Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Logofascinated

Meaning: fascinated by words. Sir Thomas was probably using fascinated in its older sense of enchanted, or bewitched. The softer, modern meaning of 'interested in' doesn't turn up for another century or two.

Usefulness: 1 (Use with caution, as in the source text - see below - logofascination involves fainting or bursting blood vessels.)

Logofascination: 1 (Logofascinated is often used to describe Sir Thomas, although I suspect he would have thought of himself as the logofascinator.  Despite reports to the contrary, he didn't describe himself as a 'logofascinated spirit' - this error is probably due to a misreading of the Oxford DNB's description of Sir Thomas 'in his own terms'. The text the DNB refers to is the one quoted below.)

In the wild: Not really - it's not even in wiktionary.

Degrees: 0

Connections: n/a

Used in: Ekskybalauron. The Admirable Chrichton (see also Mary-Sue) is entertaining the court during the Carnivale, playing fifteen different characters over five hours. In the grand finale he portrays all fifteen at once, and does the different voices so well that
the logofascinated spirits of the beholding hearers and auricularie spectators, were so on a sudden seazed upon in their risible* faculties of the soul, and all their vital motions so universally affected in this extremitie of agitation, that to avoid the inevitable charmes of his intoxicating ejaculations, and the accumulative influences of so power full a transportation, one of my lady Dutchess chief maids of honour, by the vehemencie of the shock of those incomprehensible raptures, burst forth into a laughter to the rupture of a veine in her body; and another young lady, by the irresistible violence of the pleasure unawares infused, where the tender receptibilitie of her too tickled fancie was least able to hold out, so unprovidedly was surprised, that with no less impetuositie of ridibundal** passion then, as hath been told, occasioned a fracture in the other young ladie's modestie, she not being able longer to support the well beloved burthen of so excessive delight, and intransing joys of such mercurial exhilations through the ineffable extasie of an overmastered apprehension, fell back in a swown,
I tried cutting it back for legibility, but I like it a bit too much - there's more here.

In other news, I'm taking the blog onto twitter: if you're still reading you're probably much more interested in long-form, but we're @stosdu if you're into those things.


*given to laughing
 **the state of laughter

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