- paradise
- late 12c., "Garden of Eden," from O.Fr. paradis, from L.L. paradisus, from Gk. paradeisos "park, paradise, Garden of Eden," from an Iranian source, cf. Avestan pairidaeza "enclosure, park" (Mod.Pers. and Arabic firdaus "garden, paradise"), compound of pairi- "around" + diz "to make, form (a wall)." The first element is cognate with Gk. peri- "around, about" (see peri-), the second is from PIE base *dheigh- "to form, build" (see dough). The Gk. word, originally used for an orchard or hunting park in Persia, was used in Septuagint to mean "Garden of Eden," and in New Testament translations of Luke xxiii.43 to mean "heaven" (a sense attested in Eng. from c.1200). Meaning "place like or compared to Paradise" is from c.1300.
- houri
- "nymph of Muslim paradise," 1737, from Fr. houri (1654), from Pers. huri "nymph in Paradise," from Ar. haura "to be beautifully dark-eyed," like a gazelle.
- Shangri La
- "imaginary earthly paradise," 1938, from Shangri La, name of Tibetan utopia in James Hilton's novel "Lost Horizon" (1933). In Tibetan, la means "mountain pass."
- bituminous
- 1620, from Fr. bitumineux, from L. bituminosus (see bitumen).
"The Plain, wherein a black bituminous gurge Boiles out from under ground, the mouth of Hell." ["Paradise Lost," XII.41]
- Ophiuchus
- constellation (representing Aesculapius), 1658, from L., from Gk. ophioukhos, lit. "holding a serpent," from ophis "serpent" + stem of ekhein "to hold, have, keep." The constellation is equatorial, and Milton's "Ophiuchus huge in th' Arctick Sky" ("Paradise Lost") is a rare lapse for a poet who generally knew his astronomy.
- pandemonium
- 1667, Pandęmonium, in "Paradise Lost" the name of the palace built in the middle of Hell, "the high capital of Satan and all his peers," coined by John Milton (1608-74) from Gk. pan- "all" + L.L. dęmonium "evil spirit," from Gk. daimonion "inferior divine power," from daimon "lesser god" (see demon). Transferred sense "place of uproar" is from 1779; that of "wild, lawless confusion" is from 1865.
- archfiend
- 1667, from arch (adj.) + fiend. Originally and typically Satan (cf. arch-foe "satan," 1610s).
"So stretcht out huge in length the Arch-fiend lay." ["Paradise Lost," 1667]
- hunt
- O.E. huntian "chase game," related to hentan "to seize," from P.Gmc. *khuntojan (cf. Goth. hinžan "to seize, capture," O.H.G. hunda "booty"), from PIE *kend-. General sense of "search diligently" (for anything) is first recorded c.1200. The noun meaning "body of persons associated for the purpose of hunting with a pack of hounds" is first recorded 1579. Happy hunting-grounds "Native American afterlife paradise" is from "Last of the Mohicans" (1826).
- serried
- "pressed close together," 1667 (in "Paradise Lost"), pp. of serry "to press close together" (1581), a military term, from M.Fr. serre "close, compact," pp. of serrer "press close, fasten," from V.L. *serrare "to bolt, lock up," from L. serare, from sera "bolt, lock." Modern use popularized by Scott.
- dreary
- O.E. dreorig "sorrowful," originally "cruel, bloody," from dreor "gore, blood," from (ge)dreosan (pp. droren) "fall, decline, fail," from W.Gmc. *dreuzas (cf. O.N. dreyrigr "gory, bloody," and more remotely, Ger. traurig "sad, sorrowful"). The word has lost its original sense of "dripping blood." Sense of "dismal, gloomy" first recorded 1667 in "Paradise Lost," but O.E. had a related verb drysmian "become gloomy."
- scathe (v.)
- c.1200, from O.N. skaša "to hurt, injure," from P.Gmc. *skath- (cf. O.E. sceažian "to hurt, injure," O.Fris. skethia, M.Du. scaden, Du. schaden, O.H.G. scadon, Ger. schaden, Goth. scažjan "to injure, damage"), from PIE base *sket- "to injure." Only cognate outside Gmc. seems to be in Gk. a-skethes "unharmed, unscathed." Survives mostly in its negative form, unscathed, and in figurative meaning "sear with invective or satire" (1852, usually as scathing) which developed from the sense of "scar, scorch" used by Milton in "Paradise Lost" i.613 (1667).
