i woke up today and went out to get breakfast. it was extremely gloomy and rainy and because of the goofy way my brain works i thought about the word "inundate." while the point of having a word of the day is for me to learn a new one, this word has a straightforward and fun meaning and so i wanted to cover it really quickly.
inundate (/ˈinənˌdāt/) - comes from the latin prefix in (literally means in) + unda (wave). so literally it means to be inside of a wave. the definiton the dictionary provides is to flood or to overwhelm (someone/something).
my latin class today taught me a new word. we're reading the letters of pliny the younger and the topic of lacunae came up.
lacuna (/ləˈko͞onə/) - comes from the latin word lacus (lake) which is where the word lagoon comes from as well.
means a gap, *a missing portion in a book or manuscript, or a cavity/depression in a bone
this conversation about lacunae made me think about another word,
elision (/əˈliZH(ə)n/) - comes from the latin word elidere (to crush out). it can be synonymous with lacuna for the asterisked definition but it is actually philosophically the solution to lacunae. an ellision most commonly refers to the omission of a sound or syllable when speaking.
the easiest example of this i can provide without getting into latin poetry is the way french deals with words like "the" and "this" (le/la, ce/cette). if there is a vowel at the beginning of the word that comes after it, natural speaking creates a gap.
e.g. "le enfant". therefore, instead we ellide and make it l'enfant instead. this is often used in latin poetry (i know i said i wouldn't bring it up, sorry) to make lines flow better and to adhere to the syllable rules of poetic meter.
| élisions |
french bullshit |
contractions |
| le (the, masculine) |
l'aeroport (the airport) |
aeroport (airport) |
| la (the, feminine) |
|
|
| se (each other) |
|
|
| je (I) |
j'habite (I live) |
habite (live) |
| ce |
c'est |
est (is) |