“The author’s words flowed like a river, with a bright lambent quality that brought to life the vivid imagery of his verses.”

Lambent

In my search for “bright” synonyms, I came upon this term. It has a variant of definitions.

Defintion:

1. Glowing Softly or mild flickering light; luminous – as a flame or light
2. Softly gliding or running across a surface
3. (Literature). Soft, gentle glow or a flickering light that illuminates a scene or setting
4. (Figuratively) displaying levity or wit; intelligent or smart without malice
5. (Metaphorically) passionate or emotional response that is subdued or restrained

Pronunciation: ˈlæmbənt

Examples:

"The author's words flowed like a river, with a bright lambent quality that brought to life the vivid imagery of his verses." 

"The flickering bright lambent light of the candles added a warm and romantic ambiance to the dinner table."

latin:

lambo, lambis, lambere – to lick/suck up; absorb; wash/bathe; surround; fondle/caress

Present Participle: lambēns,
Infinitive: lambere

Mnemonics = Powerful + emotion = Easy to remember

Bolded – definitions for lambent
Bolded & Green – definitions for latin word
Italics – lamb – ent

Glowing Lamb ( Think of a lamb from the children’s story Little Lamb) – ent (The suffix – ent: (having the quality of or characterized by: )
The little lamb story: A disobedient, daring little lamb deviates from the flock by frolicking and soaking up the sun. Now that the little lamb has gone missing, it is nighttime. Thankfully, the little lamb has a superpower. It has the quality and characteristics (ent) of a soft, glowing, and luminous light, similar to a halo made of its own wool. The lamb activates its powers, and the wool illuminates and guides the area around him. Now it can see where it wants to go. He finds his way back home. And once again, he is surrounded by his flock, which caresses him.

Used in literature?

Alexander Pope described it as such in his 1717 poem “Eloisa to Abelard”:

“Those smiling eyes, attemp’ring every ray, Shone sweetly lambent with celestial day.” India poet Dipanjan Bhattacharjee used the word in his poem “The Monks Of Aeons”

India poet Dipanjan Bhattacharjee used the word in his poem “The Monks Of Aeons”

“The lambent silhouette off skies and clouds, Zillion miles afar; beyond narcissistic crowds, The Godly power still thru’ chaste souls rein, And blooms o’er branches on moorlands green. “

Precious Harrison uses the word in his poem “There I Lie”

“Here I wait, my heart benumbed, my soul in hibernation I await rebirth, singing lullabies to the moon, attempting to lull it to sleep for the sun to awaken and pull its crown through a crowd of lambent clouds.”

Edward Abbey uses the word in his book “Beyond the Wall: Essays from the Outside‎”

“the lambent glowing light of the midnight sun. (I dislike that word lambent, but it must be employed.) A soft, benevolent radiance, you might say, playing upon the emerald green, the virgin swales of grass and moss and heather and Swede heads”

This is my second post for the #100DaysToOffload challenge.

You can learn more about this challenge over at https://100daystooffload.com.

Tagged with: latin | literature | mnemonics | poems | word of the week

Categorised as: Latin | Literature | Memory | What I learned | Word Of The Week