A.Word.A.Day --gorgonize

A.Word.A.Day

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Feb 18, 2022

This week’s theme
Mythological characters who have resulted in multiple eponyms

This week’s words
aphrodite
titanism
boreal
vulcanize
gorgonize

Photo: Melanie Rijkers

This week’s comments
AWADmail 1025

Next week’s theme
Words borrowed from German & Hawaiian

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

gorgonize

PRONUNCIATION:

(GOR-guh-nyz)

MEANING:

verb tr.: To paralyze, petrify, or hypnotize.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Gorgon, any of the three monstrous sisters in Greek mythology: Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa. They had snakes for hair and turned into stone anyone who looked into their eyes (apparently it was OK to objectify people in those days). Earliest documented use: 1609.

USAGE:

“She’d nearly gorgonized him. He shuddered and drained his glass.”
James P. Blaylock; The Last Coin; Ace; 1988.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

It seems that for success, in science or art, a dash of autism is essential. For success the necessary ingredients may be an ability to turn away from the everyday world, from the simple practical, an ability to rethink a subject with originality so as to create in new untrodden ways. -Hans Asperger, physician (18 Feb 1906-1980)

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