Word of the Day Archive
Sunday October 6, 2002
chthonic \THONE-ik\ , adjective:
Dwelling in or under the earth; also, pertaining to the underworld
"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."
Chthonic comes from khthón, the Greek word for earth.
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for chthonic
