A dome (from Latin: domus)
is an architectural element that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere.
The precise definition has been a matter of controversy. There are also a wide variety of forms and
specialized terms to describe them. A
dome can rest upon a rotunda or drum, and can be supported by columns or piers that
transition to the dome through squinches or pendentives.
A lantern may cover an oculus and may itself have another dome.
Domes have a long architectural lineage that extends back into prehistory and they have been constructed from
mud, stone, wood, brick, concrete, metal, glass, and plastic over the
centuries. The symbolism associated with
domes includes mortuary, celestial, and governmental traditions that
have likewise developed over time.
Because domes are concave from below, they can reflect sound and create
echoes. A
dome may have a "whispering gallery"
at its base that at certain places transmits distinct sound to other distant
places in the gallery. The half-domes over the apses of
Byzantine churches helped to project the chants of
the clergy.
Although this can compliment music, it may make speech less
intelligible, leading Francesco Giorgi in
1535 to recommend vaulted ceilings for the choir areas of a church, but a flat
ceiling filled with as many coffers as possible for where preaching would
occur. Cavities in the form of jars
built into the inner surface of a dome may serve to compensate for this
interference by diffusing sound in all directions, eliminating echoes while
creating a "divine effect in the atmosphere of worship." This technique was written about by Vitruvius in his Ten Books on Architecture, which describes
bronze and earthenware resonators. The material, shape, contents, and
placement of these cavity resonators determine
the effect they have: reinforcing
certain frequencies or absorbing them.
Find pictures, history and a
description of twelve different domes at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dome
A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
kenning (KEN-ing) noun A
figurative, usually compound, expression used to describe something. For example, whale road for an ocean
and oar steed for a ship. From Old Norse kenna
(to know). Ultimately from the Indo-European root gno- (to know), which is also
the source of know, recognize, acquaint, ignore, diagnosis, notice,
normal, prosopagnosia, gnomon, anagnorisis, and agnosia.
mot juste (mo ZHOOST)
noun The right word. From French mot juste (right word). A related term is bon mot.
holophrasm (HOL-uh-fraz-um) noun
1. A one-word sentence, for
example, “Go.” 2. A complex idea conveyed in a single word, for
example, “Howdy” for “How do you do?” From
Greek holos (whole) + phrasis (speech).
antonomasia (an-toh-noh-MAY-zhuh) noun 1. The
use of an epithet or title for a proper name, for example, the Bard for
Shakespeare. 2. The use of the name of a person known for a
particular quality to describe others, such as calling someone brainy as
Einstein. Also known as eponym. From Latin, from Greek antonomazein (to name
differently), from anti- (instead of) + onoma (name).
Feedback to A.Word.A.Day
From: Susan
Gawarecki Subject:
Kenning A word for which I have had an unfilled
need! T.E. Lawrence, in his epic Seven Pillars of
Wisdom, invented a great many kennings in the form of hyphenated words
(torrent-beds, coffee-hospitality, brain-leisure) that are his shorthand for
descriptive phrases.
From: Laura Moorhouse Kenna Subject:
kenning When my son was three he
saw a groundhog and exclaimed, “Look! A grass beaver!” We still call them that. Although “groundhog” itself is a kenning, I
suppose, as well as another name for groundhogs: whistlepig.
From: Marlice Van Zandt Subject:
kenning Llamas were referred to
as “ships of the Andes” and “camels of the clouds” for their use as beasts of
burden.
From: Inderjit
Kalsi
Subject: Kennings Sand dunes gently undulating ‘camel canal’.
From: Mike Wagner Subject: holophrasm My Chinese friend always comments on our
American holophrasm, “Jeet?” for, “Did you eat?” He says learning “American” was certainly
interesting!
