This week’s theme
Toponyms

This week’s words
Capuan
canterbury
helotage
Elysium
Canaan

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(i-LIZH-ee-uhm)

MEANING:

noun: A place of perfect happiness.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin Elysium, from Greek elysion pedyon (Elysian plain/fields). In Greek mythology, Elysium (or the Elysian Fields) was the final resting place for the souls of heroes and the virtuous after their death. Earliest documented use: 1599.

USAGE:

“They’re used to the chancellor gloating about how wonderful everything is, and how they live in an Elysium created by Gordon Brown.”
Simon Hoggart; Things Can Only Get Much Worse; The Guardian (London, UK); Sep 23, 2008.

See more usage examples of Elysium in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: