It’s not that I have no topic today, but I have very little
time to write this morning. Shopping plans have piled themselves upon me.
I found this word in my page-a-day desk calendar of “forgotten
words” – mostly from the 17th to 19th centuries. It’s the
only one I’ve been able to remember because it’s the only one I’d use.
The word is elucubrate.
According to Sir James Murray’s New English Dictionary of 1901, it means, “to produce a literary
work by expenditure of ‘midnight oil.’ Formed of Latin elucubrare, to compose by lamplight.”
In today's context: "to pull an all-nighter" as one would do studying for an exam.
I like Henry Cockeram’s definition better. In his Interpreter of Hard English Words
(1623), it means simply, “to do a thing by candlelight.”
I yearn to do this often during the cold winter months, but
I end up going straight to bed when I come home from work at night. And candles
just aren’t as romantic when the sun is shining.
I did write by candlelight once, when I was 14 (it was a
Pirates of the Caribbean fanfiction about Davy Jones’s lost daughter – I never
finished it) during a thunderstorm at dusk. It was wonderful.
I don’t know why I don’t do it again. Probably because it
only feels proper if I’m writing on paper. I write better and faster when I’m
typing; not to mention computer light cancels out candle glow.
Still, I should do it again.
Today’s deviant ditty:
“To Kill a King” by Hungry Lucy
No comments:
Post a Comment