Alacakaranlık (ah-lah-jah-kah-rahn-luk)
Language: Turkish
Meaning: Twilight
At the request of my office-mate, today’s word of the day is Twilight (her initial request was “fuzzy,” but I vetoed that one). The most beautiful word in most languages (aside from Bat, in my opinion), it makes everything feel a bit melancholy and romantic, she says. That’s the time of day that makes everything look beautiful whereas at the height of the day everything is a little too bright; at twilight, you can see depth. From a photography perspective, I’d have to agree; the rosy light and long shadows make for very lovely shots, especially I imagine in bleak landscapes like the Central Asian steppe. In Turkish the literal translation is “mottled darkness” (alaca = mottled, kara = dark/black and karanlık = darkness). It’s probably a bit poetic for our level of communication, but let’s give it a try!