A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg
excelsior
excelsior (ik-SEL-see-uhr) noun
Wood shavings used for packing fragile items.
[From a trademark. From Latin, literally higher, from excelsus, high.]
"In a glint of needle light, of grass seeds, dew flecks, a friend is
throwing her voice
While far inside a grainy heaven a butcher's apron ripples its dried
blood in the wind.
The bark strippings, excelsior, the panicles of the garden. In the midst
of summer a friend cuts greens and places them in a bowl as if they were
fronds.
A friend is a vinegar - and now, pearl-shaped, in clusters, faces among
her face,
As globes rise on the lawn, each above a root of recriminations."
Garden solstice; The Antioch Review; Jun 1, 1996.
The word excelsior is also the motto of the
New York state.
It is also the title of a poem by
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Of course, here they are not exhorting us to take inspiration from wood
shavings. Rather these refer to the Latin sense of the word. -Anu
Examples: The Daily Excelsior (India); the Excelsior (Mexico).
X-Bonus
If you are afraid of being lonely, don't try to be right. -Jules Renard,
writer (1864-1910)
