discursion

English

WOTD – 7 February 2011

Alternative forms

• discorsioun [16th century]

Etymology

From Latin discursiō, from discurrō (“I run to and fro”); compare the English discurre, discurrent, discursation, and discurse.

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: dĭskûrʹzhən, IPA^(key): /dɪˈskɝʒən/
• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: dĭskûrʹshən, dĭskûrʹzhən, IPA^(key): /dɪˈskɜːʃən/, /dɪˈskɜːʒən/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

discursion (countable and uncountable, plural discursions)

1. (obsolete, rare) The action of hurriedly moving hither and thither.
2. (rare, figuratively) Digression.
3. (philosophy) Ratiocination; step-by-step philosophical reasoning, as opposed to intuition.

Translations

digression

• Catalan: digressió f
• French: digression (fr), détours (fr)
• Italian: digressione (it)
• Spanish: digresión (es), rodeo (es)

roving about

• French: errance (fr), vagabondage (fr)
• Italian: vagabondagio
• Spanish: vagabundeo (es)

philosophic reasoning

• Finnish: diskurssi (fi)
• French: discursion
• Spanish: discursión

References

• “discursion” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd Ed.; 1989]