"Pandiculation" is a big word for today

This week’s word from Collins Dictionary is pandiculation (pænˌdɪkjəˈleiʃən), which means "a condition of great joy or bliss; euphoric state."  But then they go on to say that pandiculation is "the act of stretching oneself."  So which is it?  Both?  I guess it's "great joy" to "stretch" when I've been in one position for too long.  Anyway, I like that the illustration shows a stretching cat.  And since "joy" is my favorite word, I love this definition.

Anyway, here's the rest of the definition I got in my email:

The term (which derived from Latin) appeared in English medical writing in the seventeenth century and comes from the Latin pandiculari, meaning to stretch oneself, which is connected to the broader root pandere, to spread out or extend.

The word refers specifically to the simultaneous stretching and yawning that occurs most commonly upon waking.  This precision is worth noting.  Stretching and yawning can occur independently, and pandiculation names their combination rather than either action alone.  Early medical writers grouped the behaviour with other involuntary movements and associated it with fatigue, fever, and the transitions between sleep and wakefulness.

The Latin root pandere may have a more distant origin.  It has been connected to a Proto-Indo-European root relating to outward spreading, the same root thought to underlie the English word fathom, which originally described the span of two outstretched arms.  However, this connection remains a proposed etymology and it is not fully confirmed.