Art & MusicGreek → English
Anagnorisis
/ˌænəɡˈnɒrɪsɪs/noun
The moment a character discovers who someone truly is, or what has truly happened.
The Greek roots
ἀνά
aná
again, back
γνωρίζειν
gnōrízein
to make known, recognise
Literally: “recognising again”
The story of the word
Aristotle rated it the strongest device tragedy owns, and his model case is Oedipus, who spends the play investigating a murder and finds the murderer looking back at him. Greek drama often handled it with an object: a scar, a ring, a lock of hair left on a grave. The root is gignṓskō, to know, which also supplies diagnosis, prognosis and agnosia.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → English
Same family
diagnosisprognosisagnosiagnostic
In a sentence
The whole film is built to delay one anagnorisis by ninety minutes.