Caesar’s English Lesson 10

Roman ruins crumbling in Syria.

Caesar’s English melancholy: sadness visage: the face venerate: to respect abate: to lessen repose: resting

melancholy: sadness Spanish: melancolÍa The English noun melancholy comes from the Latin melancholia, which came from the ancient Greek mela, black, and chole, bile. The idea was that sadness or dejection is caused by an excess of black bile in the body—something that we know is not true. The idea, however, has survived in the word.

Paula Green’s sad and blue person. Melancholy Man, indeed.

In Jack London’s 1903 The Call of the Wild, there is “the little melancholy rippling of waves on lonely beaches.” We can see from famous uses of the word that melancholy can describe a person’s feelings, but it can also describe things in the environment that seem sad, or that make us feel sad.

One of the most striking melancholy sentences comes from Peter Pan: “His eyes were of the blue of the forget-me-not, and of a profound melancholy.”

visage: the face The English noun visage is a synonym of our friend countenance. Perhaps there is a difference in emphasis in the words, with countenance focusing on the contents of the expression and visage emphasizing the look of the face; after all, visage traces back to the Latin videre, to see. 

visage: the face Even so, the two words both refer to the appearance of the face, and countenance is often used to define visage.

Why would someone name a skin care product Visage?

One of the greatest visage sentences comes from Charles Dickens, who in A Tale of Two Cities described someone’s “taciturn and ironbound visage.” Taciturn means silent, and so this character’s visage is frozen and metallic—not very pleasant.

venerate: to respect Spanish: venerar To venerate is to respect or revere, to admire. The word traces all the way back to the Roman’s word venus, love. Veneration is a kind of high, respectful love. 

The adjective form of the word is venerable. venerate: to respect The adjective form of the word is venerable.  It is important for many words to see that they are available in different parts of speech: venerate is a verb, veneration is a noun, venerable is an adjective. We often use venerable to describe what is religious.

The Roman people venerated Caesar as a war hero and a strong leader The Roman people venerated Caesar as a war hero and a strong leader. In 46BC, they elected him dictator of Rome. A dictator is a ruler with complete control. Caesar used his power to make many changes in Rome, often without approval from the Senate. He instituted the Julian calendar of 365¼ days. Caesar’s calendar is closely related to the calendar we use today. The month of July is named in veneration of Caesar. A year after his election as dictator, the Roman people elected Caesar “dictator for life.”

Venerate It is important for many words to see that they are available in different parts of speech: venerate is a verb, veneration is a noun, venerable is an adjective. We often use venerable to describe what is religious.

abate: to lessen Our English verb abate means to lessen in amount or degree, but it comes from the Old French abattre, to beat down! This, in turn, came from the Latin batuere, to beat.

The need for police work abated as areas were upgraded and improved.

Abate Writers have used abate to describe how things go down, reduce, or recede. Note that in order for something to get smaller, it must first be bigger, and so abate is what big things do. Big storms abate. Big emotions abate. In Bram Stoker’s Dracula we read, “When the snow storm abated we looked again.”

repose: resting Spanish: reposo The English word repose traces all the way back to the Latin pausa, to pause. When we re-pose, we pause again. When we use repose as a verb, it means the act of resting, and when we use repose as a noun, it refers to the rest.

Ahhhhh… repose…. Need we say more?

Repose Mary Shelley used repose in Frankenstein, to paint a picture of tranquility: “All nature reposed under the eye of the quiet moon.” In George Orwell’s Animal Farm “Napoleon reposed on a bed of straw.” Napoleon, being a pig, needed his repose.

Well, we may need to restate repose this way…

Caesar’s Analogies MELANCHOLY : VISAGE :: repose : rest traverse : space abate : increase vivid : color

Caesar’s Analogies MELANCHOLY : VISAGE :: Adjective : closely related noun repose : rest traverse : space abate : increase vivid : color

MELANCHOLY : VISAGE :: repose : rest traverse : space abate : increase vivid : color

STORM : ABATE :: fear : diminish traverse : cross visage : handsome melancholy : dejected

STORM : ABATE :: Event : decrease in intensity fear : diminish traverse : cross visage : handsome melancholy : dejected

STORM : ABATE :: fear : diminish traverse : cross visage : handsome melancholy : dejected

Caesar’s English melancholy: sadness visage: the face venerate: to respect abate: to lessen repose: resting