haemony
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Coined by John Milton for the play Comus around 1634 (see quotation below). Various scholars suggest that the word comes from a classical source such as Latin Haemonia (“Thessaly”, a place associated with magic),[1] Ancient Greek αἷμα (haîma, “blood”), or Ancient Greek αἵμων (haímōn, “skillful”).[2]
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
haemony (uncountable)
- (rare) A magical plant mentioned by John Milton, said to be good against enchantments.
- 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC, page 20, lines 638–641:
- He call’d it Hæmony, and gave it me / And bad me keepe it as of ſoveraine uſe / Gainſt all inchantments, mildew blaſt, or damp / Or gaſtly furies apparition; / […]
- 1809, Henry John Todd, The Poetical Works of John Milton, page 342:
- It is not agreed whether Milton’s Hæmony is a real or poetical plant.
- 1970, Sacvan Bercovitch, “Milton's ‘Haemony’: Knowledge and Belief”, in Huntington Library Quarterly, page 351:
- In a recent study of Thyris' magical herb in Comus, John M. Steadman concludes that “haemony means knowledge” from Greek haimon “skillful.”
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:haemony.
References edit
- ^ “Hæmony”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- ^ John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “haemony, n.”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.