13 May 2015

syzygy

[siz-i-jee]

noun, plural syzygies.
1. Astronomy. an alignment of three celestial objects, as the sun, the earth, and either the moon or a planet:
Syzygy in the sun-earth-moon system occurs at the time of full moon and new moon.
2. Classical Prosody. a group or combination of two feet, sometimes restricted to a combination of two feet of different kinds.
3. any two related things, either alike or opposite.

Origin of syzygy
Late Latin, Greek
1650-1660; < Late Latin syzygia < Greek syzygía union, pair, equivalent to sýzyg (os) yoked together ( sy- sy- + zyg-, base of zeugnýnai to yoke1+ -os adj. suffix) + -ia -y3

Related forms
syzygial [si-zij-ee-uh l], syzygetic [siz-i-jet-ik], syzygal [siz-i-guh l], adjective

Dictionary.com

Today’s aphorism

You have to understand … Most people are not ready to be unplugged and many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.

– Morpheus (from ‘The Matrix’)

On this day

13 May 1941 – birth of Richard Steven Valenzuela, otherwise known as Richie Valens. 1950s rock and roll star, famous for songs such as, ‘Come On, Let’s Go’, and ‘La Bamba. Died in a plane crash on 3 February 1959 with other musicians, Buddy Holly, J.P. ‘Big Bopper’ Richardson and the pilot, Roger Peterson. Their deaths were immortalised in the Don McLean song, ‘American Pie’, when he sang about the day the music died.

13 May 1981 – Pope John Paul II is injured in front of 2,000 people in St Peter’s Square after being shot by Turkish man, Mehmet Ali Agca.