agon [ˈægoʊn] n.
1.) Gr. Antiq. A public celebration of games, a contest for the prize at those games; also fig.
2.) A verbal contest or dispute between two characters in a Greek play. Also in transferred sense (O.E.D. 2nd Ed.).
Etymology: Greek ἀγών, originally ‘a gathering or assembly’ (from ἄγ-ειν, to lead, bring with one), especially for the public games; hence ‘the contest for the prize at the games,’ and by extension, ‘any contest or struggle.’ The plural is usually in the Greek form ἀγῶνες, agones.
"'Wrestling Jacob' is a powerful image, particularly in Protestantism, where the agon is essential seen as a loving struggle between Jacob and God. But the nameless being who cannot overcome Jacob cannot be Yahweh, at least not Yahweh in all his power and will, and there is absolutely nothing loving about this sublime night encounter, which exalts Jacob to Israel yet leaves him permanently crippled, and which is fought between a mortal and a supernatural being who fears the break of day, almost as a vampire or a ghould would" (The Book of J, Harold Bloom, 2004).
(Jacob en de engel, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, 1659)____________________________________________________
Hi, all. I'm in the middle of driving from Colorado to Princeton. Writing this from a hotel room somewhere. I hate semis! Thanks for reading!
paramour [ˈpærəˌmʊər] n.
1.) A person beloved by one of the opposite sex; a ‘love’, a lover, a sweetheart; also of animals.
2.) The lady-love of a knight, for whose love he did battle; hence, the object of chivalrous admiration and attachment.
3.) An illicit or clandestine lover or mistress taking the place, but without the rights, of a husband or wife. Now, the illicit partner of a married man or woman (Oxford English Dictionary 2nd Edition).
Etymology: Middle English adoption of Old French adverb phrase par amur, amour, -s, by or through love. From an early date the phrase was written as one word, and came to be treated (in English) as a noun, both in sense of ‘love’ and ‘beloved, lover’. This may have come partly through a mistaken analysis of the phrase 'to love paramour'.
"While I was your wife, Magnus, you led happy triumphs home:
your fortune changed with your marriage-bed, and that paramour,
Cornelia, condemned by Fate to drag her mighty husbands down
always to disaster, married into a warm tomb."
(Civil War by Lucan, Susan H. Braund (trans.), 1992).
(An Odalisque, Joseph Douglas, 1921)
tintinnabulation [ˌtɪntɪˌnæbyəˈleɪʃən] n.
1.) A ringing of a bell or bells, bell-ringing; the sound or music so produced (O.E.D. 2nd Ed.).
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin tintinnabulum, from tintinnare, to jingle, reduplication of tinnire, to ring, of imitative origin.
"Then the Holy Mother of the Gods recalled
that these pines had been felled upon the summit
of Mount Ida, and at once she filled the air
with the tintinnabulation of her cymbals
and the shrill ululation of her boxwood flutes;
and lightly carried through the parting air
in a chariot drawn by her familiar lions,
the goddess cried, 'Your sacrilegious hand
flings torches at these ships to no avail,
Turnus, for I will rescue them from danger;
I will not let your hungry flames devour
limbs that were mine, that grew in my own groves'"
(Metamorphoses by Ovid, Charles Martin (trans.), 2004)
(La fuente de Cibeles, Ventura Rodríguez, 1782)___________________________________________________
Hi, all. You know I don't usually brag about my (myriad) accomplishments, but I had to share this scrabble move I played the other day:
So proud of myself. Thanks for reading!
