Wednesday, August 17, 2011

paean



paean [ˈpiən] n.

1.) In reference to Greek Antiquity: a hymn or chant of thanksgiving for deliverance originally addressed to Apollo or Artemis; especially a song of triumph after victory addressed to Apollo, also a war-song in advancing to battle addressed to Ares; hence any solemn song or chant. The full phrase Io pæan occurs poetically as a noun in same sense.
2.) In modern use: a song of praise or thanksgiving; a shout or song of triumph, joy, or exultation (O.E.D. 2nd Ed.).

Etymology: adopted from Latin pæan, an adaptation of Greek παιάν a hymn or chant, properly one addressed to Apollo invoked under the name Pæan (Παιάν, Attic Παιών, Epic Παιήων), originally the Homeric name of the physician of the gods. The invocation being by the phrase Ἰὼ Παιάν, Io Pæan, the song or hymn came itself to be called the pæan.

"When, wide in soul, and bold of tongue,
Among the tents I paused and sung,
The distant battle flash'd and rung.
I sung the joyful Paean clear,
And, sitting, burnish'd without fear
The brand, the buckler, and the spear—
Waiting to strive a happy strife,
To war with falsehood to the knife,
And not to lose the good of life—" ("The Two Voices", Alfred Tennyson, 1842).

("Detail of Apollo Citharoedus, Musei Capitolini, Rome", Ricardo André Frantz, 2006)
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A potentially useful Scrabble word for you, Lemons Don't Make Lemonade.

17 comments:

Leeann @ Join the Gossip said...

Ah great advice. Perfect Scrabble words :)

GMSoccerPicks said...

Never thought about that before, but i could use this blog to get an edge in scrabble. Thanks for the tip!

Shutterbug said...

If only I could remember all the words I've learned from this blog, I would win Scrabble more often! :D

gman said...

so not related to the warcraft term peon, i take it?

well its a nice word, but has way too many voewels for me i think :P

Kyran said...

Definitely would be a good one for scrabble. All those damn vowels. I've had all vowels and and an X before. Bu'shit

Zombie said...

excuse me, I got to go to the bathroom. What will I be doing in there? just paean.

ivy's closet said...

Such a happy word. I need to say it over and over..maybe it'll work on me. I shall go listen to Barnacle Warship now.

D4 said...

Holycrap. I should play scrabble now and show off. WHY hadn't I thought of this before?!

nowaysj said...

Wait, is that like ball paean hammer?

Mai Yang said...

hahaha! Nice comment Zombie =))

^____^

themajessty said...

I love the picture.

I just wish it went...um, lower.

BTW. This word is perfect for scrabble.

mamtc said...

We should partner up. I give greek stories and you give greek root words.:)
I like this word.

shari said...

hahahahahaha! I was just actually thinking, I've used that word in Scrabble, but didn't even know what it meant! hahahaha! I do that a lot, by the way.

Michael Westside said...

Can honestly say that i've never heard about that word before

Unknown said...

I wish I played scrabble more. Also, I feel as if I know a different version of that word.

AllenTesch said...

I've never known exactly how to pronounce this.

Unknown said...

In the sense of a shout of joy I make paeans all the time. ALL THE TIME.

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