Today's Word

Yesterday's Word

Archives

FAQ

A.Word.A.Day--pseudepigrapha

pseudepigrapha (soo-di-PIG-ruh-fuh) plural noun

1. Spurious writings, especially writings falsely attributed to biblical characters or times.

2. A body of texts written between 200 B.C. and A.D. 200 and spuriously ascribed to various prophets and kings of Hebrew Scriptures.

[Greek, from neuter pl. of pseudepigraphos, falsely ascribed : pseudes, false. pseudo- + epigraphein, to inscribe : epi-, epi- + graphein, to write.]

"What is interesting, however, is that, despite his ignorance of things biblical, Mr. Redfield has unwittingly placed himself in a long tradition of pseudepigrapha -- that is, of post-biblical writings, many indeed composed in Aramaic, that have been spuriously attributed by their authors to various biblical characters and periods." Philologos, On Language, Forward, 12 Aug 1994.

This week's theme: words about books.

X-Bonus