Saturday, June 11, 2011

Word of the day: sine qua non

The word of the day is sine qua non:

Latin, sine without + quā, ablative singular feminine of quī which (agreeing with causa) + nōn not.
1. With adjectival force: Indispensable, absolutely necessary or essential.
a. Following upon a noun (orig. cause).
b. Used attributively. 
2.a. Somebody or something indispensable. (OED)



“A natural affinity linked abolitionism and antivaccinationism.  Both upheld bodily self-possession as the sine qua non of human freedom; both distrusted institutions; and each evoked public scorn in its time as the dangerous cause of a lunatic fringe.”

 - Michael Willrich, Pox: An American History, as quoted by Michael Specter in "Resistant: Why a century-old battle over vaccination continues to rage", 30 May 2011 The New Yorker

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