proemptosis

Why this word is great

PROEMPTOSIS — [Noun] The deliberate insertion of a leap day into the lunar calendar to reconcile it with the solar year. From New Latin proemptōsis, from Ancient Greek προ- (pro-, "before") + ἔμπτωσις (émptōsis, "falling"), it is the temporal correction that keeps the moon from slipping too far ahead of the sun. Unlike "metemptosis" (which subtracts a day to prevent drift) or "intercalation" (a broad term for any calendrical insertion), proemptosis is the precise act of bending time backward—a single day grafted into the year like a stitch in fabric, the silent adjustment of a farmer planting by an almanac’s amended phases, or the way an old clockmaker might add a hidden gear to keep the hands from running fast. It is the acknowledgment that even the heavens need mending.