a diffuse, faint elliptical patch of light that appears in the night sky almost directly opposite the sun, thought to be sunlight reflected from dust in space. Also called counterglow.

In daylight, a phenomenon similar to the gegenschein — called the glory — can be seen from an airplane in clouds opposite the sun.

From the German gegen — against < Middle High German < Old High German gegin
+ German Schein — light < Middle High German schīn < Old High German scīn < scīnan (akin to the Old English scīnan) — to shine < Indo-European base skai– — to glimmer, be clear. From whence shimmer and the Greek skia — shadow.

 
 
“Of the four possible explanations of the gegenschein which have been proposed, not one so far has explained satisfactorily the meagre observational data concerning this phenomenon. The Glyden–Moulton hypothesis, which suggests a concentration of meteoric material at a libration point of the Sun–Earth system, seems incapable of explaining all the luminosity of the gegenschein. The zodiacal light hypothesis, which claims that the glow opposite the Sun results from a phase-function for the interplanetary dust layer which produces such a brightening, fails to explain the fact that the gegenschein usually lies approximately 3° west of the anti-solar point. The gaseous tail hypothesis, in explaining the light as the result of excitation of Earth-escaped gases by the interplanetary plasma, does not account for the fact that the colour of the gegenschein is slightly redder than that of the Sun. Finally, the dust tail hypothesis, although explaining the facts in a qualitative way, at least, requires a large and continuous source of dust particles in Earth’s neighbourhood.”

– John C. Brandt & Paul W. Hodge, “Lunar Dust and the Gegenschein,” Nature, December 9, 1961.

 
 
(Photo credit: From NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, December 26, 2006.)

– Ovid, Metamorphoses

existing or occurring before the creation of the world

The prefix ante– < Latin ante — before, in front of, against < Indo-European root ant– — front, forehead
+ mundane — (1) of, pertaining to, or typical of this world; earthly; (2) characteristic of, relating to, or concerned with the commonplace; ordinary; banal; unimaginative < Middle English mondeine < Old French mondain < Latin mundānus < Latin mundus — world

 
 
“Maimonides begins his discussion of Creation in the Guide to the Perplexed by reviewing three possibilities: the Mosaic, Platonic and Aristotelian. The Mosaic position, as learned from Scriptures, holds that God created the world and everything out of nothing, or ex nihilo. Platonic Creation, on the other hand, believes in the existence of an antemundane matter out of which God created everything. Thus, there was always present some eternal matter that coexisted with God, and at some point, God Created, i.e. formed it into Heaven, Earth and all that is contained within. Aristotle, however, believes the world is eternal. Through an initial act, God caused the world to be brought to its present state, but not from a state of nonexistence, and not by a series of ‘miraculous’ interventions but ‘of necessity,’ by the utterly deterministic unfolding of an inexorably inevitable series of ‘mechanical’ causes, flowing one from the other all the way back to the First Cause, which is God’s ‘Act.’ According to Aristotle, this world follows the rules of nature, from which it cannot deviate. Consequently, since God cannot change the ‘of necessity’ unfolding of what must be, he cannot intervene in nature and miracles are not possible. Maimonides lumps the Platonic and Aristotelian positions together, since they both believe in the eternity of matter, and adamantly rejects them both. He claims one is obligated to believe in Creation ex nihilo because to think otherwise would strip God of the power to do miracles.”

– Naomi R. Frankel, “Maimonidean Controversy and the Story of Creation”

that once was; onetime; former

From the Latin quom — when < Indo-European root k^wo– (also k^wi–), a stem of relative and interrogative pronouns: Other derivatives include who, whether, either, quorum, quip, and quality.

 
 
“After all, however, there is nothing like custom, for neither Bilder nor his wife thought any more of the wolf than I should of a dog. The animal itself was as peaceful and well-behaved as that father of all picture-wolves, Red Riding Hood’s quondam friend, whilst moving her confidence in masquerade. …

The wicked wolf that for a half a day had paralyzed London and set all the children in town shivering in their shoes, was there in a sort of penitent mood, and was received and petted like a sort of vulpine prodigal son.”

– Bram Stoker, Dracula

1. (a) One who is held in bondage; a slave or serf; (b) one who is intellectually or morally enslaved by some power, influence, etc.
2. Servitude; slavery; bondage; thralldom.

