This week’s theme
Kings who became words

This week’s words
Nero
Herod
tantalus
Heliogabalus

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(TAN-tuh-luhs)

MEANING:

noun:
1. Something temptingly close, yet out of reach.
2. A stand or case for liquor decanters, designed to display them while preventing access.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Tantalus, a king of Lydia in Greek mythology. Earliest documented use: 1888.

NOTES:

Tantalus was condemned to stand in Hades chin-deep in water that receded when he tried to drink, and under fruit-laden branches that pulled away when he reached for them. He is best known for giving us the verb tantalize, but there’s more.

The element tantalum was named for him too. Its discoverer Anders Ekeberg noted the metal’s “incapacity, when immersed in acid, to absorb any and be saturated.”

And then there’s the liquor cabinet. It’s a case for keeping decanters under lock and key. You can see them but not drink.

USAGE:

“The money is British. Maloin is trapped. He can’t spend it without changing it, and this is impossible without drawing attention to himself. The stolen cash is a tantalus of longing.”
Peter Bradshaw; A Getaway in the Slow Lane; The Guardian (London, UK); Dec 12, 2008.

“Your girlfriend has been maddened, like a housemaid with a tantalus, for long enough. You must now allow her to drink the champagne.”
Dear Mary; The Spectator (London, UK); Jul 18, 2009.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: