Myth & LegendGreek → English
Dionysian
/ˌdaɪəˈnɪziən/adjective
Wild, intoxicated and given over to instinct rather than form.
The Greek roots
Διόνυσος
Diónysos
Dionysus, god of wine
Literally: “of Dionysus”
Follow a root:Διόνυσος2 words
The story of the word
Nietzsche set the word against Apollonian in The Birth of Tragedy in 1872, making Dionysus the power of music, intoxication and the dissolving of the self, with tragedy the moment the two forces hold each other. The god is far older than any classical text: di-wo-nu-so appears on Linear B tablets centuries before Homer. The first element is the genitive of Zeus; the second is disputed, and Nysa, the mountain where nymphs were said to have raised him, is the usual candidate rather than the settled answer.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
Same family
DionysiacDionysia
In a sentence
The second half of the festival turns frankly Dionysian.
He wanted a Dionysian novel and produced a very tidy one.