Undulant

Undulant (pronounced uhn-juh-luhnt, uhn-dyuh-luhnt or uhn-duh-luhnt)

Something with the quality of undulating; wavelike in motion or pattern:

1820–1830: The construct was undul(ate) + -ant.  Undulate was from the Late Latin undulātus (undulated), from the unattested undula (small wave), from the Latin undulantem (nominative undulans), a diminutive of unda (wave), from the Proto-Italic unda- which some etymologists link to the Umbrian utur (water), implying the source (at least as an influence) may have been the primitive Indo-European wódr̥, from wed- (water) +‎ -r̥ (the so-called r/n-stem suffix (a class of neuters)).  The resemblance to the Proto-Germanic unþī (wave) is said to be mere coincidence, at most a semantic confluence.  The suffix –ant was from the Middle English –ant & -aunt, partly from the Old French -ant, from Latin -āns; and partly (in adjectival derivations) a continuation of the use of the Middle English -ant, a variant of -and, -end, from the Old English -ende (the present participle ending).  Extensively used in the sciences (especially medicine and pathology), the agent noun was derived from verb.  It was used to create adjectives (1) corresponding to a noun in -ance, having the sense of "exhibiting (the condition or process described by the noun)" and (2) derived from a verb, having the senses of: (2a) "doing (the verbal action)", and/or (2b) "prone/tending to do (the verbal action)".  In English, many of the words to which –ant was appended were not coined in English but borrowed from the Old, Middle or Modern French.

Words which (depending on context) can impart a similar meaning include hilly, rolling, coiled, curly, curved, sinuous, convolute, lurching, resounding, reverberating, waving, involuted, voluble, bumpy, flexuous, plangent & sinuate.  Although undulant has been used as a noun (referring to components in installation art), the use is non-standard.  Undulant is an adjective (and in Latin a verb), undulate is a verb & adjective, undulating is a verb & adjective, undulance is a noun, undulation is a noun and undulatory is an adjective.  In the curious way English evolved, undulant, undulatory & undulance remain rare while undulate, undulating & undulation are commonly used and one variation from the annals of physics was undulationist (plural undulationists), used to describe those who believed light was a wave.  In contemporary veterinary science, undulant fever is an alternative name for brucellosis (the archaic names being Malta fever & Mediterranean fever), a highly contagious zoonosis caused by ingestion of unpasteurized milk or undercooked meat from infected animals, or close contact with their secretions     

Of sculpture

The nature of marble made it idea for sculpture, the stone amenable to the rendering of curves and severe edges.  Of particular note are the works of Renaissance artists who paid attention to human anatomy to ensure their works had a life-like as well as a representational quality.

Ratto di Proserpina (The Rape of Proserpina, 1621-1622) by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680).

Bernini achieved renown both as a sculptor and architect and details of his Ratto di Proserpina appear in many of the textbooks and histories of art of the period.  The statute depicts the god Pluto abducting Proserpina, the three-headed beast of a guard-dog Cerberus at his feet symbolizing the gateway to the underworld.  Under the influence of Medieval Latin, the word "rape" is now less nuanced.  Under Roman civil law, in what is now known as a state of co-habitation without benefit of marriage (a de-facto arrangement), the parties were the concubina (female) and the concubinus (masculine).  Usually, the concubine was of a lower social order but the institution, though ranking below matrimonium (marriage) was a cut above adulterium (adultery) and certainly more respectable than stuprum (illicit sexual intercourse, literally "disgrace" from stupere (to be stunned, stupefied)) and not criminally sanctioned like rapere (“to sexually violate” from raptus, past participle of rapere, which when used as a noun meant "a seizure, plundering, abduction" but in Medieval Latin meant also "forcible violation").  It’s in the sense of “abduction” that the “rape” of Proserpina should be understood.  What has always attracted the admiration of critics are details like the undulant impressions Pluto’s fingers make on the flesh of his victim’s thigh.

The human forearm.

In the human forearm there are twenty muscle groups, divided into posterior and anterior compartments and whenever a finger is moved, depending on the direction or the weight to be supported, some or all of these groups are required to enable the movement.  In this image, purple represents the extensor digiti minimi (part of the posterior compartment) and it’s an accessory extension to support the little finger's movement.

Mosè (Moses, circa 1515) by Michelangelo’s (1475–1564).

In Michelangelo’s Mosè, the detailing explores tiny, often barely perceptible features of human anatomy and Naren Katakam wrote an interesting study of this aspect of the artist’s work.  Most illustrative is the undulance on the forearm, Michelangelo sculpting the very small, usually invisible extensor digiti minimi which contracts only when the little (pinky) finger is raised.

Lindsay Lohan with undulant hair.