#98602
03/14/2003 4:39 AM
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 555
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What does the board think of suspiration as a synonym for respiration?
This morning, a colleague used suspire in this sense and I have been chewing on it ever since. I am quite unable to put my finger on it, but it seems and feels wrong. I know they mean the same thing but can they be used in the same way? Why do I get a subterranean feel with suspire?
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#98603
03/14/2003 7:44 AM
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
Perhaps, all unaware, you are connecting it with susurration.
I agree that using suspiration for the ordinary action of breathing is unusual to the point of being affected, though it could be done for effect to refocus the attention of an audience. Still, if they were that bored they probably wouldn't notice. Suspiration, to me, is more commonly used for sighing. Not that it's commonly used!
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#98604
03/14/2003 10:35 AM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
Fitzgerald used it in his translation of one of the quatrains in The Rubiayąt - something like:
".. and Jesus from the ground suspires."
I don't have my copy handy, but I'll try to find it later.
(NOTE: must get a cheap, second hand copy to keep by my desk at work!)
EDIT
Now the New Year reviving old Desires
The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires
Where the WHITE HAND OF MOSES on the bough
Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires.
It's the 4th quatrain of the 1st Edition, if you want to look it up!
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#98605
03/14/2003 11:16 AM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
AHD3 lists breathe and sigh as definitions of suspire. It gives breathe as the first, but AHD orders its definitions historically. It uses a Robert Frost quote as the example of the breathe definition.
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#98606
03/14/2003 4:08 PM
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YES! YES! Rhuby! That IS it! That quatrain of the Rubaiyat was probably where I was getting my subterranean feel for the word. It was once a big project, to learn the beautiful Rubaiyat by rote, which of course, I never completed, except for a few choice verses.
Here's one that has stayed with me:
AH! My beloved, fill the cup that clears
Today of past regrets and future fears
Tomorrow? Tomorrow I may be
Myself with yesterday's seven thousand years.
Heartfelt thanks Rhuby, for bringing up Khayyam! It took me down many pleasurable alleyways of memory.
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#98607
03/14/2003 4:18 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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In both Spanish and Portuguese, suspiro means "sigh."
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#98608
03/14/2003 4:34 PM
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Posts: 555
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That's fascinating AnnaS. I didn't know that. What is the root of this word? Is it a Latin one? And does the root mean sigh or breathe? dxb brought up sussuration. This surely should have a different root than suspiration.
Also, would any of you use this instead of respire or breathe and if not, why? I might say a whale suspires but not a human.....
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#98609
03/14/2003 4:42 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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sub, under + spirare, to breathe. Latin.
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#98610
03/14/2003 6:00 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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My dictionary says to take a long deep breath. Which suggests
it is an alteration of normal breathing. I wouldn't use it unless I meant to indicate a change in person's breathing.
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#98611
03/14/2003 6:06 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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My dictionary says to take a long deep breath.
Does it also say to take two aspirins and call it in the morning?
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#98612
03/14/2003 6:24 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 13,858 |
Dear AS: I'll bet I did a hell of a lot more night work
than you did. Want to compare?
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#98613
03/14/2003 8:01 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 6,511 |
I don't doubt it for a bit, Dr. Bill. But: did your dictionary?
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#98614
03/14/2003 9:09 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 13,858 |
I just asked it, and it didn't answer.
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#98615
03/14/2003 10:00 PM
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Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 247
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 247 |
Why do I get a subterranean feeling with suspire?
Trust your subterranean instincts, Maahey.
"Respiration" means breathing in and out, which is normal and healthy.
"Suspiration" means breathing out, as in "sigh", and is often associated with one's last breath ... as in "and Jesus from the Ground suspires".
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#98616
03/14/2003 10:11 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Rhuby, your turn for the jellied chopped liver mold: something like:
".. and Jesus from the ground suspires."Seconded, without acknowledgement, by "our" careful watcher: ... "and Jesus from the Ground suspires".
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#98617
03/17/2003 12:34 PM
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624 |
I wonder if it's any relation to "susurrate", which means soft (sighing) noises. Or something like that.
- Pfranz
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#98618
03/18/2003 2:54 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
susurrate
v.i. whisper. susurrant, a. susurrous, a. rustling. susurrus, n. whispering sound. susurration, n.
© From the Hutchinson Encyclopaedia.
Helicon Publishing LTD 2000.
All rights reserved.
Susurrous--ss--susurrous...I like it!
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#98619
03/21/2003 1:56 AM
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154 |
WM my medical dictionary agrees with you, suspire is to sigh and suspirious to breath with apparent effort.
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#98620
03/21/2003 5:20 AM
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Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 104
member
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Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 104 |
I'm too lazy too look it up right now, but I'm betting resuscitate has
to have something in common with all of these fine words, too, no?
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