elan: M-W's Word of the Day

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The Word of the Day for November 21 is:

elan \ay-LAHNG (the "NG" is not pronounced, but the vowel is nasalized)\ noun
: vigorous spirit or enthusiasm

Example sentence:
With all the requisite elan, our guest blessed the food, toasted the cook, carved the roast turkey, served it around, and ate multiple helpings of everything.

Did you know?
Once upon a time, English speakers did not have "elan" (the word, that is; that's not to say we haven't always had potential for vigourous spirit). We had, however, "elance," a verb meaning "to hurl" that was used specifically for throwing lances and darts. "Elance" derived down the line from Middle French "(s')eslancer," meaning "to rush" or "dash" (that is, "to hurl oneself forth"). With the decline of lance-throwing, we tossed out "elance" a century and half ago. Just about that time we found "elan," a noun that traces to "(s')eslancer." We copied "elan" in form from the French, but we dispensed with the French sense of a literal "rush" or "dash," retaining the sense of enthusiastic animation that we sometimes characterize as "dash."

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