(vt) Archaic
To put or hold in thralldom; to enslave.

(adj) Archaic
Subjected to bondage; enslaved.

From Middle English < Old English thræl < Old Norse thræll

In Norse mythology, Thrall was the son of Rig and Edda, and the husband of Esne. Thrall’s and Esne’s descendants became the peasants and laborers of the world. The story of Thrall is told in the Song of Rig (“Rigsthula”) section of the Poetic Edda. From the translation by Olive Bray:

“Thrall and Bond-maid …
Joyous lived they and reared their children.
Thus they called them: Brawler, Cowherd,
Boor and Horsefly, Lewd and Lustful,
Stout and Stumpy, Sluggard, Swarthy,
Lout and Leggy. They fashioned fences,
they dunged the meadows, swine they herded,
goats they tended and turf they dug.

Daughters were there, — Loggy and Cloggy,
Lumpy-leggy, and Eagle-nose,
Whiner, Bondwoman, Oaken-peggy,
Tatter-coat and the Crane-shanked maid.
Thence are come the generations of thralls.”

 
 
“For Schopenhauer, the Will is an aimless desire to perpetuate itself, the mainspring of life. Desire engendered by the Will is the source of all the sorrow in the world; each satisfied desire leaves us either with boredom, or with some new desire to take its place. For Schopenhauer, a world in thrall to Will must necessarily be a world of suffering. The mind can only create the world of representation, opposed to the Will; but since the Will is the source of life, and our very bodies are stamped with its image and designed to serve its purpose, the human intellect is, in Schopenhauer’s simile, like a lame man who can see, but who rides on the shoulders of a blind giant. …

Schopenhauer believed that while all people were in thrall to the Will, the quality and intensity of their subjection differed. The aesthetic experience temporarily emancipates the subject from the Will’s domination and raises them to a level of pure perception. The personality of the artist was also supposed to be less subject to Will than most: such a person was a Schopenhauerian genius, a person whose exceptional predominance of intellect over Will made them relatively aloof from earthly cares and concerns. The poet living in a garret, the absent-minded professor, Vincent van Gogh in the madhouse, are all (at least in the popular mind) examples of Schopenhauer’s geniuses: so fixed on their art that they neglect the ‘business of life’ that in Schopenhauer’s mind meant only the domination of the evil Will.”

– “The Philosophy of Aesthetics,” PhilosophyArchive.com

a secret or concealed dungeon with a trap door in the ceiling as its only opening, as in some medieval castles

Notorious oubliettes include those in England’s Chillingham Castle and Warwick Castle, Ireland’s Leap Castle, and the French Bastille.

From the French oublier — to forget < Old French oblider < Vulgar Latin oblītāre, a derivative of the Latin oblītus, past participle of oblīvīscī — to forget; literally, “to wipe, let slip from the mind”
< prefix ob– — away < Latin ob — before, toward, against < Indo-European root epi (also opi) — near, at, against
+ Indo-European root lei– — slimy — in its suffixed form lei-w–

 
 
“The Labour conference was to hold its big debate on Iraq yesterday. So did they discuss it? Of course not! Instead, a furious woman from Unison stormed the podium. ‘I want to know why I have been stopped from bringing a bag of sweeties into the conference. It is bureaucracy gone mad!’ she said.

The chairwoman said gravely that the matter would be referred to the Conference Arrangements Committee, where it will probably disappear like a dead rat in a Bastille oubliette. …

At the time we all looked rather puzzled, until the steward standing near my seat explained: ‘I’ll tell you why they’re banned, they could be used as missiles.’ …

The party of Hardie, Attlee and Bevan, afraid that its speakers might be cut down under a fusillade of Fox’s Glacier mints … .”

– Simon Hoggart, “Tic-Tac Tactics? It Takes Allsorts,” The Guardian

 
 
(Photo credit: From the blog Pilgrim’s Progress, “The Cry of the Forgotten,” July 18, 2005)

1. To wander or drift about; stray.
2. To stray from the subject; ramble; digress.

From the Latin dīvagāt–, dīvagātus, past participle of the Late Latin dīvagārī — to wander off, wander about
< Latin dī–, dis– — apart, asunder
+ Latin vagārī — to wander < Latin vagus — wandering
Possibly from the Indo-European root wag– — to be bent < base wā– — to bend apart, turn
From whence the Latin varus — crooked, bent, diverse

 
 
“Moonlight as we enter
the New Brunswick woods,
hairy, scratchy, splintery;
moonlight and mist
caught in them like lamb’s wool
on bushes in a pasture.

