51吃瓜 of the Day
ankh
noun
a tau (T-shaped) cross with a loop at the top, used as a symbol of generation or enduring life.
More about ankh
Ankh 鈥渁 tau (T-shaped) cross with a loop at the top鈥� is a borrowing from Egyptian 士苍丑态 鈥渓ive; life, soul.鈥� In this word, 士 represents a voiced throaty sound that does not exist in English, and 丑态 represents the sound spelled as ch in German Buch, Hebrew Chanukah, and Scottish loch. While Arabic is the official language of Egypt today, the Egyptian language was spoken in the country for thousands of years until its latest form, Coptic, became largely extinct in the 1700s. Although the Egyptian source of ankh is transliterated today as 士苍丑态, while its spelling remained consistent in Egyptian hieroglyphics, its pronunciation during the several stages of the Egyptian language varied greatly. Ankh was first recorded in English in the late 1880s.
how is ankh used?
In a period when paganism and Christianity coexisted, there was cross-pollination between the two. The ancient Egyptian symbol for life, the ankh鈥攁 cross shape with an oval loop鈥攊nfluenced the development of the cross known as the crux ansata, used extensively in Coptic symbolism.
ankh
spendthrift
noun
a person who spends possessions or money extravagantly or wastefully; prodigal.
More about spendthrift
Spendthrift 鈥渁 person who spends wastefully鈥� is a compound of the verb spend and the noun thrift. Spend has been in the English language for well over 1000 years, but it is in fact of Latin origin; while most English words derived from Latin entered following the Norman conquest of England in 1066, there are a select few that spread from Latin long beforehand and took root in West Germanic languages such as English and German. In this case, spend derives from Latin expendere 鈥渢o weigh out, lay out, pay,鈥� a compound of the prefix ex- 鈥渙ut of, from鈥� and the verb pendere 鈥渢o hang.鈥� Thrift, in contrast, derives from Old Norse, in which the word means 鈥渨ell-being鈥� or 鈥減rosperity,鈥� and is related to the verb thrive. This 鈥減rosperity鈥� sense is obsolete, of course; thrift shifted in definition during the 16th century to mean 鈥渟avings,鈥� and from there, it adopted its current meaning of 鈥渆conomy鈥� and 鈥渟pending little money.鈥� Spendthrift was first recorded in English at the turn of the 17th century.
how is spendthrift used?
The final step toward extending Roman citizenship to nearly all the subject peoples of the empire came with the Edict of Caracalla. Promulgated in A.D. 212, it granted citizenship to all the free men of the Roman Empire. Historians point out that this decidedly bold move was not as enlightened as it may appear. Caracalla was a spendthrift and unstable ruler, and extending citizenship to the huge populations that inhabited his mighty realm was a quick way to increase his tax base.
It will be interesting to see how Friedman鈥檚 more wallet-friendly methods match up with the Dodgers seemingly endless vault of money. Although the Dodgers exited the playoffs early in the last two consecutive years, the team鈥檚 spendthrift strategy, which allows the Dodgers to maintain the highest payroll, has managed to get them to the playoffs in the first place.
spendthrift
More about repast
Repast 鈥渕eal鈥� derives via Middle English from the Old French verb repaistre 鈥渢o eat a meal鈥� (compare Modern French 谤别辫补卯迟谤别 鈥渢o feed, to eat鈥�), which ultimately comes from the Latin prefix re- 鈥渁gain, regularly鈥� and the verb 辫腻蝉肠别谤别 鈥渢o feed.鈥� 笔腻蝉肠别谤别, the past participle stem of which is 辫腻蝉迟-, is the source of numerous food- and livestock-related terms in English, such as antipasto and pasture. Despite the similar spelling, the words past and pasta are not derivatives of 辫腻蝉肠别谤别. Past was originally a variant of passed, the past participle of pass, a verb that comes from the Latin noun passus 鈥渟tep,鈥� while pasta is an Italian borrowing from Ancient Greek 辫补蝉迟谩 鈥渂arley porridge.鈥� Repast was first recorded in English in the early 1300s.
how is repast used?
One of the greatest aspects of the traditional Thanksgiving feast is the near-boundless array of food at the table. That also makes it perhaps the [year鈥檚] toughest repast for wine pairing. Or not, if we extend the bounty of the food to the wine options .鈥� [I]t makes sense to make them part of the meal and give guests a chance to try different wines with different dishes, or to hoard a bit of one wine for their favorite part of the meal.
Consider for a moment, the Thanksgiving meal itself. It has become a sort of refuge for endangered species of starch: sweet potatoes, cauliflower, pumpkin, mince (whatever 鈥渕ince鈥� is), those blessed yams …. And then the sacred turkey. One might as well try to construct a holiday repast around a fish鈥攕ay, a nice piece of boiled haddock. After all, turkey tastes very similar to haddock: same consistency, same quite remarkable absence of flavor.
repast