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Entelechy The kingdom of Queen Quintessence in the famous satirical romance of Rabelais called
the History of Gargantua and Pantagruel'. Pantagruel and his companions went thither in search
of the Holy Bottle. It may be called the city of speculative science.
The word is used to express the realisation of a beau ideal. Lovers have preconceived notions of human perfections, and imagine that they see the realities in the person beloved, who is the entelechy of their beau ideal.
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Enthusiast is one who believes that he himself is in God, or that God is in him (Greek, en theos). Our word inspired is very
similar, being the Latin in spiritu (in the spirit).
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Ephebi Youths between the age of eighteen and twenty were so called at Athens. (Greek, arrived at puberty.)
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Our word inspired is very similar, being the Latin in spiritu (in the spirit).
What does that say about perspire? I'd thought the -spire- root concerned breath ("respiration").
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Episode (3 syl.) is the Greek epieis-odos (coming in besides - i.e. adventitious), meaning an adventitious tale introduced into the main story.
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Epistle is something sent to another. A letter sent by messenger or post. (Greek, epi-stello.)
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Excalibur (Ex cal [ce] liber [atus]). Liberated from the stone. The sword which Arthur drew out of the stone, whereby he proved himself to be the king. (See Sword.)
As many times as I read the King Arthur stories, I never heard this before.
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Excelsior Aim at higher things still. It is the motto of the New York State, and has been made popular by Longfellow's poem so named. Used also as the synonym of super-excellent.
When I was a boy, all my father's medicines came packed with fine square cross-sectioned strands of
pine, which was called "excelsior". i could not understand the Longfellow poem: Shades of night were
falling fast, when through an Alpine village passed a youth whose banner bore this strange device:
Excelsior"
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Farthing A fourth part. Penny pieces used to be divided into four parts, thus, farthing, and two a halfpenny. (Anglo-Saxon,
feor- thung.)
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Fascination means "slain or overcome by the eyes." The allusion is to the ancient notion of
bewitching by the power of the eye. (Greek, baskaino, i.e. phaesi kaino, to kill with the eyes. See Valpy: Etymology of Greek Words, p. 23, col. 1; Latin. fascino.) (See Evil Eye.)
Joke on me. I thought it had something to do with the fasces, the bundle of rods carried as
symbol of the power of the consuls.
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