The passengers lie back.
Snores. Some long sighs.
A dreamy divagation
begins in the night,
a gentle, auditory,
slow hallucination . . . .

In the creakings and noises,
an old conversation
 — not concerning us,
but recognizable, somewhere … .”

– Elizabeth Bishop, “The Moose”

In the original, natural, or existing place, position, or arrangement.

In medicine:
1. In the original position; in place or position; undisturbed.
2. In a localized state or condition.
3. Confined to the state of origin.

From the Latin in sitū — in place
< Latin in — in
+ Latin sitū, ablative of situs — place
Probably from the suffixed form si-tu– of the Italic si– < zero-grade form tki– of the Indo-European root tkei– — to settle, dwell, be home

 
 
“Carcinoma in situ (CIS) is an early form of carcinoma defined by the absence of invasion of surrounding tissues. In other words, the neoplastic cells proliferate in their normal habitat … . For example, carcinoma in situ of the skin, also called Bowen’s disease, is the accumulation of neoplastic epidermal cells within the epidermis only.”

– “Carcinoma In Situ,” Wikipedia

1. A name of a place.
2. A name derived from a place or region.
3. A name that indicates origin, natural locale, etc., as in zoological nomenclature.

Back-formation from toponymy [tэ pŏn΄э mē] — (1) the place names of a region or language, or the study of such place names; (2) in anatomy, nomenclature with respect to a region of the body rather than to organs or structures.

< prefix top–, a variant of the prefix topo– — place, region < Greek topos — place
+ suffix, combining form –onym — word, name < Greek –ōnumon, neuter of the combining form –ōnumos — having the kind of name specified < Greek onuma — name < assimilated from enuma, preserved in proper names in Laconian < Indo-European root n^ŏ-men– — name

 
 
“A toponymist will look at not only the surface meaning of the name in question, but also at the history of the area. Doing so reveals the story behind the place, or as geographer David Nelson calls it, the ‘20% geography and science and 80% ignorance, myth and greed — the arbitrary, impulsive, and ironic, snarled in history and politics.’ ”

– “Canadian Toponomy,” BBC.co.uk

not in existence anywhere

As opposed to ubiquitous — present, or seeming to be present, everywhere at the same time; omnipresent.

From the Latin nūllus — none

< Latin ne– — not < Indo-European root ne– — not
+ Latin ūllus — any < Indo-European root oi-no– — one, unique
ne-oinom — not one thing

+ French ubiquité < New Latin ubīquitās < Latin ubīque — everywhere

< ubī — where < Indo-European root k^wo– (also k^wi–), the stem of relative and interrogative pronouns: Derivatives include who, whether, either, quorum, and quality. From the locative case k^wo-bhi, becoming –cubi in compounds such as alicubi (“somewhere”), from which ubi was abstracted out by false segmentation, possibly under the influence of ibi (“there”).
+ Latin –que — and < Indo-European root enclitic k^we– — and

+ suffix –ous — having, full of, characterized by

< Middle English < Old French –ous, –eus, –eux < Latin –ōsus and –us, adjective-forming suffixes

 
 
“We cannot affirm, in any definitive manner, the possibility of the One realizing itself in the union of two speaking subjects, just as we cannot affirm that a single Moebius strip has two surfaces: we can indicate it by poking a hole at some chosen point in its surface to its other side, but that proves nothing; we need only traverse the strip longitudinally to demonstrate that it has no other side, and that this chosen point is situated in a self-contradictory nowhereness, or nullibiquity (in other words, we can pierce the strip ‘butnot’ puncture it). …

[T]his absence, or always-elsewhere-ness … leaves [the subject] separated, derelicted like ‘a sparrow alone on a rooftop,’ in a ‘nullibiquity of the soul’ … .”

– Jack W. Stone, “The Possible and the True Formula of Atheism”