lumination

English

WOTD – 24 August 2017

Etymology

A man and a dog surrounded by lumination in the form of lamps

From luminate +‎ -ion, or a Latin *lūminātiō, *lūminātiōnem (“illumination”), from lūminār, lūmināre (from lūminō (“to brighten, to illuminate; to reveal (throw light on)”), from lūmen (“light”) (probably from lūx (“light”) + -men (“suffix forming neuter nouns of the third declension”)), from Proto-Indo-European *lewk-s-men (“light”) (from Proto-Italic *louks, from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“bright; light; white”) + *-mn̥ (“suffix indicating a noun”))) + Latin -tiō, -tiōnem (“-tion, suffix forming a noun relating to some action or the result of an action”) (from Proto-Italic *-tiō, from Proto-Indo-European *-tis (“suffix forming nouns from verbs”)), equivalent to luminate +‎ -ion.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /l(j)uːmɪˈneɪʃən/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /luməˈneɪʃən/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: lu‧mi‧na‧tion

Noun

lumination (countable and uncountable, plural luminations)

1. (rare) Illumination; specifically, artificial illumination.
   • 1815, Edward Polehampton, “Aurora Borealis and Australis”, in The Gallery of Nature and Art; or, A Tour through Creation and Science. [...] Illustrated with One Hundred Plates, from New Designs, Descriptive of the Wonders of Nature and Art. [...] In Six Volumes, volume IV, London: Printed by R. Wilks, 89, Chancery-Lane; sold by Cradock and Joy, Paternoster-Row; Rodwell, New Bond-Street; Underwood, Fleet-Street; and all other booksellers, →OCLC, section II (Account of Surprising Lights in the Air, March 6, 1716; with an Attempt to Explain Their Principal Phœnomena. By Edmund [i.e., Edmond] Halley, J.V.D. Savilian Professor of Geometry, Oxon, and Secretary to the Royal Society.), page 412:

     Nor are we to think it strange, if after so great a quantity of luminous vapour had been carried up into the ether, out of the pores of the earty, the cause of its effervescence at length abating, or perhaps the matter consumed, these effluvia should at length subside, and form those two bright luminations which we have described; and, whose edges being turned to us, were capable to emit so much light that we might rea by them. I choose to call them luminations, because, though they were but thin, doubtless they spread horizontally over a large tract of the earth's surface.

   • 1856 July, E[ilhard] Mitscherlich, “[Contributions to Toxicology. [Translated from Archiv. d. Pharm. and Buchners N. Repertorium.] by John M. Maisch.] Method to Discover Phosphorus”, in William Procter Jr., editor, The American Journal of Pharmacy, volume XXVIII (Third Series, volume IV), Philadelphia, Pa.: Merrihew & Thompson, printers, Lodge Street, north side Pennsylvania Bank, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 323–324:

     The most delicate test for phosphorus is the distillation of the suspected substance, especially flour paste, with a little sulphuric acid and water. […] Where the aqueous vapors from the flask reach the cooling tube, a lumination is constantly observed in the dark, usually a luminous ring. […] If ether, alcohol or turpentine are present, they will prevent the lumination, which commences as soon as they have passed over.

   • 2001, Robert R. Hotchkiss, “In the Palace Dungeon”, in Earth of Fire, Sky of Ice: An Epic Fantasy Adventure (The Shaldrodan Saga; book 1), Lincoln, Neb.: Writers Club Press, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 159:

     Who knows how many forgotten souls had rotted away and eventually died within the walls of this dungeon? Would he be one of them? The only light was the scant lumination that flickered upon the floor cast by a torch far down the hall.

   • 2008, Richard Grossinger, “Third Cycle”, in The Bardo of Waking Life, Berkeley, Calif.: North Atlantic Books, →ISBN, page 264:

     We are confronted with saving our entire Pleistocene legacy, with redeeming creation, beyond big bangs and white dwarfs and any and all apocalypses. We are being offered the only way to understand what a universe is. The real universe, the one that beats in our hearts, that casts its luminations across our dreams …

   • 2008, Jimmy Schaeffler, “What’s Driving Digital Signage?”, in Digital Signage: Software, Networks, Advertising, and Displays: A Primer for Understanding the Business (NAB Executive Technology Briefings), Burlington, Mass., Oxford: Focal Press, →ISBN, page 80:

     It is not atypical for a newly installed LED [light-emitting diode] board to be capable of luminating for 100,000 hours, continuously, in a 24/7 production facility. In the future, these lumination times are expected to increase incrementally.

Synonyms

• brightening
• lighting
• illumination

Antonyms

• darkening
• shadowing

Derived terms

• translumination

Related terms

• illuminate
• illuminatingly
• illumine
• luminate (obsolete)
• lumine (obsolete)

Translations

illumination — see illumination

Anagrams

• Toulminian