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ascian (I searched for previous usage of this, but results were confusing. Any way, I'll bet nobody remembers it.)
Definition: one that has no shadow; specifically : an inhabitant of the torrid zone where the Sun is
vertical at noon twice a year
Example sentence: "They are mysterious to me, these ascians," said Balrone, "for twice each year, at
the very instant of noon on the equinoxes, their shadows vanish, and they appear to me to be
enchanted."
Did you know?
When 17th-century British author and philosopher Nathanael Carpenter wrote a
two-volume Geography in 1625, he occasionally indulged his poetic persona, including
within the pages of that volume some original verses. But it was no mere flight of fancy
that prompted him to call the inhabitants of equatorial lands ascii. He surely knew that the
word (which is the plural of ascius) came from a Latin term for "those without shadows" (it
traces from the Greek a-, indicating absence, plus skia, meaning "shadow"). He also must
have known that there was nothing mystical about such shadowlessness. At the spring
and fall equinoxes at the equator, the Sun is, for a few moments, directly overhead, and
nothing below casts a shadow during that time.
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>I'll bet nobody remembers it.
you really should stop with the sweeping generalizations, bill.
()
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So Dracula was a Carpathian Ascian, huh?
Oh, drat. It was his reflection that wasn't there.
Never mind.
From the penumbra,
WordWind
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Dear tsuwm: But if I had stopped with the sweeping generalization, I couldn't have posted the word.And it was a trap to detect lurkers.
My Shadow
I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more then I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me when I jump into my bed.
The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow,
Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
for sometimes he shoots up taller like an Indian rubber ball,
And he sometimes gets so little that there is none of him at all.
He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,
And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.
he stays so close behind me he's a coward you can see;
I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!
One morning, very early before the sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow like an arrant sleepy-head,
had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.
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enthusiast
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But my lazy little shadow like an arrant sleepy-headNow that's getting personal, dr. bill!  
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ascian (I searched for previous usage of this, but results were confusing. Any way, I'll bet nobody remembers it.)
As I remember we had some discussion about the proper pronunciation of the OE ascian, a variety of the verb acsian, to ask. My comment was that the pronunciation would have been a-shee-an. NicholasW begged to differ.
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