Widdershins
In a left-handed, wrong, or contrary
direction: counterclockwise
English speakers today are most
likely to encounter widdershins as a synonym of counterclockwise. But in
earliest known uses, found in texts from the early 1500s, widdershins was used
more broadly in the sense of "in the wrong way or opposite
direction." To say that one's hair "stood widdershins" was, in
essence, to say that one was having a bad hair day. By the mid-1500s, English
speakers had adopted widdershins to specifically describe movement opposite to
the apparent clockwise direction (as seen from the northern hemisphere) of the
sun traveling across the sky, which, at the time, could be considered evil or
unlucky. The word originates from the Old High German widar, meaning
"back" or "against," and sinnen, meaning "to
travel."
Orphic
1. Melodious; entrancing. 2.
Mystical; occult.
After Orpheus, a musician, poet,
and prophet in Greek mythology. His lyre playing and singing could charm
animals, trees, and even rocks. After his wife Eurydice, a nymph, died of a
snakebite, he traveled to the underworld to bring her back. His music melted
the heart of Hades, the god of the underworld, who allowed him to take his wife
back on the condition that he not look back at her until they had reached the
world of the living. They had almost made it when he looked back and lost her
again. His mother Calliope/Kalliope has also given a word to the English
language: calliopean. (kuh-lahy-uh-pee-uh n)
adjective
1.resembling a calliope in sound;
piercingly loud: a calliopean voice.
In Greek Kalliópē means ”the
beautiful voiced” and is the name of the Muse of eloquence, epic poetry, or
even of all poetry.
In Greek mythology, Calliope (/kəˈlaɪ.əpiː/ kə-ly-ə-pee;
Ancient Greek: Καλλιόπη, Kalliopē "beautiful-voiced") is the muse who
presides over eloquence and epic poetry; so called from the ecstatic harmony of
her voice. She is spoken of by Hesiod and Ovid as the "Chief of all
Muses." She is mostly stated to be the eldest of the Muses, sometimes
vying with her sister Urania for the position.
One account says Calliope was the
lover of the war god Ares, and bore him several sons: Mygdon, Edonus, Biston,
and Odomantus (or Odomas), respectively the founders of Thracian tribes known
as the Mygdones, Edones, Bistones, and Odomantes
Calliope also had two famous
sons, Orpheus and Linus, by either Apollo or the king Oeagrus of Thrace. She
taught Orpheus verses for singing.
According to Hesiod, she was also
the wisest of the Muses, as well as the most assertive. Calliope married
Oeagrus close to Pimpleia, Olympus. She is said to have defeated the daughters
of Pierus, king of Thessaly, in a singing match, and then, to punish their
presumption, turned them into magpies. She was sometimes believed to be Homer's
muse for the Iliad and the Odyssey. The Roman epic poet, Virgil, invokes her in
the Aeneid
Calliope is usually seen with a
writing tablet in her hand. At times, she is depicted carrying a roll of paper
or a book or wearing a gold crown. She would also be seen with her children.
A little more about her lesser
known son, Linus. In Greek mythology Linus refers to the musical son of
Oeagrus, nominally Apollo, and the Muse Calliope. As the son of Apollo and a
Muse, either Calliope or Terpsichore, he is considered the inventor of melody
and rhythm. Linus taught music to his brother Orpheus and then to Heracles.
Linus went to Thebes and became a Theban. According to a legend, he wrote the
story of Dionysus and of the other mythical legends in Pelasgic writing. His
life was ended by Heracles, who killed Linus with his own lyre after he
reprimanded Heracles for making errors.
Hyperbole
Extravagant, exaggeration
The noun comes from the Greek
verb hyperballein, meaning "to exceed," not from the name of the
Athenian demagogue. Hyperballein itself was formed from hyper-, meaning
"beyond," and ballein, "to throw." Unrelated is that in the
5th century B.C. there was a rabble-rousing Athenian, a politician named
Hyperbolus, who often made exaggerated promises and claims that whipped people
into a frenzy. But even though it sounds appropriate, Hyperbolus' name did not
play a role in the development of the m
