Word of the DayThursday, May 27, 1999
chthonic
\THONE-ik\ , adjective:1.
Dwelling in or under the earth; also, pertaining to the underworld
Quotes:
"Driven by dæmonic, chthonic Powers."
-- T.S. Eliot,
"The chthonic divinity was essentially a god of the regions under the earth; at first of the dark home of the seed, later on of the still darker home of the dead."
-- C. F. Keary,
"The chthonic imagery of Norine's apartment, which..was black as a coalhole and heated by the furnace of the hostess' unslaked desires."
-- M. McCarthy,
"Two great and contrasted forms of ritual: the Olympian and the Chthonic, the one a ritual of cheerful character, the other a ritual of gloom, and fostering superstition."
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Origin:
Chthonic comes from khthón, the Greek word for earth.
