Fun & Fancy Words:
Accubation!
This Week’s Fun & Fancy Word Is:
Picture yourself stretched out on the couch, ready to binge the next season of your favorite series on Netflix, Hulu, or Apple TV. You’re prepared for the duration, stocked with pizza, soft drinks, and snacks of every variety. You’re participating in the act of accubation, eating or drinking while they’re lying down – rather like guests at a Roman feast back in the day.
Etymology:
Origin Of The Word Accubation
The etymology is quite simple: accubation is derived from accubare, Latin for “to recline.”[1] The first known use of accubation appears in Thomas Browne’s Pseudodoxia Epidemica, or Vulgar Errors, published in 1646. A work refuting and challenging the superstitions and “vulgar” errors of his era.
It will appear that accubation, or lying down at meals was a gesture used bv very many Nations.[2]
But Browne may have a point about including accubation in his book of “vulgar errors.” In Thailand there’s a belief that if you eat while lying down, you’ll be reincarnated as a snake.[3] In Rwanda, it’s said that if a couple eats in bed, their children will be selfish. [4] And in Japan, there’s a belief that if you fall asleep right after eating, you’ll turn into a cow.[5] So if you’re participating in the act of accubation, be sure not to nod off.
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Endnotes:
[1] Definitions.net
[2] Sir Thomas Browne. Pseudodoxia epidemica, or, Enquiries into very many received tenents, and commonly presumed truths.London: Edward Dod, 1658. Pg 293
[3] The Smart Local – Thailand.
[4] A Year+ in Kigali, Rwanda.
[5] “The Truth Behind Superstitions #16 If You Sleep Right After Eating, You’ll Turn Into a Cow.” Note.com
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