29 August 2014

anamnesis

[an-am-nee-sis]

noun, plural anamneses [an-am-nee-seez]

1. the recollection or remembrance of the past; reminiscence.
2. Platonism. recollection of the Ideas, which the soul had known in a previous existence, especially by means of reasoning.
3. the medical history of a patient.
4. Immunology. a prompt immune response to a previously encountered antigen, characterized by more rapid onset and greater effectiveness of antibody and T cell reaction than during the first encounter, as after a booster shot in a previously immunized person.
5. (often initial capital letter) a prayer in a Eucharistic service, recalling the Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension of Christ.

Origin

1650-60; < Neo-Latin < Greek anámnēsis remembrance, equivalent to ana (mi) mnḗ (skein) to remember ( ana ana- + mimnḗskein to call to mind) + -sis -sis

Related forms

anamnestic [an-am-nes-tik], adjective
anamnestically, adverb

Anagram

amass nine
sane mains

Today’s aphorism

An education isn’t how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It’s being able to differentiate between what you know and what you don’t.

– Anatole France

On this day

29 August 29AD – John the Baptist beheaded.

29 August 1991 – the Supreme Soviet of the USSR suspends the Communist Party. The Soviet Union was formally dissolved on 26 December 1991.

29 August 2001 – death of Graeme ‘Shirley’ Strachan, in a helicopter crash near Maroochydore, Queensland. Lead singer of Australian band, Skyhooks.

29 August 2005 – Hurricane Katrina strikes southeastern United States with wind speeds reaching 280km/h. New Orleans is one of the worst hit areas. At least 1,836 people died in the storm and subsequent flooding.

29 August 2012 – Hurricane Isaac strikes southeastern United States with wind speeds reaching 130km/h, making landfall in Louisiana, leaving at least 400,000 houses in New Orleans without power.