鈥� which has two stems: -ient and -it. The verb 墨谤别 also gives rise to amb墨谤别 鈥渢o go around,鈥� in墨谤别 鈥渢o go into, begin,鈥� and tr膩ns墨谤别 鈥渢o go across, cross,鈥� and to see evidence of all these Latin verbs in English today, compare ambient and ambition, initial and initiate, and transient and transit. The -it stem also pops up in circuit (from Latin circum墨谤别 鈥渢o go round, circle鈥�), exit (from ex墨谤别 鈥渢o go out鈥�), and even obituary (from ob墨谤别 鈥渢o go toward,鈥� often used euphemistically in the sense 鈥渢o meet one鈥檚 death鈥�). Abient was first recorded in English in the early 1930s.
how is abient used?
In the case of negative affect, the motivating experience can be best described, not as punishing, but as experience that tends to be psychologically noxious and difficult to tolerate. Such experience instigates abient behavior鈥攂ehavior that tends to produce avoidance and to reduce attention to and/or communion with the object of the affect when there is an object.
To avoid writing, I engage in abient behavior: walking the dog, cleaning the floor, ironing T-shirts, or reading junk mail.
abient
jornada
noun
a full day's travel across a desert without a stop for taking on water.
More about jornada
Jornada 鈥渁 full day’s travel across a desert鈥� is a loanword from Spanish, and prior to Spanish, the term derived via Occitan, a language once widely spoken in southern France, from a Vulgar Latin word akin to 诲颈耻谤苍腻迟补 鈥渁 day’s time, day’s work,鈥� from Latin diurnus 鈥渄aily.鈥� Though some modern Romance languages derive their words for 鈥渄ay鈥� from the Latin noun 诲颈脓蝉 鈥渄ay鈥� (compare Portuguese dia, Romanian zi, and Spanish 诲铆补), others base their words for 鈥渄ay鈥� on the adjective diurnus (compare French jour, Italian giorno, and Occitan jorn). Both 诲颈脓蝉 and diurnus come from the Proto-Indo-European root dyeu- 鈥渢o shine; sky, heaven,鈥� which is also the ultimate source of the recent 51吃瓜s of the Day toujours perdrix, circadian, and jovial. Jornada was first recorded in English in the 1650s.
how is jornada used?
Last night around the campfire Pattie had explained that when they rolled out this morning it might take as much as two and a half days, if they were unlucky, a double Jornada, to travel from the banks of the Arkansas to the Cimarron. And between the two rivers, he warned, the landscape would change dramatically. For sixty or seventy miles there would be nothing but an immense barren plain鈥攏othing at all, no wood and no water, not a stream, not a creek, not a puddle, not a drip of spit (he said) until they reached either the Cimarron River, which was itself often dry, or a spot just to the north of it called the Lower Springs.
The terrain was thick with cholla and clumps of it clung to the horses with spikes that would drive through a boot-sole to the bones within and a wind came up through the hills and all night it sang with a wild viper sound through that countless reach of spines. They rode on and the land grew more spare and they reached the first of a series of jornadas where there would be no water at all and there they camped.
jornada