apotropaic
Jul. 22nd, 2025 07:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordapotropaic (ap-uh-truh-PAY-ik) - adj., intended to ward off evil.
I like the cadence of this, the way it lilts off the tongue. Apotropaic acts include gestures to avert the evil eye and horseshoes fixed over a doorway, not to mention uses of crucifixes. Taken in 1883 from Ancient Greek apotrópaios (the Ancient Greeks used apotropaic decorations like paired eyes on ship prows and gorgon heads), from apotrepein, to ward off, from apó-, away + trepein, to turn.
---L.
I like the cadence of this, the way it lilts off the tongue. Apotropaic acts include gestures to avert the evil eye and horseshoes fixed over a doorway, not to mention uses of crucifixes. Taken in 1883 from Ancient Greek apotrópaios (the Ancient Greeks used apotropaic decorations like paired eyes on ship prows and gorgon heads), from apotrepein, to ward off, from apó-, away + trepein, to turn.
---L.
