Summer Solstice

Summer solstice is coming up in my hemisphere, the longest day of the year. Solstice, from the Latin, means “sun standing still” because it appears to come to a halt on that day. Fortunately, it always changes its mind and returns to its journey.

There are some interesting words through which the sun shines.

• Apricate [L. apricari] means to bask in the sun, something that my Neo does rather well.

• Helianthus [Gr. helios, sun + anthos, flower] is the botanical genus that contains the common sunflower.

• Heliosis was exposure to the sun, often leading to sunstroke.

• The chemical element helium was first discovered by studying the spectrum emitted by the sun.

• To insolate is to expose something to the sun’s rays, quite the opposite of insulate.

• Something solific [L. sol, sun] was impregnated with solar qualities; medicinal wine was exposed to the sun in measured doses to capture its healing qualities.

SIDEBAR: Sumer Is Icumen In


Now available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition


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An Armistice in the Interstices

A word buff reminded me recently of something that I had long forgotten: that the -stice segment of words such as armistice or solstice share the base meaning “to stop.”

It forced me to run for my dictionary, because my immediate assumption was that the -stice ending was simply a reflection of the Latin ending -itia, as in amicitia (friendship) or justitia (justice).

But it turns out that the form derives from the Latin verb sistere, which gave rise to stitium, a stopping. So the range of meaning involved here includes stop, stand, and cease. Related forms come from the Latin verb stare, to stand, which gave us station, stationary, and status.

Getting back to the stop suffix, we find a few examples:

• armistice: a cessation from arms for a time; a short truce. [arma = weapons]
• interstice: a space standing between things or parts. [inter = between]
• justitium: a legal vacation. The legal system stops for a while. [jus = law]
• solstice: two times a year (June 21 and December 22), when it is farthest from the equator, the sun seems to stop in its tracks. [sol = sun]
• lunistice: the point at which the moon is farthest north or farthest south and seems to stop for a while. [luna = moon]

No sign of januastice, a doorstop.


SIDEBAR: belly dance by Solstice

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