This week’s theme
Eponyms

This week’s words
galvanic
stan
maecenatism
alastor
Pygmalion

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(pig-MAYL-yuhn, -MAY-lee-uhn)

MEANING:

noun: A mentor, especially a man who mentors a woman.
adjective: Describing a word considered offensive, such as a swear word.

ETYMOLOGY:

From George Bernard Shaw’s 1913 play Pygmalion. Earliest documented use: noun: 1926, adjective: 1914.

NOTES:

In George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion, professor Henry Higgins coaches a flower seller named Eliza Doolittle, so she can move in high society with ease and pass off as a duchess. The play was a success and the title of the play became synonymous with a mentor, especially a man who mentors a woman.
The play has another distinction. At the time, the word “bloody” was considered highly obscene in the UK. In the play, Eliza Doolittle has the line, “Walk! Not bloody likely!” which created a big sensation. This resulted in people starting to use the word “Pygmalion” as an euphemism for “bloody”, as in “Not Pygmalion likely”. The word “bloody” was also known as the “Shavian adjective”.
Shaw was inspired by the Greek myth of Pygmalion, the king of Cyprus, who fell in love with a statue he carved, which was then brought to life by the goddess Aphrodite.

USAGE:

“So many parents fashion themselves novice Pygmalions, obsessed with the notion that their spawn will be the masterpiece of a lifetime.”
Jean-Louis Baroux; Terror Over the Vatican; L’Archipel; 2014.

“Pat was enraged at the thought and told him so in no uncertain terms. ‘Married to you? Not Pygmalion likely.’”
Rebecca Shaw; Village Matters; Phoenix Books; 1996.

“Emma Duffin reported that one of her charges ‘used the Pygmalion word to me’ (bloody), but she made him apologise.”
Julian Walker; Words and the First World War; Bloomsbury; 2017.

See more usage examples of Pygmalion in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: