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A.Word.A.Day--bacchant Pronunciation: WAV or RealAudio bacchant (buh-KANT, -KAHNT, BAK-uhnt) noun (plural bacchants or bacchantes) 1. A priest or votary of Bacchus. 2. A boisterous reveler. [Latin bacchans, bacchant-,present participle of bacchari, to celebrate the festival of Bacchus, from Bacchus (the god of wine and of an orgiastic religion celebrating the power and fertility of nature, also called Dionysus) from Greek Bakkhos.] "In 1875 Fort Calgary was established by the Mounties to quell that (liquor) trade, but judging by the merrymaking and blind staggers of the rampaging bacchants visible nightly throughout the Games, the Mounties failed in their mission." Robert F. Jones, Olympics: Blowin' Hot And Gold, Life, 1 Apr 1988. This week's theme: words from Greek and Roman mythology. X-Bonus Words are like leaves; and where they most abound / Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found. -Alexander Pope

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