discursion

WOTD – 7 February 2011    

English

Alternative forms

• discorsioun [16th century]

Etymology

From discursiōn-, the stem of the Latin discursiō, from discurrō (“I run to and fro”); compare the English discurre, discurrent, discursation, and discurse.

Pronunciation

• (RP) enPR: dĭskûrʹshən, IPA: /dɪˈskɜː(ɹ)ʃən/, /dɪˈskɜː(ɹ)ʒən/, X-SAMPA: /dI"sk3:S@n/

Noun

discursion (plural discursions)

1. (obsolete, rare) The action of hurriedly moving hither and thither.
2. (rare, figuratively) Digression.
3. (rare) Ratiocination.
4. (philosophy) step by step philosophic reasoning, as opposed to intuition (cf Iamblichus)

Translations

digression

• Catalan: digressió (ca) f
• French: digression (fr), détours (fr)

• Italian: digressione (it)
• Spanish: digresión (es), rodeo (es)

roving about

• French: errance (fr), vagabondage (fr)
• Italian: vagabondagio (it)

• Spanish: vagabundeo (es)

philosophic reasoning

• Finnish: diskurssi (fi)
• French: discursion (fr)

• Spanish: discursión (es)

References

• “discursion” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd Ed.; 1989]