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Jun 30, 2005
This week's theme
Archaic words

This week's words
caliginous
quotha
cark
crasis
enow

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

crasis

(KRAY-sis) Pronunciation RealAudio

noun:
1. Composition; constitution; blending.
2. Contraction of two vowels into one long vowel or into a diphthong.

From Greek krasis (mixture, blend), from kerannynai (to mix).

"However, I do not wish to condemn the Greek-Latin crasis. After all I have used it to mould my surname (Latro=thief [Latin], Nike=victory [Greek]) into a more palatable form (victory over the thieves) than might be inferred from its slanderous (for me) Latin stem!"
Nicola Latronico; Making Sense; The Lancet (London, UK); Mar 30, 1996.

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Wherever you have an efficient government you have a dictatorship. -Harry S Truman, 33rd US president (1884-1972)

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