Word of the Day: Crepuscular
It's been a long time since we had a Word of the Day. Today's word is appropriate for our times; it is in fact a word describing a particular period of time.
'Crepuscular' means 'of, or pertaining to, that period between daylight and night'. The word has an interesting origin: Latin crepurus means 'uncertain', or 'of unknown purity' — 'crepuscular' therefore has a slightly negative connotation and could be taken to describe 'a time about which we are not quite certain, and which is tainted by something we are not sure about'.
Technically, a crepuscular animal is one most active between daylight and nightfall. This period of time is itself multifaceted: we hear it described as dusk, evening, twilight, and (most archaic, I think) 'gloaming'.
Perhaps our sense of crepuscular might be enhanced by looking at those four words.
'Dusk' means 'misty-ish' in northern languages; it connotes a lacking in light quality and thus probably refers to the time at which the sun only indirectly lights up the land – after sunset, perhaps.
'Evening' is surprisingly pretty exact. The original sense of 'eve' or 'evening' was 'the period just before something'; in this case, the period before 6 pm. Sometimes there is sun, sometimes not. It is a chronological thing in the original sense, and perhaps best described as halfway between midday and midnight.
'Twilight' is an interesting one. It's almost directly related to the German zwielicht, or 'two-lights'. That's because there is a morning twilight as well as an evening twilight; it corresponds to the balance-point (occurring twice a day) between full light and darkness. It can mean the time just before light overtakes darkness; its more sinister sense denotes the time just after darkness has overtaken light.
'Gloaming' means 'the glowing' and denotes the period during which light can still be seen; either the afterglow of evening twilight or the pre-glow before morning twilight.
Crepuscularity is therefore a complex thing; it is a thing of light and darkness, shadows and greys and half-tones. What I like about the word is its onomatopoeic quality: it is something that creeps elegantly toward you.
'Crepuscular' means 'of, or pertaining to, that period between daylight and night'. The word has an interesting origin: Latin crepurus means 'uncertain', or 'of unknown purity' — 'crepuscular' therefore has a slightly negative connotation and could be taken to describe 'a time about which we are not quite certain, and which is tainted by something we are not sure about'.
Technically, a crepuscular animal is one most active between daylight and nightfall. This period of time is itself multifaceted: we hear it described as dusk, evening, twilight, and (most archaic, I think) 'gloaming'.
Perhaps our sense of crepuscular might be enhanced by looking at those four words.
'Dusk' means 'misty-ish' in northern languages; it connotes a lacking in light quality and thus probably refers to the time at which the sun only indirectly lights up the land – after sunset, perhaps.
'Evening' is surprisingly pretty exact. The original sense of 'eve' or 'evening' was 'the period just before something'; in this case, the period before 6 pm. Sometimes there is sun, sometimes not. It is a chronological thing in the original sense, and perhaps best described as halfway between midday and midnight.
'Twilight' is an interesting one. It's almost directly related to the German zwielicht, or 'two-lights'. That's because there is a morning twilight as well as an evening twilight; it corresponds to the balance-point (occurring twice a day) between full light and darkness. It can mean the time just before light overtakes darkness; its more sinister sense denotes the time just after darkness has overtaken light.
'Gloaming' means 'the glowing' and denotes the period during which light can still be seen; either the afterglow of evening twilight or the pre-glow before morning twilight.
Crepuscularity is therefore a complex thing; it is a thing of light and darkness, shadows and greys and half-tones. What I like about the word is its onomatopoeic quality: it is something that creeps elegantly toward you.
etched with acid at 9:43:00 am
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