"accidie, n." - Word of the Day from the OED

[Ian Livingston]

I remember very much enjoying Barth when I read him back around '80.
The Sot Weed Factor, Giles Goat Boy, and Chimera were all equally
entertaining to me at the time, but The Sot Weed Factor made me laugh
the most. I hope your read is as pleasurable as mine was. Of course, I
was hitching around the country at the time, reading Marx and Nietzshe
concurrently with Barth, Dos Passos, and Dostoevsky. Those were the
days, my friends. High times, indeed.

By the way, God is not the name, I think, but the title of God. The
Jewish one is capitalized as the supreme God among all the gods of the
time. The names, Elohim, Jehovah, YHWH, etc., are the names of the
various local deities who eventually came to be identified with the
Megali Theos. Unless, of course, you buy the Christian idea, that the
God of Holy Bible is, was, and ever more shall be the One and Only
True God, Lord Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, and the names in
the Bible were just matters of convenience, meant to keep the people
guessing so the Priests could be richly robed in their high vocation
as interpreters of the text. And so on. One common claim is that no
one knows the name of God, so no ever could speak it.

On Thu, Jan 5, 2012 at 7:42 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
> Happy might be your torpor in disguise.
>
>
> On Thursday, January 5, 2012, Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>> I deny the existence of Gasteriskd, Ghyphend, and Gunderscored, and I
>> welcome anyone who believes in any of them to demonstrate that they
>> are happier than I am. Spiritual malaise rarely troubles me, except
>> sometimes when I don't get enough sunlight. But I really don't think
>> that's the same as accidia.
>>
>> On Thu, Jan 5, 2012 at 6:12 PM, Charles Albert <cfalbert at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> I first came across it in an Irving Howe essay on Fathers & Sons in which
>>> he
>>> defined it as "that torpor of the spirit which derives its strength from
>>> the
>>> denial of the existence of G*d."
>>>
>>> For some reason it has stuck with me for more than 30 years...
>>>
>>> love,
>>> cfa
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, Jan 5, 2012 at 6:15 AM, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> And it seems Mr. Sacred & Profane Durkheim raised awareness
>>>> of this word/concept high in his book Suicide.....
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>> From: Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com>
>>>> To: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>>>> Cc:
>>>> Sent: Wednesday, January 4, 2012 7:49 PM
>>>> Subject: Fwd: "accidie, n." - Word of the Day from the OED
>>>>
>>>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>>> From:  <oedwotd at oup.com>
>>>> Date: Wed, Jan 4, 2012 at 7:30 PM
>>>> Subject: "accidie, n." - Word of the Day from the OED
>>>> To: OEDWOTD-AMER-L at webber.uk.hub.oup.com
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> OED Online Word of the Day
>>>>
>>>> The December 2011 quarterly update is now available. New words from
>>>> across the dictionary include bibimbap, chermoula, earworm,
>>>> posilutely, and traceur. Find out more...
>>>>
>>>> ________________________________
>>>>
>>>> Your word for today is: accidie, n.
>>>>
>>>> accidie, n.
>>>> Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈaksᵻdi/,  U.S. /ˈæksədi/
>>>> Forms: α.   ME accedie,   ME accidy,   ME accidye,   ME–15 accydye,
>>>> ME– accidie.  β.   ME accide,   ME accyde.
>>>> Etymology: <  Anglo-Norman accidie (13th cent.), Anglo-Norman and Old
>>>> French, Middle French accide (13th cent.; French accide, now arch.) <
>>>> post-classical Latin accidia (8th cent. in a British source; also in
>>>> an undated glossary; occasionally also as acidia and accedia),
>>>> alteration (see below) of acedia spiritual sloth, mental weariness
>>>> (5th cent., as also as name of one of the deadly sins: see acedia n.).
>>>> Compare accidia n., and later acedia n. and acedy n.
>>>> The post-classical Latin form accidia probably results either from
>>>> folk-etymological association with accidere (see accident n.) or from
>>>> a Greek sound change, or may partly reflect both causes. The rare form
>>>> acidia probably reflects the (folk-etymological) association with
>>>> classical Latin acidus sour (see acid adj.) recorded by Caesarius of
>>>> Heisterbach (13th cent.).
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> In Middle English and early modern English the position of the main
>>>> stress apparently varied between the first and second syllables.
>>>>  Now chiefly arch. and literary.
>>>>   Physical or mental slothfulness, esp. as a condition leading to
>>>> listlessness and lack of interest in life; apathy, lethargy, torpor;
>>>> (also) †an instance of this (obs.).
>>>> Regarded esp. in early use as characteristic of or equivalent to the
>>>> ‘deadly sin’ of Sloth, and in Christian asceticism as a condition to
>>>> which monks and hermits were particularly liable.
>>>> ?c1225 (1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 155 Þenne is hit
>>>> scheomeles [read ȝemeles] under accidie, þet ich slauðe cleopede, þe
>>>> ne warneð oðer of his lure oðer of his biȝete.
>>>> c1330 (1300) Speculum Guy (Auch.) l. 121 Accedie is as sleuþes broþer,
>>>> Wicke on and wicke oþer.
>>>> a1393  Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iv. l. 539 To serve Accidie in
>>>> his office, Ther is of Slowthe an other vice, Which cleped is<--
>
>> "Less than any man have I  excuse for prejudice; and I feel for all
>> creeds the warm sympathy of one who has come to learn that even the
>> trust in reason is a precarious faith, and that we are all fragments
>> of darkness groping for the sun. I know no more about the ultimates
>> than the simplest urchin in the streets." -- Will Durant
>>



-- 
"Less than any man have I  excuse for prejudice; and I feel for all
creeds the warm sympathy of one who has come to learn that even the
trust in reason is a precarious faith, and that we are all fragments
of darkness groping for the sun. I know no more about the ultimates
than the simplest urchin in the streets." -- Will Durant