白日依山盡
黃河入海流
欲窮千里目
更上一層樓
—王之渙
(heard on The City by Vangelis)
nell'ora che la sposa di Dio surge
a mattinar lo sposo perchè l'ami,
che l'una parte l'altra tira e urge,
tin tin sonando con sì dolce nota,
che ‘l ben disposto spirto d'amor turge;
così vid’ io la glorïosa rota
muoversi e render voce a voce in tempra
ed in dolcezza ch'esser non pò nota
se non colà dove gioir s’ insempra.
—from Paradiso, Dante Alighieri
(via George MacDonald)
which sounds enticingly inscrutable and esoteric, simply refers to the practice of gambling.
zero; 零
one; 壹
two; 貳
three; 叄
four; 肆
five; 伍
six; 陸
seven; 柒
eight; 捌
nine; 玖
ten; 拾
Alerion.
Martlet: old name for swallow.
Hirondelle: French for swallow (Arundel).
Little bird.
Catalan Ocell;
Italian Uccello;
Occitan Aucèl;
Old French Oisel / Oiselet; pron. oa-ze-lei
"moving billow of water," 1526, from wave (v.), replacing M.E. waw, which is from O.E. wagian "to move to and fro" (cf. Old Saxon, Old High German wag, Old Frisian weg, Old Norse vagr "water in motion, wave, billow," Gothic wegs "tempest" see wag (v.)). The usual O.E. word for "moving billow of water" was yð. As for "billow", it is attested from 1552, from O.N. bylgja "a wave," from Proto-Germanic bulgjan, from Proto-Indo-European bhelgh- "to swell", or "to belly".
Etymology aside, I believe that what attracts me in waves is that they are the essence of everything a painting is not. They are never still. They are a continuous challenge composed of exquisitely fleeting instants. Every second is a provocation of sorts, a chaos theory conjugation of elements -- light, water, wind, current, shore -- that can never be properly captured.
—John Howe