- demi-monde
- 1855, also demimonde, from Fr. demi-monde "so-so society," lit. "half-world," from demi- "half" + monde, from L. mundus "world" (see mundane). Popularized by use in title of a comedy by Alexandre Dumas fils (18241895). Dumas' Demi-Monde "is the link between good and bad society ... the world of compromised women, a social limbo, the inmates of which ... are perpetually struggling to emerge into the paradise of honest and respectable ladies" ["Fraser's Magazine," 1855]. Not properly used of courtesans. Eighteenth-century English demi-rep (1749, the second element short for reputation) was defined as "a woman that intrigues with every man she likes, under the name and appearance of virtue ... in short, whom every body knows to be what no body calls her" [Fielding].
- creationism
- 1847, originally a Christian theological position that God immediately created a soul for each person born; from creation + -ism. As a name for the religious reaction to Darwin, opposed to evolution, it is attested from 1880.
"James Ussher (1581-1656), Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland, and Vice-Chancellor of Trinity College in Dublin was highly regarded in his day as a churchman and as a scholar. Of his many works, his treatise on chronology has proved the most durable. Based on an intricate correlation of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean histories and Holy writ, it was incorporated into an authorized version of the Bible printed in 1701, and thus came to be regarded with almost as much unquestioning reverence as the Bible itself. Having established the first day of creation as Sunday 23 October 4004 B.C. ... Ussher calculated the dates of other biblical events, concluding, for example, that Adam and Eve were driven from Paradise on Monday 10 November 4004 BC, and that the ark touched down on Mt Ararat on 5 May 1491 BC `on a Wednesday'." [Craig, G.Y., and E.J. Jones, "A Geological Miscellany," Princeton University Press, 1982.]
- space (n.)
- c.1300, "an area, extent, expanse, lapse of time," aphetic of O.Fr. espace, from L. spatium "room, area, distance, stretch of time," of unknown origin. Astronomical sense of "stellar depths" is first recorded 1667 in "Paradise Lost."
"Space isn't remote at all. It's only an hour's drive away if your car could go straight upwards." [Sir Fred Hoyle, "London Observer," 1979]
Typographical sense is attested from 1676 (typewriter space bar is from 1888). Space age is attested from 1946; spacewalk is from 1965. Many compounds first appeared in science fiction and speculative writing, e.g. spaceship (1894, "Journey in Other Worlds"); spacesuit (1920); spacecraft (1930, "Scientific American"); space travel (1931); space station (1936, "Rockets Through Space"); spaceman (1942, "Thrilling Wonder Stories;" earlier it meant "journalist paid by the length of his copy," 1892). Spacious is attested from 1382. - Satan
- proper name of the supreme evil spirit in Christianity, O.E. Satan, from L.L. Satan (in Vulgate, in O.T. only), from Gk. Satanas, from Heb. satan "adversary, one who plots against another," from satan "to show enmity to, oppose, plot against," from root s-t-n "one who opposes, obstructs, or acts as an adversary." In Septuagint (Gk.) usually translated as diabolos "slanderer," lit. "one who throws (something) across" the path of another (see devil), though epiboulos "plotter" is used once.
"In biblical sources the Hebrew term the satan describes an adversarial role. It is not the name of a particular character. Although Hebrew storytellers as early as the sixth century B.C.E. occasionally introduced a supernatural character whom they called the satan, what they meant was any one of the angels sent by God for the specific purpose of blocking or obstructing human activity." [Elaine Pagels, "The Origin of Satan," 1995]
Satanic "pertaining to Satan" is first recorded 1667 (in "Paradise Lost"); meaning "diabolical" is from 1793. Satanism "worship of Satan" dates from 1896, with ref. to France, where it was said to be active at that time; Satanist is attested from 1559, applied by their enemies to Protestant sects. - fool (n.)
- c.1275, from O.Fr. fol "madman, insane person," also an adj. meaning "mad, insane," from L. follis "bellows, leather bag," in V.L. used with a sense of "windbag, empty-headed person" (see follicle). Cf. also Skt. vatula- "insane," lit. "windy, inflated with wind."
"The word has in mod.Eng. a much stronger sense than it had at an earlier period; it has now an implication of insulting contempt which does not in the same degree belong to any of its synonyms, or to the derivative foolish." [OED]
Meaning "jester, court clown" first attested 1370, though it is not always possible to tell whether the reference is to a professional entertainer or an amusing lunatic on the payroll. As the name of a kind of custard dish, it is attested from 1598 (the food was also called trifle, which may be the source of the name). The verb meaning "to make a fool of" is recorded from 1596. Feast of Fools (c.1320), from M.L. festum stultorum) refers to the burlesque festival celebrated in some churches on New Year's Day in medieval times. Fool's gold "iron pyrite" is from 1882. Fool's paradise "state of illusory happiness" is from 1462. Fool around is 1875 in the sense of "pass time idly," 1970s in sense of "have sexual adventures." Foolosopher, a most useful insult, turns up in a 1549 translation of Erasmus.