To ruminate is to think too much about something, even sacrificing sleep.
The Latin word elucubrāre came to Spanish as elucubrar . The term is used in reference to rambling , especially when what is indicated is presented as complex but lacks support.
Main meanings
Generally the concept refers to the action of assuming something without foundation . It can also be the process that leads to postulating a theory or hypothesis appealing to the imagination and not to reality.
Another meaning of ruminating is linked to carefully reflecting on something to reach a conclusion or to develop a project . Whoever ponders, in this sense, analyzes an issue with the intention of understanding it or making a decision about it .
The dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy, for its part, also mentions one more meaning , although it points out that it has fallen into disuse. It is about "working in an applied, intense and dedicated way on works of genius ." In the year 1855, in the Dictionary of Gallicisms by Don Rafael María Baralt we can find a reference to this term, its respective noun lucubration (related to the French term élucubration ), which is defined precisely as the action and effect of this last meaning, which is not used today.
Etymology of "elucidate"
Its origin is found in the aforementioned elucubrare , a Latin verb, which is constructed by adding a prefix to lucubrare . In our language we also have a version without the prefix, and in the RAE dictionary they refer us directly to elucubrar . Returning for a moment to Don Rafael María Baralt's dictionary , the term he referred to was precisely lucubrar .
In Latin, the verb lucubrare comes from the noun lucubrum , which can be defined as a small light lamp that was used at night and is formed by the combination of the root of the word lux (light) and the suffix -brum, which denotes the idea of "instrument." The first known meaning of the Latin verb was to work at night using the light of a lamp; from there it adapted to the meaning of sacrificing sleep to complete a job.
Finally we come to one of the meanings that we mentioned above, which is to speculate a lot about a matter due to fatigue, effort and lack of sleep, with the consequence of excessive reflection without sufficient foundation. This etymological path has an evolution that is easy to appreciate if we look closely; For example, the element of light can be appreciated, directly or indirectly, if only today through the concept of " waking " that has been associated with it since its origins. Other words related to lux are light, illuminate, shine, hallucination and lucid .
The element of "light" is present in the etymology of the term
Some examples
Let's see its uses in the following sentences: "As soon as I returned from my trip through Asia, I began to think about my next trip," "After the soccer player's surprising statements, journalists began to think about his professional future," "Thieves always get away with it ." "they manage to devise new ways to commit crimes."
Take the case of the coronavirus pandemic that shocked the world in 2020 . As infections multiplied, most governments followed doctors' advice and decreed quarantines that prevented citizens from moving freely and carrying out different activities. As the months went by, given the lack of a vaccine to prevent infections and an effective treatment for healing, but at the same time taking into account the economic debacle due to confinement and the psychological effects of isolation, the rulers began to contemplate possible solutions and the construction of a new normality without being certain about what would happen with the virus and the health problems .