26 June 2013

Hiemal

PRONUNCIATION:

(HY-uh-muhl)
MEANING:

adjective: Of or relating to winter.
ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin hiems (winter). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ghei- (winter), which is the ancestor of words such as chimera, hibernate, and the Himalayas (from Sanskrit him (snow) + alaya (abode)). Earliest documented use: 1560.

USAGE:
“Painted turtles tend to move into deeper water during the autumnal season, and dormancy occurs during the hiemal period.”
Carl Ernst and Jeffrey Lovich; Turtles of the United States and Canada; The Johns Hopkins University Press; 2009.

Today’s aphorism

A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.

– Jean de La Fontaine

On this day

26 June 1945 – 50 nations ratify the United Nations Charter in an effort to prevent another world war. The United Nations was formally established on 24 October 1945, replacing the League of Nations