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Once again, it's just too easy, really....
afflatus \uh-FLAY-tuhs\, noun:
A divine imparting of knowledge; inspiration.
Examples
"Whatever happened to passion and vision and the divine afflatus in poetry?"
-Clive Hicks, "From 'Green Man' (Ronsdale)," Toronto Star, November 21, 1999
"Aristophanes must have eclipsed them...by the exhibition of some diviner faculty, some higher spiritual afflatus."
-John Addington Symonds, Studies of the Greek Poets
"The miraculous spring that nourished Homer's afflatus seems out of reach of today's writers, whose desperate yearning for inspiration only indicates the coming of an age of 'exhaustion.'"
-Benzi Zhang, "Paradox of origin(ality)," Studies in Short Fiction, March 22, 1995
Etymology
Afflatus is from Latin afflatus, past participle of afflare, "to blow at or breathe on," from ad-, "at" + flare, "to puff, to blow." Other words with the same root include deflate (de-, "out of" + flare); inflate (in-, "into" + flare); soufflé, the "puffed up" dish (from French souffler, "to puff," from Latin sufflare, "to blow from below," hence "to blow up, to puff up," from sub-, "below" + flare); and flatulent.
And now for the (too easy) drabble, that somehow manages to incorporate nothing but two prepositions in the title. I shame myself, sometimes.
From Within
His peers credited the Valar for their inspiration, and they often asked him, “What of you?” for if any wonder was inspired by Varda’s stars or the gems of Manwë, it must be the Lamps of Fëanaro.
He laughed and named many things—but never the Valar: the love of his wife, the light in the eyes of his newborn sons, the undying loyalty of his father. For, then, even Fëanaro knew the danger that was unrestrained pride.
But the truth of his afflatus, he knew, in the same secret place where he kindled his genius:
It came from within.
afflatus \uh-FLAY-tuhs\, noun:
A divine imparting of knowledge; inspiration.
Examples
"Whatever happened to passion and vision and the divine afflatus in poetry?"
-Clive Hicks, "From 'Green Man' (Ronsdale)," Toronto Star, November 21, 1999
"Aristophanes must have eclipsed them...by the exhibition of some diviner faculty, some higher spiritual afflatus."
-John Addington Symonds, Studies of the Greek Poets
"The miraculous spring that nourished Homer's afflatus seems out of reach of today's writers, whose desperate yearning for inspiration only indicates the coming of an age of 'exhaustion.'"
-Benzi Zhang, "Paradox of origin(ality)," Studies in Short Fiction, March 22, 1995
Etymology
Afflatus is from Latin afflatus, past participle of afflare, "to blow at or breathe on," from ad-, "at" + flare, "to puff, to blow." Other words with the same root include deflate (de-, "out of" + flare); inflate (in-, "into" + flare); soufflé, the "puffed up" dish (from French souffler, "to puff," from Latin sufflare, "to blow from below," hence "to blow up, to puff up," from sub-, "below" + flare); and flatulent.
And now for the (too easy) drabble, that somehow manages to incorporate nothing but two prepositions in the title. I shame myself, sometimes.
From Within
His peers credited the Valar for their inspiration, and they often asked him, “What of you?” for if any wonder was inspired by Varda’s stars or the gems of Manwë, it must be the Lamps of Fëanaro.
He laughed and named many things—but never the Valar: the love of his wife, the light in the eyes of his newborn sons, the undying loyalty of his father. For, then, even Fëanaro knew the danger that was unrestrained pride.
But the truth of his afflatus, he knew, in the same secret place where he kindled his genius:
It came from within.
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-14 02:25 pm (UTC)Yes, and tomorrow's word of the day will be hubris, or perhaps egotism. I haven't encountered the word afflatus before, so I should write a drabble too.
Water
High above the surface of Arda Ulmo watched the water droplets form into tiny hexagonal crystals, which grew into elegant white feathery shapes, then fell from the sky. Until now he had not imagined that water could become more magnificent than it was in its liquid form, but these ephemeral flakes were the most beautiful things he had ever seen. He wondered what afflatus had gone into the inclusion of this dazzling new form of his favourite element in the Music of the Ainur. He sought out Illúvatar and asked the One to tell him about the creation of snow.
Water - Afflatus
Date: 2005-09-14 02:55 pm (UTC)Re: Water - Afflatus
Date: 2005-09-14 03:04 pm (UTC)Thank you.
when is your b'day?? And what do you like written about?
19th October, and I will read anything and everything (as long as it is written in English!), Curufin and Maeglin are my favourite Silm characters, if that helps!
Have you posted this at either HASA or SWG?
Not yet. BTW, did you read the fic I posted for your birthday?
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-14 03:08 pm (UTC)And I love the drabble :) It is very original; much more original than my perpetual Feanorians. Thank you!
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-14 03:49 pm (UTC)I'm not very likely to object to perpetual Feanorians, except perhaps when they get into places where they have absolutely no right to be. For once I was deliberately trying not to write about them. It's very tricky. They've even got into three of my LoTR fics.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-14 05:42 pm (UTC)LOL! How true!
They've even got into three of my LoTR fics.
But of course. There's always Maglor. And re-embodiment ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-14 06:15 pm (UTC)Oh, I wasn't counting those ones!
AFFLATUS
Date: 2005-09-14 02:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-14 03:45 pm (UTC)Like the word "refulgent." It's a grand old word, but relatively few people know what it means, which makes it a perfect tool for the Insult Apparent.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-14 05:40 pm (UTC)"Pulchritudinous" works similarly for me. It sounds really icky, like "a pile of pulchritudinous vomit." Not a pretty word.
And "nonplussed," to me, seems like it would refer to someone calm and in control and not confused, not the other way around.
"Skulduggery" sounds like something Morgoth might have done to make orcs, certainly not a little innocent trickery.
I think the best thing about taking the GREs was learning all these crazy (sometimes archaic) words. I used to love when I'd encounter a word in my GRE book, look it up, and it was so archaic that it was no longer in the dictionary. Gotta love the priorities of standardized tests!
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-14 07:36 pm (UTC)(Coach Mike is so infinitely better than Coach Phil that it almost doesn't deserve mention here. But Coach Mike is way cool.)
Another good word is sublunary, meaning "of the earth," derived from "below the moon," which is one way to look at the earth.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-14 10:45 pm (UTC)Yes, yes, we know about your, ahem, ingenious creations. Why don't you go torment the Engineering Majors?
I should really take things seriously and climb out of the gutter for a bit....
...
Yeah, so...I liked your drabble. :) And afflatus IS a really weird sounding word.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-15 12:36 am (UTC)But why? A Feanatic without a pervy sense of humor is like a Feanorian with his...ummm...his....
swordjewelsOh, heck...never mind....
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-15 12:57 am (UTC)Hehe...I've never been able to think about the Feanorian Family Jewels without smirking...Really, who wouldn't be
hell bentanxious about getting their jewels back?? Although, I can't say I wouldn't want to keep them either! ;)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-15 12:58 am (UTC)Er, that should be "I wouldn't want to give them up, either!!" ;)
But I'm sure you know what I mean...
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-15 01:03 am (UTC)The obsession with Feanorian family jewels has always made me titter. Speaking of good words, "titter"...hehe....
::crawls out of gutter and wrings out clothes::
ANYWAY, it's a bit weird, though, that they have three. Although that might explain the seven sons!
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-15 01:09 am (UTC)ROTFLMAO!!! Too true!!