centesimussextus

tueor, tueri, tuitus/tutus

Definition: to see, watch, look, observe; to guard, protect, keep; maintain

Sententia: Miles tuetur vultum et ianuam, quia aut si videtur molestus aut si quis init a duce punietur.

The soldier guards the door and his expression, because either if he seems troublesome or if anyone enters he will be punished by the leader.

This word is a relatively common one--according to Perseus, it is used 3.01 times per 10,000 words, which compared to most words is a whole lot. In Catullus, not surprisingly, it is found in poem 64, and in Ovid's Amores it is found in poem 1.11. Ovid's Metamorphoses has this word in Books 1 (Daphne and Apollo) and 8 (Baucis and Philemon). Vergil in his Aeneid uses it in Books 2, 4, 6, and 12.

Additionally, you may have noticed that my sentence for today contained a zeugma. Zeugma, if you did not know, is a literary device by which one word is used with two other words (often adverbs or direct objects) in two different ways. My sentence was not a prime example--one oft-given example is "Elmo was cloaked in mystery and a towel." Another is "the ninja hides his shadow and his emotions." This literary device is rather fun to read and to use. So, I have decided to hold a contest for all of you to be able to try your luck at writing zeugmas. Those zeugmas can be either in Latin or English (though special consideration will be granted to those written in Latin), and you may submit as many as you like throughout the next week. The deadline for submissions will be next Saturday evening, and the winner (and honorable mentions if the submissions warrant them) will have their zeugma featured as the sententia for next week's weekly word of the day on Sunday. Good luck!