Zeligesque

English

WOTD – 16 July 2024

Etymology

From Zelig +‎ -esque (suffix meaning ‘in the manner or style of’, forming adjectives from nouns (especially proper nouns)), referring to the character Leonard Zelig from the 1983 film Zelig who meets many famous people in the 1920s and 1930s and, apparently out of his desire to fit in and be liked, unwittingly takes on the characteristics of the strong personalities around him.^[1]

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˌzɛlɪɡˈɛsk/
Audio (General American): (file)
Rhymes: -ɛsk
Hyphenation: Ze‧lig‧esque

Adjective

Zeligesque (comparative more Zeligesque, superlative most Zeligesque)

Of a person: appearing at a surprisingly wide variety of historic events or with a diverse group of historic figures.
Synonym: Zelig-like
- 1999 September 18, Doreen Carvajal, “Writer as character in Reagan biography”, in The New York Times (A section)‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-09-15, page 1:
  Simply put, Mr. [Edmund] Morris has invented a character: himself. For literary purposes, the author, 59, has essentially transformed his own life, […] revised his age, birthplace, identity and resume to become a Zeligesque narrator who is a [Ronald] Reagan contemporary, glimpsing the future President on a Dixon High School football field; bumping into him beneath the elms of his Illinois alma mater, Eureka College; reporting for duty to Lieutenant at the Army Air Force's first motion picture unit.
- 2011, Simon Sebag Montefiore, “The Golden Age of Outremer”, in Jerusalem: The Biography, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, →ISBN, part 5 (Crusade), page 224:
  Usamah bin Munqidh was one of those ubiquitous players who know everyone who matters at a certain time or place in history and always find themselves at the centre of events. During his long career, this Zeligesque courtier, warrior and writer managed to serve all the great Islamic leaders of his century, from Zangi and the Fatimid caliphs to Saladin, and to know at least two of the kings of Jerusalem.
- 2018, Rick Wilson, Everything Trump Touches Dies‎^[2], New York, N.Y.: Free Press, →ISBN:
  He [Roger Stone]'s become a kind of Zeligesque political figure, appearing when he's least desired and least expected. Like [Donald] Trump, Roger is constantly burnishing his brand image, writing himself into history, where his role has been, at its very best, tangential.

Related terms

Translations

of a person: appearing at a surprisingly wide variety of historic events and/or with a diverse group of historic figures

Finnish: historiassa alati toistuva
Macedonian: please add this translation if you can

References

^ Compare “Zelig, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “Zelig, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.