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chryselephantine
Jul. 31st, 2023 07:36 amTheme week! -- a concatenation of long words, in this case all five or six syllables, starting with:
chryselephantine (kris-el-uh-FAN-tin, kris-el-uh-FAN-tayn) - adj., made of or overlaid with gold and ivory.
Both of them together, mind you. We have a word for this because the Ancient Greeks made statues this way. The 12-metre tall statue of Zeus at Olympia, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was chryselephantine, done with an overlay. From Ancient Greek chrȳselephántinos, from chrȳs-, combining form of khrusós, gold + elephántinos, of ivory, from elephās, ivory, from an unidentified Afro-Asiatic language (and yes, elephant means beast bearing ivory).
---L.
chryselephantine (kris-el-uh-FAN-tin, kris-el-uh-FAN-tayn) - adj., made of or overlaid with gold and ivory.
Both of them together, mind you. We have a word for this because the Ancient Greeks made statues this way. The 12-metre tall statue of Zeus at Olympia, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was chryselephantine, done with an overlay. From Ancient Greek chrȳselephántinos, from chrȳs-, combining form of khrusós, gold + elephántinos, of ivory, from elephās, ivory, from an unidentified Afro-Asiatic language (and yes, elephant means beast bearing ivory).
---L.
