;Posted on 11/24/2015 7:19:28 PM PST by Louis Foxwell
;In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of "Word for the Day".
Stygian [STIJ ee un]
adjective
With an upper case S, describes anything relating to the River Styx, the river, according to classical mythology, over which Charon ferried the souls of the departed on their journey into the underworld. He charged a fee of one obol, a coin which was placed in the mouth of the deceased, for use in payment of that fee. From that dreadful river, the adjective stygian came to mean "dark, gloomy, forbidding," or "infernal." and one may speak of stygian night or a stygian cave or landscape, or a stygian room or hallway, dark, gloomy, forbidding.
Stygian takes on an entirely different meaning in the expression stygian oath: an oath "by the Styx" sworn by a god, a "stygian oath" is inviolable.
The Roman poet Virgil (70-19B.C.) in The Aeneid, writes of "the swamp of the Styx, by which the gods take oath."
The adjective in Latin was Stygias, in Greek Stygios.
The English poet John Milton (1608-1674) starts his poem L'Allegro with the lines:
Hence, loathed McLancholy,
Of Cerberus, and blackest midnight born,
in Stygian cave forlorn,
'Midst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights unholy....
The noisome screeches emitted from the lead singer of that rock band from Canada (who some claim is libertarian) are stygian.
Hmmmn.
Iffen the river could be crossed by very tall people who just walked over, would they be Stygiants in Stygia?
Or does that just stynt a bit too much?
So many cool bands wnet all faggy chasing “power ballads” and stuff.
Stygian, huh?
I can fix that for you.
To Day
Darkness, made the more profound,
By silence, whose husbanded sound,
Has stretched the firmament of stilled air,
Until it almost seems about to tear...
Then worn and tattered threadbare night,
Whose shivering stars have tithed their meager light,
Surrenders to a youthful sun to rouse up all the dew,
As elder brethren go to sleep, all blanketed in blue.
...
NicknamedBob . . . . . . . . October 8, 2005
AAs in Gigi. A strange letter. Go, gyro, rough, all different sounds.
Don’t get it. Help a guy out.
Ones of the worst bands ever ;) !
Much appreciated!
Obama—corrupt, dark, and Stygian
But evidence? Nary a smygian
Cooked the books about ISIS
Ignoring their vices
Thank God there’s at least one stool pygian
He thought the indie rock band Stygian would become his anchor, but—lost in their own problems—they’re far from the family he sought.
Power and glory, the siren song of rocky shores.
Yes, and....
Doubtless the preacher was not invited to the game.
He wails the cry of tormented souls, does he?
A bit obtuse, but noteworthy if only to ascertain your own unique attributes.
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