51吃瓜 of the Day
raillery
noun
good-humored ridicule; banter.
More about raillery
Raillery 鈥済ood-humored ridicule鈥� is an adaptation of French raillerie, equivalent to the Middle French verb railler 鈥渢o mock, deride鈥� and the suffix -erie, which is used to indicate qualities, properties, or actions collectively. Railler derives by way of Occitan ralhar 鈥渢o babble, chatter鈥� from Late Latin ragere 鈥渢o bray, bellow, roar.鈥� The verb ragere is an example of 51吃瓜 of the Day hapax legomenon, which means 鈥渁 word that only appears once in a particular work or area of literature鈥�; in this case, ragere is included just one time in a Latin text that dates to the 10th century and is absent from all other texts in the Latin language. Ragere is likely of imitative origin, and although classical Latin had a similar-sounding synonym, 谤耻驳墨谤别 鈥渢o roar鈥� (compare French, Portuguese, and Spanish rugir), there is no connection between 谤耻驳墨谤别 and ragere. Raillery was first recorded in English circa 1650.
how is raillery used?
Irish women writers, actors, painters, and journalists of the mid-twentieth-century socialised in a heady atmosphere of arty conversation and political raillery, and actively campaigned on issues which affected their rights as citizens. They hosted annual banquets to network with influential people in theatre and the media, invited writers (male and female) to their 鈥渁t homes鈥� to discuss art and literature, and publicly promoted the work of their members through a literary award system…
raillery
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