winged word

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English

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WOTD – 8 September 2021

Etymology

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Calque of Ancient Greek ἔπεα πτερόεντα (épea pteróenta), often used by Homer (said to have been born c. 750 B.C.E.), to whom the Iliad and Odyssey are attributed:[1] from ἔπεᾰ (épea) (plural of ἔπος (épos, “something spoken: song, speech, story”)) + πτερόεντα (pteróenta) (plural of πτερόεις (pteróeis, “feathered; winged”), from πτερόν (pterón, “feather; wing”) + -εις (-eis, suffix forming adjectives with the sense of being full of, tending to, or thoroughly possessing a quality)).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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winged word (plural winged words)

  1. (idiomatic, literary, chiefly in the plural) A word or statement which is very apt for an occasion, or memorable. [late 16th c.]
    Synonym: mot juste
    • 1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “The Teares of the Muses”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, […], →OCLC:
      [Polyhymnia] For the ſweet numbers and melodious meaſures, / With which I wont the winged words to tie, / And make a tunefull Diapaſe of pleaſures, / Now being let to runne at libertie / By thoſe which haue no skill to rule them right, / Haue now quite loſt their naturall delight.
    • 1633, [Guillaume de Salluste] Du Bartas, “[Bethulia’s Rescue. […].] The Third Book.”, in Josuah Sylvester, transl., Du Bartas His Diuine Weekes and Workes […], London: […] Robert Young, →OCLC, page 490, column 1:
      The ſubtle Tyrians, who did firſt invent, / Our winged words, in Barks of Trees to print: […]
    • 1715 May 10, [Lewis Theobald], “Friday, April 29 [1715; Julian calendar]”, in The Censor, 2nd edition, volume I, number 9, London: […] Jonas Brown, […], published 1717, →OCLC, page 63:
      There is the gay Mr. Trimeter who never opens his Mouth without a Flight of Winged Words, as the Poets call them, which are gone paſt the Recovery of himſelf, or his Hearers, and ſtill followed by a Second and a Third Flight, and you are obliged to him for holding his Tongue, meerly becauſe he is out of Breath.
    • 1773, Homer, “Book XXI”, in James Macpherson, transl., The Iliad of Homer. […], volume II, London: […] T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt, […]; and sold also by T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 296:
      His ſupplicating voice he raiſed: And poured theſe winged words, in his ruthleſs ears: […]
    • 1831 December, [Thomas Carlyle], “Art. IV.—1. An Essay on the Origin and Prospects of Man. By Thomas Hope. […] London: 1831. 2. Philosophische Vorlesungen, insbesondere über Philosophie der Sprache und des Wortes. Geschrieben und vorgetragen zu Dresden im December 1828, und in den ersten Tagen des Januars 1829. (Philosophical Lectures, especially on the Philosophy of Language and the Gift of Speech, Written and Delivered at Dresden in December 1828, and the Early Days of January 1829.) By Friedrich von Schlegel. […] Vienna: 1830. [book review]”, in The Edinburgh Review, or Critical Journal, volume LIV, number CVIII, Edinburgh: […] Ballantyne and Company, for Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, […]; and Adam Black, […], →OCLC, page 356:
      Often by some winged word, winged as the thunderbolt is, of a Luther, a Napoleon, a Goethe, shall we see the difficulty split asunder, and its secret laid bare; while the Irrefragable [Doctor; i.e., Alexander of Hales], with all his logical roots, hews at it, and hovers round it, and finds it on all hands too hard for him.
    • 1915 November, Edith Wharton, “The Tone of France”, in Fighting France: From Dunkerque to Belfort, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 220:
      The tone of France after the declaration of war was the white glow of dedication: a great nation's collective impulse (since there is no English equivalent for that winged word, élan) to resist destruction.
    • 1966, George Steiner, “Silence and the Poet”, in Language and Silence: Essays 1958–1966, London: Faber and Faber, published 2010, →ISBN, page 56:
      Homer, the master-builder and rebel against time, in whom the conviction that the ‘winged word’ shall outlast death speaks out in constant jubilation, goes blind. Orpheus is torn to bleeding shreds. Yet the word will not be quenched; […]
    • 1998, James L. Crenshaw, “The Pursuit of Knowledge: Proverbs”, in Old Testament Wisdom: An Introduction, revised edition, Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, →ISBN, page 56:
      [A] proverb is a winged word, outliving the fleeting moment.
    • 2007, Piero Boitani, “Epilogue: Winged Words”, in Winged Words: Flight in Poetry and History, EasyRead Large edition, U.S.A.: ReadHowYouWant.com, published 2010, →ISBN, page 387:
      Homer often speaks of epea pteroenta, "winged words": in traditional interpretations, this metaphor stood for the swift and lofty birdlike flight of language, particularly poetic language.

Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “winged words, plural n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
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