acrasia - 01/09/04 02:17 PM
Acrasia
A`cra´si`a
n. 1. Excess; intemperance.
A`cra´si`a
n. 1. Excess; intemperance.
Re: acrasia: a fungus - 01/19/04 03:09 PM
...and not necessarily an intemperate one!
Interesting, wwh. MW only lists a type of fungus for acrasia.
Interesting, wwh. MW only lists a type of fungus for acrasia.
Re: acrasia: a fungus - 01/19/04 05:19 PM
acrasy
Obs.
[ad. med.L. acrasia, which seems to confuse Gr. 2jq‰r¬a ill-temperature, badly-mixed quality (f. 4jq‰so| unmixed, untempered, intemperate) applied by Hippocr. to meats, with 2jqŠr¬a impotence, want of self-command (f. 2jqŠs–| powerless, without authority, without self-command, incontinent).]
Irregularity, disorder, intemperance. In Spenser's Faerie Queene, intemperance or incontinence personified as an enchantress.
1596 Spenser F.Q. ii. xii, motto, Guyon+Doth overthrow the Bower of Blis, And Acrasy defeat. 1617 S. D[aniel] Hist. Eng. (1617) 156 A time [reign of Henry III] that hath yeelded notes of great varietie with many examples of acrasie, and diseased State, bred both by the inequality, of this Princes manners, and the impatience of a stubborne Nobility. 1707 Phillips, Acrasia, Indisposition, Disorder. [Also as in Bailey.] 1731 Bailey, vol. II. Acrasy (with Physicians) the Excess or Predominancy of one Quality above another in Mixture, or in the Constitution of a Human Body. 1780 Cornish Life of Firmin 84 (T.) A little prone to anger, but never excessive in it, either as to measure or time; which acrasies+occasion great uneasiness. 1818 Todd, Acrasy, Excess, irregularity.
OED2
Obs.
[ad. med.L. acrasia, which seems to confuse Gr. 2jq‰r¬a ill-temperature, badly-mixed quality (f. 4jq‰so| unmixed, untempered, intemperate) applied by Hippocr. to meats, with 2jqŠr¬a impotence, want of self-command (f. 2jqŠs–| powerless, without authority, without self-command, incontinent).]
Irregularity, disorder, intemperance. In Spenser's Faerie Queene, intemperance or incontinence personified as an enchantress.
1596 Spenser F.Q. ii. xii, motto, Guyon+Doth overthrow the Bower of Blis, And Acrasy defeat. 1617 S. D[aniel] Hist. Eng. (1617) 156 A time [reign of Henry III] that hath yeelded notes of great varietie with many examples of acrasie, and diseased State, bred both by the inequality, of this Princes manners, and the impatience of a stubborne Nobility. 1707 Phillips, Acrasia, Indisposition, Disorder. [Also as in Bailey.] 1731 Bailey, vol. II. Acrasy (with Physicians) the Excess or Predominancy of one Quality above another in Mixture, or in the Constitution of a Human Body. 1780 Cornish Life of Firmin 84 (T.) A little prone to anger, but never excessive in it, either as to measure or time; which acrasies+occasion great uneasiness. 1818 Todd, Acrasy, Excess, irregularity.
OED2
Re: acrasia: a fungus - 01/19/04 05:38 PM
I wish one of our erudite students of Greek would explain exactly how this confusion of terms came about.
But I do like this acrasy, and think it a shame that the term has died out, especially in this Age of Overindulgence. Brings to mind that great book The Agony and the Acrasy.
But I do like this acrasy, and think it a shame that the term has died out, especially in this Age of Overindulgence. Brings to mind that great book The Agony and the Acrasy.