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 2011, whose project, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, aims to come up with new words for emotions that currently lack words.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /æmˈbi.doʊ/
• Hyphenation: am‧be‧do

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.

Further reading

• 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		infinitive						participle
		active			passive			active			passive
present		ambedere			ambedī			ambedēns			—
future		ambēsūrum esse			ambēsum īrī			ambēsūrus			ambedendus, ambedundus
perfect		ambēdisse			ambēsum esse			—			ambēsus
future perfect		—			ambēsum fore			—			—
perfect potential		ambēsūrum fuisse			—			—			—
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.