Word of the Day
prescient
adjective
having knowledge of things or events before they exist or happen; having foresight.
More about prescient
Prescient comes from Old French from Late Latin praescient-, the present participle stem of the verb 辫谤补别蝉肠墨谤别, 鈥渢o know beforehand, know in advance.鈥� The verb is used mostly by the Latin church fathers (Tertullian, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine) to refer to God鈥檚 foreknowledge. 笔谤补别蝉肠墨谤别 is a derivative of Latin praesciscere, 鈥渢o get to know beforehand,鈥� a relatively rare compound verb made up of the inceptive verb sciscere 鈥渢o get to know鈥� (an inceptive verb is one that shows the beginning of an action), formed from the simple verb 蝉肠墨谤别 鈥渢o know鈥� and the inceptive infix –sc-; prae– is the Latin preposition and prefix prae, prae– 鈥渋n front, ahead, before.” Prescient entered English at the end of the 16th century.
how is prescient used?
He was known to have had prescient visions that were accurate, penetrating, and defied four-dimensional explanation.
Seen now, 鈥淭he Social Network,鈥� about the founding of Facebook and the lawsuits that followed, feels grimly prescient and perhaps representative of how the past few years since the movie premiered鈥攁nd the past few months of the pandemic鈥攈ave changed our relationship to social media and each other.
prescient
More about mal du pays
Mal du pays is French for 鈥渉omesickness,鈥� formed from the noun mal, 鈥渆vil, hurt, harm,鈥� from the Latin adjective and noun malus 鈥渂ad, wicked,鈥� and pays, 鈥渃ountry, land, region.鈥� Pays comes from Vulgar Latin 辫腻驳脓苍蝉颈蝉, 辫腻驳脓蝉颈蝉, 鈥渋nhabitant of a region,鈥� equivalent to Latin 辫腻驳腻苍耻蝉, which has two meanings: 鈥減ertaining to a 辫腻驳耻蝉鈥� (鈥渞ural community鈥�), and 鈥渃ivilian, civil, citizen,鈥� a military usage, but used by reputable authors (Tacitus, Suetonius). Roman military slang influenced Latin Christianity: 罢补产别谤苍腻肠耻濒耻尘 meant 鈥減up tent, shelter half鈥� (English tabernacle, for both Jewish and Christian usage); 蝉补肠谤腻尘别苍迟耻尘, 鈥渢he oath of loyalty that a soldier swore annually to his commanding general鈥� (English sacrament), and 辫腻驳腻苍耻蝉 鈥渃ivilian,鈥� meant 鈥渘on-Christian, non-Jewish,鈥� English pagan. Mal du pays entered English in the second half of the 18th century.
how is mal du pays used?
It is the most gentle, depressed-looking creature I ever saw; it seems to have the mal du pays ….
For all of its aural joy and ebullience, though, one can still hear Mr. Nabay’s mal du pays.
mal du pays
autoschediasm
noun
something that is improvised or extemporized.
More about autoschediasm
If there is any one word that fully displays the amazing plasticity of Greek, that word is autoschediasm 鈥渋mprovisation,鈥� a borrowing from the Greek noun 补耻迟辞蝉肠丑别诲铆补蝉尘补. 础耻迟辞蝉肠丑别诲铆补蝉尘补 is a derivative of 补耻迟辞蝉肠丑别诲颈谩锄别颈苍, 鈥渢o speak offhand, improvise,鈥� a verb formed from the adjective of 补耻迟辞蝉肠丑茅诲颈辞蝉 鈥渉and-to-hand (fighting), rough and ready, improvised (speaking),鈥� a derivative of the adverb 补耻迟辞蝉肠丑别诲贸苍 鈥渘ear at hand, on the spot.鈥� 础耻迟辞蝉肠丑别诲贸苍 breaks down into the familiar naturalized combining form auto– 鈥渟elf, same, right (here, there),鈥� used here as an intensifier of the adverb 蝉肠丑别诲贸苍 鈥渃lose by, near.鈥� The last element, –(as)ma, is a neuter noun suffix that shows the result of an action: for example, 辫谤芒驳尘补 鈥渟omething done, an act (concrete),鈥� versus the active noun suffix –sis, as in 辫谤芒虫颈蝉 鈥渁 doing, transacting.鈥� Autoschediasm entered English in the first half of the 19th century.
how is autoschediasm used?
The first thing is to collect the material. This must comprise the whole range of ancient literature, always carefully weighing the nature of the evidence, so as to reject mere autoschediasms.
He was a little over-conscious of his command of English, for it was not without an obvious sense of enjoyment that he described his recent refusal of a certain professorial post as “a mere exhibition of autoschediasm.鈥�
autoschediasm