Purgatory

[Dr. Goodword]

• purgatory •

Pronunciation: pêr-gê-to-ri • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. (Religion) A place of limited suffering where souls have to wait while expiating their sins before entering heaven. 2. A temporary state of mental anguish or suffering.

Notes: The word underlying this word is purge, for Purgatory is a place where sins are purged. A purgator is a person or thing that purges and Purgatory is a purgator sine qua non. A soul in purgatory, or someone who believes in purgatory, is a purgatorian. The adjective for purgatory is purgatorial. Don't forget to change the Y to I in the plural: purgatories.

In Play: We should all know the religious sense of today's Good Word, so let's focus on the figurative sense: "The purgatory suffered by Rothschild from Matilda's departure was ameliorated only by his telepathic connection with her." Again: "Will Doolittle considered any form of yardwork sheer purgatory."

Word History: English remodeled purgatory from Latin purgatorium "place of purging, clensing", made up of purgat-, the past participle stem of purgare "to clean, purify" + -orium, a locative (place) suffix. Purgare was originally a compound comprising purus "pure" + the root of agere "to move, lead, drive, cause". Agere is based on PIE ag- "to drive, lead, move", which also went into the making of Greek axios "worthy" and agein "to drive, lead". The present participle of this word was agen(t)s "moving, leading", which English borrowed as agent. The past participle was actus "moved, led", which English borrowed as act, and which underlies action and active. Synagogue is the French rendition of Greek synogoge "assembly, congregation", from syn- "together" + agein "drive, lead, move".

[Philip Hudson]

Having recently survived colon cancer, I have had enough of purgatives. Being of the "whiter than snow" theological persuasion, I don't anticipate being in purgatory. A little phenolphthalein in the lab ethanol decanter provided a surprising purgative to the solipsistic students who who slyly slurped surreptitious sips from it. I was a chemistry lab instructor many years ago when I was a University student. I also like alliteration.

[David Myer]

Congratulations, Philip. Delighted to see that although they have presumably removed some of you, they haven't removed your sense of humour.

[Dr. Goodword]

Let me add my congratulations on your survival and the survival of your sense of humor. Glad to have you back.

[Philip Hudson]

Thank you for the encouragement. I shall continue commenting from the hinterland, "The good Lord willing, and the creek don't rise."

[bbeeton]

Best of luck, Philip.

A former acquaintance, a teacher of typography, after enduring a similar procedure, referred to his condition as "semicolon".

May you never lose your sense of humor.

[Philip Hudson]

bbeeton: Thanks for expanding on the humor. Thanks for becoming a new Agora member. As a wannabe musician, I might note that I now have a hemi-semi-demi-colon.