The first documentation about the flora in the Colosseum area dates back to
1643. Domenico Panaroli made the first
catalogue of its plants. 684 species
have been identified there. In 1871
there were some attempts to eradicate the vegetation, because there were
serious concerns, the flora could damage the monument. 242 species have
been identified today, and 200 of the species first identified by Panaroli,
still remain in the area. http://www.colosseum.net/listingview.php?listingID=16 See also Rooted in the past: the plants
that flourish in ruins by Christopher Woodward
at http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/66319312-0559-11e5-8612-00144feabdc0.html
Eagle, Wisconsin The area received its name when, in 1836,
Thomas Sugden, John Coats and Mr. Garton came to a prairie and saw a huge bald
headed eagle soaring overhead. The first claim was made by A. R. Hinkley
but the first permanent settlers were Ebenezer Thomas and wife, who erected a
house in 1836. Before the end of that
year, the first mill in the town of Eagle was built in Eagleville. When
the southern branch of the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad came through the
town in 1851, the village of Eagle Centre was created, leading to the eventual
decline of other villages in the township. With the passing of time, the village name
evolved to Eagle. By 1880, the village
was considered the third ranking community in Waukesha County in terms of
commercial importance. It could boast of
two dry goods houses, two hardware stores, two clothing and tailoring
establishments, a butcher shop, grocer, harness shop, milliners, salons, and a
grain elevator and warehouse. Eagle was
nearly renamed Diamond City in the mid-1800’s when it became known that a
diamond had been discovered here in 1876. While digging a well at the summit of what is
today called Diamond Hill, workers found a yellow pebble, which was eventually
identified as one of the largest glacial diamonds ever found in the United
States. The diamond ended up at New York’s American Museum of Natural
History. In 1964, it was stolen along with several other gems, including
the Star of India sapphire. Never recovered, the Eagle Diamond was likely
cut and fenced.
Brian Friel,
who wrote plays whose distinctive blend of melancholy and humor won
international acclaim, died on October 2, 2015. He was 86 and lived in County Donegal,
Ireland. Vincent Canby, then The New York Times’s Sunday
theater critic, spoke for many when he wrote
in 1996 that Mr. Friel had
long been recognized as Ireland’s greatest living dramatist, having “dazzled us
with plays that speak in a language of unequaled poetic beauty and
intensity.” These ranged from
“Philadelphia, Here I Come!” which concerned an emotionally divided young
Irishman on the point of emigrating to America and was nominated for best play
at the 1966 Tony Awards, to “Dancing at
Lughnasa,” about a family living in genteel poverty in the 1930s, which won the
same award in 1992. Along with much of
Mr. Friel’s work, both plays were set in Ballybeg, an imaginary Donegal village
much like Muff, where the dramatist and his family first lived after moving
permanently from Londonderry, also called Derry, in British-ruled Ulster to the
Irish Republic in 1969. He said he felt
a kinship with 19th-century Russian writers, explaining that this might be
because “the characters in the plays behave as if their old certainties were as
sustaining as ever, even though they know that their society is in meltdown,”
and “they seem to expect their problems will disappear if they talk about them—endlessly.” Many of Mr. Friel’s characters shared those
qualities, though they never seemed “endless.” Rather, they spoke in ways, always lively and
sometimes poetic, that reflected one of their author’s prime missions, which
was to help restore to Irish English the uniqueness that he thought years of
Anglo-English domination had taken from it. Indeed, Mr. Friel’s principal objection to
standard translations of the Russians was that characters usually sounded “as
English as Elgar.” Accordingly, the
language in his versions of Chekhov and of Turgenev—he translated “A Month in
the Country” and dramatized “Fathers and Sons”—had a lilt and lyricism that
owed more to Donegal than to Oxford or London.
Benedict Nightingale http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/03/theater/brian-friel-irish-playwright-dies.html
Find a list of Brian Friel's works
including Lovers: Winners and
Losers (1967) and awards including New York Drama Critics Circle
award for best foreign play – Molly Sweeney
(1995) at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Friel
Eye contact is a part of
conversation. Zits comic strip October 3, 2015 http://www.thecomicstrips.com/subject/The-Eye+Contact-Comic-Strips-by-Zits.php
http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com Issue 1357
October 5, 2015 On this date in
1889, Teresa de la Parra,
French-Venezuelan author, was born.
On
this date in 1902, Larry Fine, American actor and singer, was
born.
Word of the Day: hinterland noun The land immediately next to, and inland from,
a coast. The rural territory surrounding
an urban area,
especially a port. A remote or undeveloped area,
a backwater.
(figuratively)
That which is unknown or unexplored about
someone.
(figuratively)
Anything vague or ill-defined, especially one that is ill understood.
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