Re: luminous vs. light as adjectives

[Robert Bononno <bononno -at- ACF2 -dot- NYU -dot- EDU>]

Paul, thanks for the reply.


> The _Larousse_ French-French dictionary gives three definitions for Lumineux:
> 1) That Which emits light
> 2) That which has to do with light
> 3) Of a great clarity


> When translating you can use the following guidlines to chose the English
> translation:

> 1) That which emits light is luminous--luminous flux.
> 2) That which doesn't emit light but has to do with light requires "light."
> --light wave


> _Physics_

> In the term "light wave," light is an adjective because it qualifies what
> kind of wave you're talking about. There ae gravity waves (maybe),
> electro-magnetic waves, etc. Physicists use "light" to specify
> electro-magnetic radiation between certain wavelengths.
> Paul D. Marvel


I'm not sure it's actually a modifier. You can't find this usage of
"light" in Webster's, for example. A "light wave" is a wave of light. I
do understand the basic physics involved and know that light is only a
small part of the em spectrum (located between UV and IR). I'm not sure,
however, that physicists only use the word "light" to refer to visible
light. (We use "dark light" to refer to parts of the UV spectrum.)

As for the language part. A _photon lumineux_ is a photon (or quantum of
energy) from the visible portion of the spectrum. It's definitely not
"luminous" but could be referred to as a "light photon" if light is
understood as above.

As per your description, then this photon would have some relationship to
visible light. I assume then that something that IS light doesn't emit
light. Or does it? Maybe that's a good way to distinguish between them.

Robert Bononno

        bononno -at- acf2 -dot- nyu -dot- edu