Penumbra

[Dr. Goodword]

• penumbra •

Pronunciation: pe-nêm-brê • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. The edge of a shadow which is shady but brighter than the center of the shadow, especially the shadow (umbra) of an eclipse. 2. A gray area that is not totally dark. 3. The outer region of anything that is not as pronounced as the center, a gray area.

Notes: Today's Good Word is very liberal in its choice of forms. It sports two adjectives, penumbral and penumbrous; take your pick. You may also take your pick of the plurals: penumbrae or penumbras. It is a very relaxed word, as you would expect of a word that is always in the shade.

In Play: Between eclipses, this word is used mostly to refer to light shadows: "In the lacy penumbra of the dogwood tree, Maud Lynn Dresser's new pink jacket appeared almost red." It may also be used to describe wholly metaphorical shadows: "Jess Newcomb's wife always felt herself in Jess's penumbra when they were on the campaign trail." This is slightly better than falling under his shadow.

Word History: Today's Good word is New Latin penumbra unadulterated. It is based on Old Latin paene "almost" + umbra "shadow". That umbra is the same one you see in umbrella, a device originally designed to protect the lovely white skin of European ladies from the rays of the sun. We also find it in umbrage, which now means "offense" as much as it does "shade", as does its lovely adjective umbrageous "shady; offensive". Paene can also be found in penultimate "next to (almost) the last" as in 'the penultimate syllable of a word', and penultimatum, the almost ultimatum in which you threaten an ultimatum.

[George Kovac]

The word “penumbra” plays an important and controversial role in US constitutional theory.

The right to privacy, for example, is nowhere stated explicitly in the Constitution, but the Supreme Court has found the right to privacy exists based on the “penumbra” cast by the First and several other Amendments. For example, in the 1965 case of Griswold v Connecticut, involving the right of married couples to use contraception despite a Connecticut statute banning birth control, the Supreme Court found that the Constitution protects the right to marital privacy. “The First Amendment has a penumbra where privacy is protected from governmental intrusion,” the Court said. “While it [the right to privacy] is not expressly included in the First Amendment, its existence is necessary in making the express guarantees fully meaningful.” (Side note: Five years after Griswold was decided, I met several of the married couples who were plaintiffs in the case. Lovely, modest, milquetoast, terribly embarrassed middle class White couples who had agreed to be the adorable plaintiffs in a “test case” arranged by lawyers eager to “make” constitutional law.)

Conservative critics are skeptical of the notion of a right to privacy and dismiss the Supreme Court’s reasoning, saying it has not established the right to privacy beyond a shadow of a doubt. These critics (who think that state legislatures should be allowed to regulate personal sexual behavior) throw shade on the penumbra line of reasoning.

“Penumbra”. Not a precious word. Think about it, and its importance in allowing you privacy in the most intimate aspects of your personal life. A very good word indeed.

[Dr. Goodword]

Remember, the test for guilt in a criminal judicial decision is not "beyond the shadow of a doubt" but "beyond reasonable doubt". The constitution was signed in 1779, before federal currency, before the army, air force, navy, marines, corporations, AK-15s, even repeating rifles or handguns, social media, the Internet, and so on and on and on. Metaphorical interpretations make perfect sense in the world we live in now. We cannot (it is IMPOSSIBLE) to return to the original constitution. The originalist judges are trying to fit tractor tire into a pie pan. Few things in the modern world can be referenced by the original constitution.