ambedo

English

Etymology

From albedo, a physics term that describes the proportion of light reflected by a substance (from the Latin term for whiteness). Ambedo refers to the tendency both to reflect and to absorb. Coined by American author and neologist John Koenig in 2012, whose project, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, aims to come up with new words for emotions that currently lack words.

Noun

ambedo (uncountable)

1. A kind of melancholic trance in which a person becomes completely absorbed in vivid sensory details.
   • 2014 December 22, Tommy McMahon, Hero of the Day, Author House, →ISBN, page 71:

     Later that day, E.K. was sitting on the concrete porch that was the face of his house, basking in ambedo—he became vividly entranced by the seemingly meaningless things around him.

   • 2021, Nishita Patil, MEET YOURSELF, SpotWrite Publications, page 12:

     The intense, nutty aroma of freshly brewed coffee was still lingering in the air of my modest den. With my back against my hulking bookshelf, I, now in ambedo, watched the rain drip-drop on the window pane. But the pattering of the rain against the glass door of the balcony was so intense and unsettling that for a brief moment, I experienced chrysalism.

   • 2021 February 1, Priyanka Pareek, AMAIRA, Blue Rose Publishers, →ISBN, page 106:

     Ambedo, a melancholic trance.
     Fight of the Elements.
     It was quiet like never before. Kailash was moving towards the north. Oce was quiet, silently helping the movement. All the mountain children back in their ambedo.

   • 2022 January 22, Wayne Kyle Spitzer, Riders on the Storm, Hobb's End Books, page 743:

     Ambedo. That's what he was feeling as he ran after Selena through the tall grass (having awakened with a knot on his head to find her fleeing) and tried not to think about the danger. Ambedo: that trance-like state in which one became became so absorbed by their surroundings—the wind massaging the green hills so that they undulated like sea anemones or the red-gold chiaroscuro sky lending palette and poetry to everything or the sun glaring over the horizon like a burning but indifferent god—that they forgot what they were doing or even why they were there.

References

• Koenig, John (2021) “ambedo”, in The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, pages 77–79

Latin

Etymology

From ambi- +‎ edō.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈam.be.doː/, [ˈämbɛd̪oː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈam.be.do/, [ˈämbed̪o]

Verb

ambedō (present infinitive ambedere, perfect active ambēdī, supine ambēsum); third conjugation

1. to eat or gnaw around; erode
2. (transferred) to waste; consume

Conjugation

Conjugation of ambedō (third conjugation)
indicative		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
active	present	ambedō	ambedis	ambedit	ambedimus	ambeditis	ambedunt
	imperfect	ambedēbam	ambedēbās	ambedēbat	ambedēbāmus	ambedēbātis	ambedēbant
	future	ambedam	ambedēs	ambedet	ambedēmus	ambedētis	ambedent
	perfect	ambēdī	ambēdistī	ambēdit	ambēdimus	ambēdistis	ambēdērunt, ambēdēre
	pluperfect	ambēderam	ambēderās	ambēderat	ambēderāmus	ambēderātis	ambēderant
	future perfect	ambēderō	ambēderis	ambēderit	ambēderimus	ambēderitis	ambēderint
passive	present	ambedor	ambederis, ambedere	ambeditur	ambedimur	ambediminī	ambeduntur
	imperfect	ambedēbar	ambedēbāris, ambedēbāre	ambedēbātur	ambedēbāmur	ambedēbāminī	ambedēbantur
	future	ambedar	ambedēris, ambedēre	ambedētur	ambedēmur	ambedēminī	ambedentur
	perfect	ambēsus + present active indicative of sum
	pluperfect	ambēsus + imperfect active indicative of sum
	future perfect	ambēsus + future active indicative of sum
subjunctive		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
active	present	ambedam	ambedās	ambedat	ambedāmus	ambedātis	ambedant
	imperfect	ambederem	ambederēs	ambederet	ambederēmus	ambederētis	ambederent
	perfect	ambēderim	ambēderīs	ambēderit	ambēderīmus	ambēderītis	ambēderint
	pluperfect	ambēdissem	ambēdissēs	ambēdisset	ambēdissēmus	ambēdissētis	ambēdissent
passive	present	ambedar	ambedāris, ambedāre	ambedātur	ambedāmur	ambedāminī	ambedantur
	imperfect	ambederer	ambederēris, ambederēre	ambederētur	ambederēmur	ambederēminī	ambederentur
	perfect	ambēsus + present active subjunctive of sum
	pluperfect	ambēsus + imperfect active subjunctive of sum
imperative		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
active	present	—	ambede	—	—	ambedite	—
	future	—	ambeditō	ambeditō	—	ambeditōte	ambeduntō
passive	present	—	ambedere	—	—	ambediminī	—
	future	—	ambeditor	ambeditor	—	—	ambeduntor
non-finite forms		active			passive
		present	perfect	future	present	perfect	future
infinitives		ambedere	ambēdisse	ambēsūrum esse	ambedī	ambēsum esse	ambēsum īrī
participles		ambedēns	—	ambēsūrus	—	ambēsus	ambedendus, ambedundus
verbal nouns		gerund				supine
		genitive	dative	accusative	ablative	accusative	ablative
		ambedendī	ambedendō	ambedendum	ambedendō	ambēsum	ambēsū

Derived terms

• ambestrīx
• ambēsus

 

References

• “ambedo”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ambedo”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ambedo in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.