"That's a great deal to make one word mean," Alice said in a thoughtful tone. "When I make a word do a lot of work like that," said Humpty Dumpty, "I always pay it extra."
Sunday, 7 February 2010
Anagogical
Anagogical is an archaic word meaning mystical, spiritual, or having a secondary spiritual sense. Anagogy was the spiritual or mystical interpretation of a word or passage (especially in the Bible) beyond the literal, allegorical or moral sense.
anagogy (A ne ga je) from Gr/Fr (ana, up, above, + gagein, to lead): interpretation of a word, passage or text (such as scripture or poetry) that finds beyond the literal, allegorical, and moral sense, a fourth and ultimate, spiritual or mystical sense.
My daughter Helen commented in November 2008 in her Blog that she was now keeping a notebook of new words that she came across during her reading. "This week I bought a lovely little leather bound book to write new words in as I read them . I've added a few from "1984", but my favourite has to be persiflage (from the French persifler) which means banter." I later discovered that my older daughter, Bryony, also kept a similar notebook.
This inspired me to create a Word blog. This will include both new words, favourite words and the origins of phrases that we commonly use. A definition and some comment, perhaps even a relevant quotation, will acompany the word or phrase.
“I am a Bear of Very Little Brain, and long words bother me.” - Winnie the Pooh
anagogy (A ne ga je) from Gr/Fr (ana, up, above, + gagein, to lead): interpretation of a word, passage or text (such as scripture or poetry) that finds beyond the literal, allegorical, and moral sense, a fourth and ultimate, spiritual or mystical sense.
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