Mikhail Epstein's definitions

videocracy

videocracy n. (from Latin video, I see + Latin cratia, from Greek kratos, power, rule; cf. ideocracy) Ð the power of visual images in shaping contemporary societies; the crucial impact of television, cinema, internet, and advertising on public opinion, political affairs, market strategies, etc.

Videocracy has become the flip side of democracy in the mass media age.

by Mikhail Epstein November 14, 2003

protologism

protologism n Greek protos, first, original + Greek logos, word; cf. prototype, neologism - a newly created word which has not yet gained any wide acceptance. It is a prototype or a hypothetical projection of a new lexical unit before it may become current in writing or speech. The word "protologism" proposed here and now is itself an example of protologism.

In contrast to protologisms, neologisms are words that have already been in public usage by authors other than their inventors. As soon as a protologism finds its way into newspapers and websites, journals and books, it becomes a neologism.

by Mikhail Epstein November 6, 2003

gnawledge

gnawledge n. (word-portmanteau: gnaw + suffix ledge; cf. knowledge) mechanical knowledge that is obtained by "gnawing" facts rather than conceptually interpreting them.

When Bacon pronounced "knowledge is power," he meant real knowledge, not gnawledge.

by Mikhail Epstein November 15, 2003

enjoice

enjoice smbd into v prefix en + joy; cf. rejoice - using false joy to talk someone into sharing an undesirable task; to entrap somebody by the appearance of joy, to deceive or trick into difficulty.

The prefix en-, like in engage, entrap, embrace, engulf, encircle, envelop, enclose, adds to the base the meaning "surrounding something or somebody or placing it within something."

He looked extremely happy with his winning ticket, and he enjoyced me into entering these sweepstakes, which I would never have done otherwise.

The government tries to enjoice us into global expansion by claiming dubious victories, clearly in violation of international law.

by Mikhail Epstein November 2, 2003

transvert

transvert n Lat. trans, across, over + vertere, to turn; cf. intravert, extravert - a psychological type that alternates between introversion and extraversion and combines features of both types.

I don't know who I am, an extravert or an introvert? Or am I a transvert? If so, then the entire classification crumbles.

His life moves from one extreme to another, from complete self-absorption to wild partying at random places with random people. He is a typical transvert.

by Mikhail Epstein November 2, 2003

infinition

infinition (definition + infinitity) Ð an infinite process of defining something that cannot be fully or precisely defined; an endless list of possible definitions.

Certain fluid concepts in their emergent state are subject to in-finition--infinite dispersal of their meaning--rather than to definition. To infine is to suggest the infinity of possible definitions of a certain term or concept and therefore to problematize its meaning and the possibility or the benefit of defining it. If definition circumscribes a specific conceptual area, then infinition releases the concept from restricting demarcations and places it in an indeterminate zone.

by Mikhail Epstein November 6, 2003

amort (amor + mort)

amort n. (Lat. amor, love + Lat. mort, death)

the double instinct of love and death; the ambivalent combination of Eros and Thanatos or the transformation of one into another; a cruel and (self)destructive passion that leads to the ruin of the loved or the lover.

Amort is the most common theme of European literature, from Tristan and Isolde to The Ballad of Reading Gaol:

And all men kill the thing they love,
By all let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!

by Mikhail Epstein November 15, 2003