Wiktionary:Word of the day/December 18

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primum mobile n

(astronomy, historical) The outermost celestial sphere of the heavens in Ptolemaic astronomy, which was believed to cause all the inner spheres to rotate. (chiefly philosophy, theology) The prime mover or first cause (“an initial cause from which all other causes and effects follow”). (by extension) The person or thing that is the main impetus for some action; a driving force. Today is UN Arabic Language Day, one of six such days established by UNESCO to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity and to promote the equal use of its working languages. The term primum mobile is a calque of Arabic مُحَرِّك أَوَّل (muḥarrik ʔawwal, literally “first mover”).

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