Hagiography

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Dr. Goodword
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Hagiography

Postby Dr. Goodword » Sat May 29, 2021 6:53 pm

• hagiography •


Pronunciation: hæ-gi-ah-grê-fi • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. A biography of the life of a saint or holy person to be used as a guide for the lives of others. 2. A biographical encomium that idealizes the person described.

Notes: A biographer of a saint is a hagiographer and his work is hagiographical, although some writers have done without the final -al (hagiographic). It is possible to write hagiographically about someone, especially in the second sense of the word.

In Play: Today's Good Word is at base a religious term: "Bonneville leads a pristine life straight out of a hagiography." A few years back, however, The New York Times reviewed what it called an "astonishing hagiography" of the man the official Iraqi press called, at that time, Saddam the Great. It is amazing how spider holes change attitudes.

Word History: Today's Good Word started out as a compound in Greek made up of hagios "holy" + graphia "writing." Hagios we know little about. Graphia is a noun from graphein "to scratch, write", found in many English borrowings such as photograph, monograph, and graphic. This word comes from the Proto-Indo-European root gerbh- "scratch", which ended up in English as carve but also underlies crab. In Greek it also emerged in gramma "letter, writing" which we also see in English grammar and telegram. (Sharing this intriguing word with all of us approached a saintly act by Luis Alejandro Apiolaza, a regular visitor to the Alpha Agora from Hobart, Tasmania since 2005.)
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Philip Hudson
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Re: Hagiography

Postby Philip Hudson » Mon Jun 07, 2021 12:29 am

Thank you for this good word, Luis Alejandro Apiolaza. To me a saint is any believer in Christ. I do recognize and appreciate the attribution of sainthood to particularly saintly saints. Not all saints are saintly. And then there is that secular saint, Santa Clause. My dear mother, being an iconoclast of the first degree, eschewed Old Saint Nick, with reindeer, sleigh, and the whole kit and caboodle. Easter, which we called Resurrection Sunday, was the principle holiday in our house. In my innocence as a second grader, I refused to write a letter to Santa Clause because he wasn't "real". This made all the girls cry.
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Re: Hagiography

Postby George Kovac » Mon Jun 07, 2021 10:55 am

I have always thought that "hagiography" is a wonderful word: complex, rich in history, suitable for both sincere spiritual use and as pejorative dismissal of credulous praise.

I am a bit offput by the standard pronunciation, with the hard (and harsh) “g.” It sounds like the unpleasant word “hag.” IMHO (in my holy opinion), the word would be infused with greater concinnity if pronounced with a soft “g” (as in “George”). Hagia Sophia in Istanbul obviates this complaint because, in English at least, the “g” is not voiced at all, resulting in a heavenly pronunciation worthy of that fabulous edifice.

I would not have posted just to voice a cranky complaint about pronunciation. Philip Hudson won me over with his delightful reminiscence—a charming conceit that could be the opening for a short story. Well played, sir.

But it was the spelling of “Santa Clause” that hooked me into responding, and reminded me of a scene from the Marx Brothers film “A Night at the Opera.” Groucho patiently explains a contract, clause-by-clause, to the suspicious and dim-witted Chico, who eventually accuses Groucho of fraud. 86 years later, the bit is still funny. Here is the relevant final 30 seconds of that scene:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpL565sEKCc
"Every battle of ideas is fought on the terrain of language." Zia Haider Rahman, New York Times 4/8/2016

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Re: Hagiography

Postby call_copse » Tue Jun 08, 2021 11:09 am

Great scene George, always remembered that fondly!

For myself, I feel a saint should have their own sense of morality, not be after reward after life. I prefer to reject ALL fairy tales, rather than choosing one to bestow with meaning.

Sadio Mane is definitely a jolly decent sort for instance.
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Re: Hagiography

Postby Dr. Goodword » Tue Jun 08, 2021 6:34 pm

Santa is the Italian word for "saint" and Clause is a folk etymologization of Klaus, the German nickname for Niklaus.

The red suit with white fur lining probably came from the Russian folklore character Grandfather Frost, whose clothing was lined with hoarfrost.

The whole Santa Clause story is a garbled mess. I use it as an example of a good lie in my argument that lies are neutral, their negativity and positivity arising from their usage.
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Philip Hudson
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Re: Hagiography

Postby Philip Hudson » Sat Jun 12, 2021 10:24 pm

Bravo! Good Doctor.
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.


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