Word of the Day
ubi sunt
noun
a poetic motif emphasizing the transitory nature of youth, life, and beauty, found especially in Medieval Latin poems.
More about ubi sunt
Ubi sunt “a poetic motif emphasizing the transitory nature of life” is a borrowing from the Medieval Latin phrase ubi sunt (quī ante nōs fuērunt) “where are (those who were before us).” The modern Romance equivalents of Latin ubi sunt “where are” include French où sont and Italian dove sono, with où and dove descended from ubi “where” and sont and sono derived from sunt “(they) are.” The translations of Latin ubi sunt in Portuguese and Spanish are onde estão and dónde están; the differences here are because onde and dónde descend instead from Latin unde “from where” while both Portuguese and Spanish use estar (from Latin stāre “to stand”) to mean “to be” when indicating location or state. Ubi sunt was first recorded in English in the early 1910s.
how is ubi sunt used?
But what really got under my skin was the sweet melancholy that pervades every moment. The game is an elegiac ubi sunt to a world that is already disappearing under the feet of the characters, and which for us is long gone. Set in 1899, a recurring theme is the vanishing of the Old West, and with it the way of life …. Modernity and “civilisation” are taking over all the wild spaces.
It would be absurd to depict [Rae] Armantrout without depicting her pessimism, even cynicism, but it would be seriously misleading to say that she gives up on expression, or novelty, or sympathy, or even lyric. Her poem ‘Make It New’ refreshes the Poundian slogan, first rephrasing carpe diem and ubi sunt as car dealers’ slogans: ‘Each poem says,/“I’m desperate” then, “Everything/must go!”
jubilant
adjective
showing great joy, satisfaction, or triumph; rejoicing; exultant.
More about jubilant
Jubilant “showing great joy” comes from the Latin verb jūbilāre “to shout for joy, whoop.” Though the origin of jūbilāre is uncertain, the most popular hypothesis is that the word is based on an ancient Indo-European exclamation of joy resembling “yu” (compare Ancient Greek iūgḗ “howling”), perhaps on the pattern of sībilāre “to hiss,” as in sibilant, which describes consonants such as s and z. Despite the similar spelling, jubilant is not related to the noun jubilee “the celebration of an anniversary”; instead, jubilee, from Latin jūbilaeus, was adapted from Ancient Greek iōbēlaîos, with the vowel changes because of the influence of jūbilāre. While jubilant appears to be of Indo-European origin, jubilee ultimately derives from Hebrew yōbhēl “ram, ram’s horn, trumpet.” Jubilant was first recorded in English in the 1660s.
how is jubilant used?
“I don’t care if it is raining. My mother said I could stay until 10 o’clock.” That’s what a jubilant child at one of Milwaukee’s first Juneteenth celebrations told a Milwaukee Journal reporter in 1972. It was just a glimpse into the early days of a longstanding annual event celebrating Black culture and ringing in the summer season, with performances, food and a variety of vendors.
Some people told me they attended Juneteenth celebrations every year. Others told me that they look forward to seeing joyous photos and jubilant videos from Juneteenth celebrations throughout the United States, even if they did not attend them in person. Many reported that social media has made the day and its celebrations more visible.
patronymic
noun
a name derived from the name of a father or ancestor, especially by the addition of a suffix or prefix indicating descent.
More about patronymic
Patronymic “a name derived from the name of a male ancestor” is an adaptation of the Ancient Greek term patrōnymikós “named after one’s father,” which is equivalent to patḗr (stem patr-) “father” and -ōnymos “having the kind of name specified,” plus the adjectival suffix -ikos. The female equivalent of patronymic is the recent Word of the Day metronymic (also spelled matronymic by analogy with Latin mater “mother”). Patronymics in English typically contain the suffix -son, as in Jackson or Johnson, while similar suffixes like -sen and -sson appear in Germanic languages such as German and Icelandic. Meanwhile, Irish and Scottish Gaelic use Mac- (often anglicized as Mc-), as in MacDonald and McIver, though the Anglo-Norman element Fitz- (ultimately from Latin filius “son”), as in Fitzgerald and Fitzsimmons, appears as well. Portuguese and Spanish respectively feature -es and -ez, as in Gonzales and López, which come from the Latin possessive ending -is “of.” Patronymic was first recorded in English circa 1610.
how is patronymic used?
At Taigh Sgoile na Drochaide, …. [c]hildren happily sing, count and play in Gaelic, using the Montessori model that encourages self-directed learning. Some of them arrived in September speaking only English, and have quickly learned fundamentals such as pronunciation and patronymics–the system of formal names derived from male ancestors, an important feature of Gaelic culture.
Activist Altyn Kapalova says she broke “patriarchic norms” in Kyrgyzstan by giving her three children “middle names” that derive from her own first name. The matronymics on the children’s new birth certificates replaced the traditional patronymics that originated from their fathers’ first names. Kapalova, 37, also gave her children–who are 5, 10, and 15 years old–her surname.