51吃瓜 of the Day
viscid
adjective
having a glutinous consistency; sticky; adhesive.
More about viscid
Viscid 鈥渉aving a glutinous consistency鈥� derives from Latin viscum 鈥渕istletoe鈥� and the adjectival suffix -idus. We鈥檙e sorry to burst your bubble, but despite mistletoe鈥檚 common association with romance and cheerful celebrations, it is in fact a parasitic plant that attaches itself to host trees and drains them of their nutrients. Mistletoe is also known for its sticky seeds, which are coated in a substance called viscin that can be repurposed into a material called birdlime, the avian equivalent of flypaper. Be careful not to confuse viscum with viscus (stem viscer-) 鈥渋nternal organ,鈥� which is the source of visceral and eviscerate; the two words, though nearly identical, are not related. Viscid was first recorded in English circa 1630.
how is viscid used?
Dr. Cruger saw a 鈥渃ontinual procession鈥� of bees thus crawling out of their involuntary bath. The passage is narrow, and is roofed over by the column, so that a bee, in forcing its way out, first rubs its back against the viscid stigma and then against the viscid glands of the pollen-masses. The pollen-masses are thus glued to the back of the bee which first happens to crawl out through the passage of a lately expanded flower, and are thus carried away.
The viscid layer of smoke that had draped itself over much of southern British Columbia has slowly begun to dissipate thanks to a blast of cool Pacific air. The air quality was so bad in Victoria, Vancouver and surrounding environs on the weekend and into Monday… that people with underlying health conditions were urged to stay inside. Smoke caused by the historic wildfires raging south of the border blocked out the sun, helping cast an apocalyptic orange hue over the entire region.
viscid
esemplastic
adjective
having the ability to shape diverse elements or concepts into a unified whole.
More about esemplastic
Esemplastic 鈥渉aving the ability to shape diverse elements into a unified whole鈥� is a coinage by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, author of such works as The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Coleridge, inspired by German philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling鈥檚 own coinage Ineinsbildung (literally 鈥渋nto one formation鈥�), based esemplastic on three Ancient Greek elements. The first of these is es-, a variant of eis- 鈥渋nto, to鈥�; compare the name of the city Istanbul, which emerged as a corruption of the Byzantine Greek phrase eis t岣昻 P贸lin 鈥渢o the City.鈥� The second of these elements is (丑)茅苍, the neuter of 丑别卯蝉 鈥渙ne,鈥� which has largely been replaced in English by mono-, from Ancient Greek 尘贸苍辞蝉 鈥渁lone.鈥� The final element is 辫濒补蝉迟颈办贸蝉 鈥渕oldable,鈥� from 辫濒谩蝉蝉别颈苍 鈥渢o form.鈥� Esemplastic was first recorded in English in the 1810s.
how is esemplastic used?
He was really all about the work, every single thing he saw he processed as potential fodder for the project. He was one of these totally…esemplastic kind of guys鈥攜’know, he had a very synthetic, very practical and resourceful kind of sensibility, always about cobbling together the most disparate, miscellaneous things.
[A]n esemplastic, eclectic, deep and complex mind such as we can ascribe to [Wole] Soyinka, … must contradict himself occasionally. In fact, holding on to an opinion even after one has found reason to change it is not a virtue. It is a vice that hints at bigotry, a disease of the mind symptomized by its rigidity.
esemplastic
hieroglyphic
adjective
designating or pertaining to a pictographic script, particularly that of the ancient Egyptians, in which many of the symbols are conventionalized, recognizable pictures of the things represented.
More about hieroglyphic
Hieroglyphic 鈥渄esignating or pertaining to a pictographic script鈥� derives by way of Late Latin hieroglyphicus from Ancient Greek 丑颈别谤辞驳濒测辫丑颈办贸蝉 鈥減ertaining to sacred writing,鈥� which is a compound of 丑颈别谤贸蝉 鈥渉oly, sacred鈥� and 驳濒测辫丑岣� 鈥渃arving.鈥� The adjective 丑颈别谤贸蝉 is likely a cognate of Latin 墨谤补 鈥渁nger鈥� (compare irate and irascible); both appear to come from a Proto-Indo-European root that indicates words of passion. The noun 驳濒测辫丑岣� derives from the verb 驳濒媒辫丑别颈苍 鈥渢o carve, hollow out,鈥� which has a few unexpected cognates in English. Grimm鈥檚 law, which we learned about from our recent 51吃瓜s of the Day cordiform, togated, and transcendental, states that Ancient Greek g often corresponds to English c and k. With this in mind, compare Ancient Greek 驳濒媒辫丑别颈苍 with English cleave, cleft, and cloven, all three of which involve splitting something apart. Hieroglyphic was first recorded in English circa 1580.
how is hieroglyphic used?
The ancient language also offers clues as to how 鈥� iron was perceived by Egyptians鈥揳nd that they knew meteorites were a source of the metal聽…. From the beginning of the 19th Dynasty (approximately 1295 BC) a new hieroglyphic word for iron appeared: 鈥渂i-A-n-pt,鈥� which literally translates as 鈥渋ron from the sky.鈥� Why this new word appears in this exact form at this time is unknown but it was later applied to all metallic iron. An obvious explanation for the sudden emergence of the word would be a major impact event or large shower of meteorites.
Thousands of years after the Egyptians wrote the first hieroglyphic scripts, the spread of emoji seems to be bringing us back to a picture-based writing system. That may look like a retrograde step to a more primitive, childish form of communication. But it isn鈥檛, because both hieroglyphs and emoji are far more powerful than they appear.
hieroglyphic