19 July 2013

miasma

[mahy-az-muh, mee-]

noun, plural mi·as·mas, mi·as·ma·ta [mahy-az-muh-tuh, mee-]

1. noxious exhalations from putrescent organic matter; poisonous effluvia or germs polluting the atmosphere.
2. a dangerous, foreboding, or deathlike influence or atmosphere.
3. an unwholesome or oppressive atmosphere

Example sentence:

The organisation was beset by the miasma of corruption.

Origin:
1655–65; < Neo-Latin < Greek míasma stain, pollution, akin to miaínein to pollute, stain

Related forms
mi·as·mal, mi·as·mat·ic [mahy-az-mat-ik], mi·as·mat·i·cal, mi·as·mic, adjective
un·mi·as·mal, adjective
un·mi·as·mat·ic, adjective
un·mi·as·mat·i·cal, adject

Today’s aphorism

It always seems impossible until it’s done.

– Nelson Mandela

On this day

19 July 64 AD – Rome’s Circus Maximus destroyed by fire, during the Great Fire of Rome.

19 July 1553 – 15 year old, Lady Jane Grey, the ‘Nine Day Queen’, deposed as Queen of England. On his deathbed, King Edward VI (also 15) named his cousin, Lady Jane, as his successor. She ‘ruled’ for 9 days before being deposed and charged with high treason, as was her husband, Lord Guildford Dudley. They were both executed in February 1554.

19 July 1799 – Rosetta Stone discovered by Napoleon’s expeditionary army in Egypt. The Rosetta Stone enabled the translation of hieroglyphs.

19 July 1940 – Adolf Hitler delivers his ‘Last Appeal to Reason’ speech, declaring his victory and appealing for Great Britain to surrender.

19 July 1947 – assassination of General Aung San, founder of modern day Burma and Burmese Army. Father of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese politician, activist and Nobel Peace Prize Recipient.

19 July 1976 – UK rock group, Deep Purple, breaks up.