Threshold

Adventures in Logophilia, Day 158:

threshold

This noun has a few interesting facets:

1.) a section of wood or stone that lies under a doorway;

2.) a means or place of entry, or a place at the beginning of something;

3.) the point or level at which a physical or mental effect begins to be produced, as in "pain threshold": at which level do you begin to feel it?

According to Oxford Dictionaries, threshold is an Old English word - thresh being related to tread in a Germanic sense, and hold (perhaps) emphasizing "place to tread." This leads me to believe that the naming of Thresh in The Hunger Games was not entirely coincidental.  In fact, it probably wasn't.

To Osculate

Adventures in Logophilia, Day 157:

osculate (v)

To kiss (mathematically).  This is a geometry term used when a pair of curves or surfaces touch on a common tangent.  Using the word as "kiss" has a humorous context, but I'd imagine it would be perfect to describe two science scholars in love.

Corybantic

Adventures in Logophilia, Day 156:

corybantic

This is an adjective meaning "wild and frenzied". This term is from the mid-17th century - corybantic being derived from Corybantes, which is the Latinized name of the Phrygian goddess of nature who was known for her wild dances.  Phrygia was an ancient region of Asia Minor, which saw the peak of its influence from the 6th the to 8th century B.C.  I am almost positive the first place I saw this word was in John Crowley's first book of the Aegypt cycle, The Solitudes. 

Paraselene

Adventures in Logophilia, Day 155:

paraselene

Broken down, the word means "beside the moon." This is a bright spot formed in the sky like a parahelion, a sun dog, only a paraselene is formed by moonlight.  This is also known as a mock moon or, yes, a moon dog.

Abyss & Two Adjectives

Adventures in Logophilia, Day 154

abyss

abysmal

abyssal

An abyss (n) is a very deep or bottomless hole, sometimes used in reference to outer space. (In every Star Wars movie, there always seems to be a great, bottomless shaft over which characters much swing and into which villains must fall.) From it come two adjectives, one emotional, the other more general.  Abysmal indicates an immeasurably deep, bottomless place or absolutely wretched.  Abyssal on the other hand refers to an unspecific depth, and, frankly, sounds nicer.  What is it about the m in abysmal that produces a wretched connotation?  I like to think of it (perhaps inaccurately) as abyss + mal = depth, bad.