Tuesday 12 May 2020

Carrying it forward

Raging against light often means treading a dark path. And if you’re still here, you’re probably already too far in to turn back.

One of the common roots of light comes from a PIE (Proto Indo-European, dubbed as “that really old language”) as “leuk-“ which means “bright”. The Ancient Greek uptook “leuk-“ as is. So “leuk-“ for Greeks became to mean simply, white. That gives us terms like leukocytes (white cells), leukaemia (from leuk and “haem” which means blood) and leukoderma.



 

In Latin, it may be spelt as “lux-” and “lumen-”. They go on to form the SI units of light (lux), and the unit of luminous intensity (lumen). From here you can shout “Lumos!” and a bunch of other words come to light. Illuminate means to “shine light upon (“il-“), and luminescence is emanation of light. If you decide to be lucent and carry this light of random information forward, you’re Lucifer (or carrier of light). If somebody asks you the reasons of your damnation, and you elucidate (or shed light upon) it well, you become a luminary. Or an evil of Biblical proportions (serves you right for being a know-it-all).

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