Wow, I needed a dictionary to understand this line, and I still didn't get it until I read the history of the word. Mr. Day must have gone to college.
James C. Day, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "Obviously we're pleased with the quarter's results and
are sanguine about the longer term markets as our EVA-4000(TM) refurbishment efforts continue on time and on budget."
sanúguine (s…ng1gwŒn) adjective
1. a. Color. Of the color of blood; red. b. Of a healthy, reddish color; ruddy: a sanguine complexion.
2. Archaic. a. Having blood as the dominant humor in terms of medieval physiology. b. Having the temperament and ruddy complexion formerly thought to be characteristic of a person dominated by this humor; passionate.
3. Cheerfully confident; optimistic.
[Middle English, from Old French sanguin, from Latin sanguineus, from sangus, sanguin-, blood.]
- san1guineúly adverb
- san1guineúness or sanúguin1iúty noun
Word History: Perhaps one has wondered what the connection between sanguinary, "bloodthirsty," and sanguine, "cheerfully optimistic," could be. The connection can be found in medieval physiology with its notion of the four humors (blood, bile, phlegm, and black bile). These four body fluids were thought to determine a person's temperament, or distinguishing mental and physical characteristics. Thus, if blood was the predominant humor, one had a ruddy face and a disposition marked by courage, hope, and a readiness to fall in love. Such a temperament was called sanguine, the Middle English ancestor of our word sanguine. The sources of the Middle English word were Old French sanguin and Latin sanguineus, the source of the French word. Both the Old French and Latin words meant "bloody," "blood-colored," Old French sanguin having the sense "sanguine in temperament" as well. Latin sanguineus in turn was derived from sangus, "blood," just as English sanguinary is. The English adjective sanguine, first recorded in Middle English before 1350, went on to refer simply to the cheerfulness and optimism that accompanied a sanguine temperament, no longer having any direct reference to medieval physiology. |
