Wordy Wednesday: crepuscular

I ran across this word while dictionary surfing earlier this week. I am in the midst of trying to figure out a new name for the blog, so I need all the help I can get. I liked this word because it just sounds so gross and yet, describes such a beautiful time of day. I had never heard this word before and decided that it sounded great for my Wednesday Word. I know, I know, this picture is right at sunset, not twilight, but hey, it's close. I took this when Spencer & I went to Luxor in December.

crepuscular • \krih-PUHSS-kyuh-ler\ • adjective

*1 : of, relating to, or resembling twilight : dim

2 : active in the twilight

Example Sentence:

"The whisper of his conviction seemed to open before me a vast and uncertain expanse, as of a crepuscular horizon on a plain at dawn…." (Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim)

Did you know?

The early Romans had two words for "twilight." "Crepusculum" was favored by Roman writers for the half-light of evening, just after the sun sets; it is a diminutive formation based on their word for "dusky," which is "creper." "Diluculum" was reserved for morning twilight, just before the sun rises -- it is related to "lucidus," meaning "bright." We didn't embrace either of these Latin nouns as substitutes for our Middle English "twilight," but we did form the adjective "crepuscular" in the 17th century. At first, it only meant "dim" or "indistinct," often used in a figurative sense. In the 1820s, we added its special zoological sense, describing animals that are most active at twilight.


**information on word of the day, courtesy of merriam-webster online **