Post by t-bob on Feb 11, 2019 10:03:55 GMT -5
amphiscians
plural noun
1. Archaic. inhabitants of the tropics.
Quotes
The amphiscians, whose noon shadows fall on both sides, are the people who live between the two tropics, in the region which the ancients call the middle zone. -- Nicholas Copernicus (1473–1543), On the Revolutions, translated by Edward Rosen, 1978 Are we not similar to those amphiscians / whose shadows fall at one season to the north, / but at another to the south? -- Evan S. Connell, Notes from a Bottle Found on the Beach at Carmel, 1962
Origin
Amphiscians is an altogether strange word, at least in its meaning. The English word, a plural noun, comes from Medieval Latin Amphisciī “those who cast a shadow on both sides,” i.e., in the tropics a person’s shadow will fall towards the north or towards the south depending on whether the sun is above or below the equator. Amphisciī is a straightforward borrowing of Greek amphískioi (a plural adjective used as a noun) “casting a shadow or shadowy on both sides,” formed from the preposition and prefix amphí, amphi- “around, about” (akin to Latin ambi- with the same meaning) and the noun skiá “shadow, shade, specter” (from the same Proto-Indo-European root from which English has shine). (Heteroscians is, of course, the opposite of amphiscians.) Amphiscians entered English in the 17th century.
plural noun
1. Archaic. inhabitants of the tropics.
Quotes
The amphiscians, whose noon shadows fall on both sides, are the people who live between the two tropics, in the region which the ancients call the middle zone. -- Nicholas Copernicus (1473–1543), On the Revolutions, translated by Edward Rosen, 1978 Are we not similar to those amphiscians / whose shadows fall at one season to the north, / but at another to the south? -- Evan S. Connell, Notes from a Bottle Found on the Beach at Carmel, 1962
Origin
Amphiscians is an altogether strange word, at least in its meaning. The English word, a plural noun, comes from Medieval Latin Amphisciī “those who cast a shadow on both sides,” i.e., in the tropics a person’s shadow will fall towards the north or towards the south depending on whether the sun is above or below the equator. Amphisciī is a straightforward borrowing of Greek amphískioi (a plural adjective used as a noun) “casting a shadow or shadowy on both sides,” formed from the preposition and prefix amphí, amphi- “around, about” (akin to Latin ambi- with the same meaning) and the noun skiá “shadow, shade, specter” (from the same Proto-Indo-European root from which English has shine). (Heteroscians is, of course, the opposite of amphiscians.) Amphiscians entered English in the 17th century.
