English edit

Etymology edit

From pumpkin +‎ -ification: a calque of the Ancient Greek ἀποκολοκύντωσις (apokolokúntōsis) via the Latin apocolocyntosis. From the title of the work Apocolocyntosis (divi) Claudii, a satire on the deification of Claudius.

Noun edit

pumpkinification (uncountable)

  1. The act of turning into a pumpkin; usually in jocular opposition to deification.
    • 1870, George Long, s.n. "Seneca, L. Annaeus", page 781 in Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, volume III.
      Apocolocyntosis, is a satire against the emperor Claudius. The word is a play on the term Apotheosis or deification, and is equivalent in meaning to Pumpkinification, or the reception of Claudius among the pumpkins.
    • 1989, Robert Atwan, Our Times:
      Christianity, for example, admits females only as third-ranking immortals ("saints"), and many of its third-ranking gods, prior to their pumpkinification, were themselves vicious misogynists.
    • 1992, Peter Russell, The Pound connection: in some poems, mainly uncollected or unpublished, Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, Universität Salzburg,
      Brodsky's recent pumpkinification as America's "laureate" might be considered as a typical example of officialdom's "laureate" criteria.

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