afflatus

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 1, 2019 is: afflatus \uh-FLAY-tus\ noun

: a divine imparting of knowledge or power : [inspiration](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inspiration)

Examples:

"Allmusic lists quite a few tunes called 'Crystal City,' like this smooth-jazz number by André Ward and this prog-rock song by Steve Hillage, but it wasn't immediately clear whether the Arlington neighborhood served as afflatus for any of them." — Andrew Beaujon, Washingtonian, 13 Nov. 2018

"If one were to throw away the 300 [cantatas](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cantatas), the 100-odd chorale [preludes](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/preludes), the three [oratorios](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/oratorios), the [passions](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/passions), and the [Mass](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mass) (which would be the equivalent of destroying half of Shakespeare), still the other half would sustain [Bach](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bach#dictionary-entry-3) as a creature whose afflatus is inexplicable in the absence of a belief in God." — William F. Buckley Jr., The Universal Press Syndicate, 23 Mar. 1985

Did you know?

Inspiration might be described as a breath of fresh air, and so it is appropriate that [inspire](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inspire) derives in part from a word meaning "to breathe"—Latin spirare. Afflatus is a lesser-known word for inspiration that followed a parallel route. Afflatus, which in Latin means "the act of blowing or breathing on," was formed from the prefix ad- ("to, toward") and the Latin verb flare ("to blow"). That Latin verb gave us such words as [inflate](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inflate) and (via French) [soufflé](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/souffle). The Roman orator [Cicero](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Cicero) used afflatus in his writings to compare the appearance of a new idea to a breath of fresh air. Nowadays, one often finds the word preceded by the adjective [divine](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/divine), but poets and artists can find afflatus in the material world as well.