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version seven. http://demongin.org |
Panic Etymologies
I'll see you in the tall grass.
Monday, 2008-06-23 | Under the Needle
| Gentlemen, it is time to spread the word. And the word is 'panic'. |
The following excerpts are from http://carnaval.com:
Though Roman satire is sometimes thoughtlessly linked to the Greek satyr plays, satire's only connection to the satyric drama is through the subversive nature of the satyrs themselves, as forces in opposition to urbanity, decorum, and civilization itself.
While satyrs have been called a worthless race, satyrs teach us it is foolish to underestimate the overwhelming power that the sexual instinct possesses to create complex delusions and illusions.
Couldn't have said it better myself. The only thing I would add is a clarification: the reason that "satire" is sometimes "thoughtlessly linked to the Greek satyr" is because the words sound so similar.
The real etymology of our word "satire" is a Latin one: the word is satura and, if you looked at that and thought that it looked an awful lot like "saturate", then give yourself bonus points (unless you know Latin, in which case you're cheating). "Satura" means (roughly) "enough" and the literary genre of satire arrives at its name thus on account of the fact that one of the integral features of the genre is the super-saturation of words and actions with meaning. Every word in good satire cuts at least two ways and every action moves the plot in two or more different directions.
But that's a tangent. Back to the excerpts from http://carnaval.com:
Pan has the horns and legs of a goat and plays a syrinx, a pipe with seven reeds. An ancient god, he ... is simply the embodiment of pure, basic instinct. ... Pan has a dark aspect as well, causing men and animals to go suddenly mad with terror in distant, lonely places or because your superstitious fears have got the best of you. His name is therefore the root word of "panic."Contemporary anatomists call the reed-like structures in the throats of songbirds "syrnix". The avian syrnix is the equivalent of the mammalian larynx. "Syrnix" is also a classy (i.e. antique, deprecated) way of pluralizing the noun "Syringe".
Pan was fond of music, and known as the inventor of the syrinx, or shepherd's pipe, which he himself played in a such a masterly manner he once competed against Apollo himself.
At any rate, they say that it was a well-played syrnix that finally turned the tide at Marathon in favor of the democratic nations of Greece during the first Persian invasion: Pan insinuated himself among the slave army, fired up his reed-pipes and inspired so much disorder and terror among Darius' ranks that their route was a lead pipe cinch.
