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Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2001 02:00:00 -0800 (PST)
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Spruce up the season with Merriam-Webster's Collegiate
Encyclopedia, the ultimate desk reference.
http://www.m-w.com/book/peoplace/collency.htm
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The Word of the Day for December 21 is:

solstice   \SAHL-stiss or SOHL-stiss\   (noun)
     : the time of year when the sun is farthest north of the
equator or farthest south of the equator

Example sentence:
     Ancient astronomers from many lands used the summer and
winter solstices to mark the turning of the seasons in their
calendars.

Did you know?
     "Solstice" owes much to a merry old "sol" -- the Latin noun
"sol," meaning "sun." The ancients added "sol" to "-stitium"
(from "status," the past participle of the verb "sistere,"
meaning "to come to a standstill"). That's because for several
days around the time of the solstices, the sun's appearance on
the horizon at sunrise and sunset seems to occur at the same
spot, before it starts drifting to the north or south again.
Speakers of Old French adapted "solstitium" to form "solstice,"
and Middle English speakers borrowed the term during the 13th
century. In the northern hemisphere, the summer solstice occurs
on June 21 or 22 and the winter solstice on December 21 or 22.
In the Southern Hemisphere, where the seasons are reversed, the
solstices are exactly the opposite.

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