51吃瓜 of the Day
spelunk
verb (used without object)
to explore caves, especially as a hobby.
More about spelunk
Spelunk comes via Latin 蝉辫脓濒耻苍肠补 from Ancient Greek 蝉辫锚濒耻苍虫, one of several similar words for 鈥渃ave鈥� (along with 蝉辫茅辞蝉 and 蝉辫岣条补颈辞苍) a term that is likely of Pre-Greek origin. While Ancient Greek is an Indo-European language and inherits its grammar and most of its vocabulary from Proto-Indo-European, Ancient Greek contains over a hundred words and names that linguists hypothesize to have once been loanwords from a pre-Greek substrate, a lost language spoken in the Aegean Sea prior to the arrival of the Greeks that influenced the development of Ancient Greek. Spelunk first entered English in the 20th century.
how is spelunk used?
Confined to a narrow metal walkway 鈥� and limited to using nonprofessional cameras, Herzog and a few scientists cheerfully spelunk through the Stone Age. While the geologists marvel at the rocks and the historians assess cave-bear footprints and abandoned skulls, Herzog鈥檚 steady stream of typically bizarre observations ensure that the claustrophobia and gloominess don鈥檛 send us to sleep.
On the Travel Channel, we spelunk the caverns of Callao, explore the garish catacombs of the Great Barrier Reef, learn about the medicinal benefits of turmeric.
spelunk
More about yclept
The archaic English verb yclept is the past participle of the equally archaic verb clepe 鈥渢o call, name.鈥� This initial y- derives from Old English 摹别-, a prefix used to mark past participles; while ge- eventually fell out of use in English, many other Germanic languages, such as Dutch and German, still use ge- and similar prefixes to mark past participles. Even though ge- and y- are no longer used in English verbs, the prefixes have lived on in secret as the a- in words such as afford, aswoon, aware, and even dialectal ascared. Yclept was first recorded in the first millennium AD.
how is yclept used?
About the sixth hour, when beasts most graze, birds best peck, and men sit down to that nourishment which is called supper. So much for the time when. Now for the ground which鈥攚hich, I mean, I walked upon. It is yclept thy park.
A tenured Pat, my name鈥檚 Tom Brady; Foes have oft yclept me shady. Should my post I abdicate, New England hearts will fast deflate.
yclept
exclave
noun
a portion of a country geographically separated from the main part by surrounding foreign territory.
More about exclave
Exclave 鈥渁n outlying portion of a country entirely or mostly surrounded by the territory of another country鈥� is modeled on the noun enclave, its opposite, using the Latin prefix ex- 鈥渙ut of, from.鈥� Enclave comes from an older French term meaning 鈥渓ocked in,鈥� from Latin 肠濒腻惫颈蝉 鈥渒ey,鈥� which also gives rise to words such as clavicle, the collarbone, originally meaning 鈥渓ittle key鈥� in Latin, and conclave, a secret meeting, originally meaning 鈥�(room) with a key鈥� in Latin. Exclave entered English in the late 1800s.
how is exclave used?
The absurdity of militarizing a peacetime border through a major European metropolis is illustrated by what happened to West Berlin鈥檚 half-dozen exclaves, small plots of land that lay just outside the city limits. Mere administrative anomalies before the partition of Berlin, these exclaves became potential international trouble spots.
There are three other 鈥�exclaves鈥� like Hyder along the border鈥攖wo small, sparsely populated towns in the U.S., and one in Canada鈥攚hich largely rely on an open border to carry out their businesses, go to school and even buy groceries. But when the border shuttered at the start of the pandemic, residents of the exclaves were left to figure out how to stay afloat with their main source of business鈥攖ourism鈥攃ut off.
exclave