Today's Drabble

[dawn_felagund]

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.

Comments

[fanged-geranium.livejournal.com]

For, then, even Fëanaro knew the danger that was unrestrained pride.

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.

AFFLATUS

[digdigil.livejournal.com]

Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! LOL!! ROFLMAO!!!! And here I thought "afflatus" was something to do with breaking wind! OMG, I've been reading the Stupid Sil play too recently! Let me go and write a proper (short) drabble for this one! BRB!

[frenchpony.livejournal.com]

You gotta love words that sound like they mean one thing but really mean something completely different. For instance, I would not have connected "afflatus" with genius or inspiration, but with something else entirely.

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.

[tarion-anarore.livejournal.com]

Feanor: I can "kindle my genius" in other places -

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.