Word of the Day
More about satori
In Zen Buddhism, satori means “sudden spiritual enlightenment.” The Zen sense of satori is a more specific sense of the noun satori “comprehension, understanding,” a derivative of the verb satoru “to perceive, comprehend, awaken (spiritually).” Satori entered English in the first half of the 18th century.
how is satori used?
Perhaps Adams reached satori, emptied his mind of all thought, and then didn’t know what to think about it.
Satori is the sudden flashing into consciousness of a new truth hitherto undreamed of. It is a sort of mental catastrophe taking place all at once, after much piling up of matters intellectual and demonstrative. The piling has reached a limit of stability and the whole edifice has come tumbling to the ground, when, behold, a new heaven is open to full survey.
integument
noun
a natural covering, as a skin, shell, or rind.
More about integument
Integument, “covering, coating,” comes straight from Latin integumentum “covering, shield, guard, wrapping,” a derivative of the verb integere “to cover, overlay,” itself a compound of the preposition and prefix in, in– “in, on, upon” and the simple verb tegere “to cover, close, bury.” Tegere comes from the Proto-Indo-European root (s)teg-, (s)tog– “to cover.” The variant teg– forms Latin tēgula “a roof tile” (source of English tile). The variant tog– yields Latin toga “toga” (the loose outer garment worn by Roman male citizens in public). The variant (s)teg– yields stégē “covering” and stégos “roof” in Greek, which in turn forms the first element of English stegosaurus, literally “roofed or covered lizard” (from the row of bony plates along its back). Integument entered English in the first half of the 17th century.
how is integument used?
This is a time of year that makes me wish I could slough my skin entire, like a snake, just walk away from that old integument and step out new into the air.
They [tanks] are not steely monsters; they are painted with drab and unassuming colours that are fashionable in modern warfare, so that the armour seems rather like the integument of a rhinoceros.
totemic
adjective
of, being, or relating to anything regarded as a distinctive or venerated emblem by a group or individual.
More about totemic
The adjective totemic, “relating to something, such as a natural object or an animate being, venerated as an emblem by a group or individual,” comes from Ojibwa (also spelled Ojibway and Chippewa), an Algonquian language now spoken mostly in the Great Lakes region. (The Algonquian language family extends from Labrador westward to the Rocky Mountains, west-southwestward through Michigan and Illinois, and southwestward along the Atlantic coast to Cape Hatteras.) In Ojibwa ninto·te·m means “my totem,” oto·te·man “his totem” (probably originally “my/his clan-village-mate,” a derivative of the verb stem o·te·- “dwell in a village”). Totemic was first used in English in the first half of the 19th century.
how is totemic used?
I agree with those who feel that New York would gain by restoring the totemic image of the twin towers to the skyline, if not in their original form.
The sphinx crouches in a position that’s regal and yet totemic of subjugation—she is “beat down” but standing. That’s part of her history, too.