Thursday, January 14, 2010

Dictionary Highlights: Day 14

Aruru - the Akkadian goddess personifying earth, who assisted Marduk in the creation of human beings: the counterpart of the Sumerian Ki.

Asarah Betevet - a Jewish fast day observed on the 10th day of the month of Tevet in memory of the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem in 586 b.c. by the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar.

Asat - (in Vedic mythology) the realm of nonexistence, populated by demons.

How is there a realm of nonexistance?

ascender -
1. a person or thing that ascends or causes ascension.
2. Printing.
a. the part of a lowercase letter, as b, d, f, h, that rises above x-height.
b. a letter rising above x-height, as b, d, f, h, etc.


Aschheim-Zondek test - a test used to detect whether a woman is pregnant by noting the effect on the ovaries of an immature mouse or rabbit injected with her urine.

Did a frat house come up with this test?

ashcake - cornbread baked in hot ashes.

Two more words I didn't expect to see together

Assidean - a member of a sect, characterized by its religious zeal and piety, that flourished in the 2nd century b.c. during the time of the Maccabees and vigorously resisted the Hellenization of Jewish culture and religion.

2 comments:

Doug Mazanec said...

If their faith believes in reincarnation, perhaps non-existence is the time between, when you are part of the universe, without corporeal form ..

Injecting rabbits sure beats sacrificing goats to 'inspect' their livers ...

Drew said...

My complaint is that non-existence is a poor choice of words to describe the experience, that appears to be just a different mode of existence.

I'm curious how the Ascheim-Zondek test was first discovered, because according to Britannica, the test delivers accurate results.