AP Lit--vocab lessons 3 & 4

tantalize backstory

tantalus was the mortal son of Zeus and he enraged the gods a lot; he spilt secrets, he killed and cooked and served his only son. repulsed by tantalus trying to make the gods cannibals, they punished him by placing him in a clear pool with delicious fruit growing above it, but whenever he was thirsty or hungry the water and fruit would be beyond his reach. they repaid his gruesome feast by making it impossible for him to ever feast again.

tantalize—pt of speech/meaning

verb/to arouse hopes that will be frustrated, tempt, tease

labyrinth backstory

king Minos prayed for a sign that he was favored by the gods, Poseidon gave him a beautiful white bull but it eventually had to be sacrificed. however, he decided to keep the magnificent animal and sacrifice another bull. posieden was angry and caused minos’s wife to fall in love with the bull, to satisfy her she had a craftsman design a lifelike wooden cow. the bull and the cow mated and gave birth to the minotaur; half null and half human. unwilling to kill the minotaur child, daedalus (the craftsman) created a labyrinth to contain it and all captives thrown in were devoured by it. eventually theseus slew the minotaur and was able to find his way back by fastening a ball of thread near the entrance. later, the craftsman himself angered the king and was trapped in his own labyrinth, but he created wings from bird feathers for himself and his son (icarus). but when they flew out of the maze, icarus went too close to the sun, his wings melted and he plummeted

labyrinth—pt of speech/meaning

noun/a complex, intricate network of passages, a complicated situation, a maze

machiavellian backstory

the political theorist machiavelli in his book the prince—a manual for rulers on how to sieze and maintain power, favored reliance on fear rather than love, even advocating lying— he thought these methods would strengthen authority of a ruler. he has become associated with craftiness and double dealing

machiavellian—pt of speech/meaning

adjective/unprincipled and crafty, deceitful

laconic backstory

the Spartans/laconians were famous for the hardships they bore in their military training. they were taught to speak briefly and only when necessary. one time, a Spartan boy was standing with a wolf in his tunic during inspection; refusing to break the required silence, the boy collapsed and the wolf devoured his heart. when Philip of macedon (Alexander the great’s dad) sent a messenger to Sparta to declare that if they enter the city they will destroy it, spartans replied with one word →”if”

laconic—pt of speech/meaning

adjective/brief, concise, to the point

maudlin backstory

in the bible, Jesus cast seven devils out of mary magdalene. she was thought to be the same Mary who wept at the feet of Jesus Christ. therefore mary was a common figure in the religious dramas of the period. the role of mary required considerable crying, and artists depicted her eyes swollen and red from weeping.

maudlin—pt of speech/meaning

adjective/excessively sentimental, mushy

galvanize backstory

the italian physiologist Luigi galvani noticed that the leg of a skinned frog he was dissecting twitched when touched by his scalpel, which was charged by contract with an electric machine. galvani demonstrated that a muscle could be shocked into movement.

galvanize—pt of speech/meaning

verb/to startle, excite, shock, electrify

lethargic backstory

the ancient Greeks believed that the spirits of the deceased drank from the river Lethe before they entered hades, the region of the dead. the drink totally wiped out their memories. spirits returning from hades to be reborn first had to drink from the lethe to erase all after-life memories. greek physicians named a disease characterized by extreme drowsiness after this river

lethargic—pt of speech/meaning

adjective/lazy, sluggish, lacking energy

ostracize backstory

ancient Athens tried to protect its newly established democracy by removing the threat of a dictator. in an annual election, citizens would cast ballots for politicians they believed were becoming too powerful, anyone with over 6,000 votes was banished for 10 years. for this ballot a citizen used a tile called an ostrakon on which they would scratch the name of the person to be exiled

ostracize—pt of speech/meaning

verb/to exclude from society, refuse to associate with, banish, shun

gregarious/egregious backstory

both words derive from the Latin gregis, meaning flock or herd. a “_____” animal likes to be with others of its kind. e grege means out of the herd or flock. originally, the work was positive and applied to those who stood out because of good qualities; now, it is negative because those who stand out are bad.

gregarious—pt of speech/meaning

adjective/liking the company of others, sociable

egregious—pt of speech/meaning

adjective/outstandingly bad, outrageous

spec=

“look” or “see”

specious—pt of speech/meaning

adj/seemingly true or genuine, but actually false;misleading

retrospective—pt of speech/meaning

adj or noun/looking back at the past

introspective—pt of speech/meaning

adj or noun/looking inward at one’s own thoughts and feelings

circumspect—pt of speech/meaning

adjective/curious, watchful, careful

prospective—pt of speech/meaning

adjective/expected, likely, potential

spartan backstory

in the ancient city sparta life was like boot camp. their daily routine was vigorous and to eliminate weaklings they killed deformed or unhealthy infants. an early king showed extreme self-discipline; him and his soldiers were dying of thirst and when they came upon a river, he promised to give over his entire treasure to the enemy leader as long as him and his men were provided a stream. he declared that anyone of his soldiers who refrained from drinking would be the new king. none of the soldiers could resist, but the king did. because the king hadn’t drunk, he didn’t give up his treasure. because of their reputation for enduring hardships, they lent their name to describe vigorous self-denial and a severely simple lifestyle.

spartan—pt of speech/meaning

adjective/severe, rigorous, disciplined

Gadfly backstory

a gadfly, known as a horsefly, stings cattle and horses. the meaning refers to a persistently annoying person, especially one who tries to arouse others to action. the most famous one was the ancient philosopher socrates. he defended himself against the charge of corrupting the youth of Athens in his famous trial, he referred to himself as a gladfly and to Athens as a great steed. he felt his purpose was to sting the conscience of the city and rouse his countrymen to moral action. the oracle declared him the wisest of men but he didn’t feel very wise so he started going around and trying to find someone wiser and discovered that indeed no one knew more than him. the only difference was that others believed they knew something when they didn’t, and socrates himself knew that he knew nothing, he concluded that he was the wisest of men because he knew the limits of his knowledge

gadfly—pt of speech/meaning

noun/a person who continually annoys others, critic, pest

homage backstory

fuedalism wasa military/political system in which a worriror swore loyalty to his lord who in return would provide protection. in a formal ceremony the warrior knelt unarmed and bareheaded while placing his hands between those of the Lord and then swore to use his hands/weapons only for the ruler. this warrior would then become a “vassal” of the Lord and receive a gift of land in return. since the vassal thus became the “man”—from french homme—of the Lord the ceremony was given its name

homage—pt of speech/meaning

noun/action showing respect and honor, admiration

spurn backstory

old English spurnan meant “kick.” shakespeare uses this meaning of “spurn when he has a Jewish moneylender express his rage and resentment as being rudely handled by a merchant who asked him for a loan

spurn—pt of speech/meaning

verb/to scornfully refuse or reject, disdain, repulse

pedigree backstory

during the middle ages noblemen were required to substantiate their claims to an inheritance or title by proving their ancestry. the scholars they employed to trace their ancestry charts and family trees that used a three line symbol to show descent. since this simple resembled the imprint of the foot of a crane, the symbol was called pied de grue (foot of crane). through transformations it became pedigree.

pedigree—pt of speech/meaning

noun/ancestry or record of ancestry, line of descent, lineage

pittance backstory

church sponsors in the middle ages sometimes donated money to provide a feast for the monks on successive anniversaries of the donor’s death, this donation was called pittance. but the pittance dwindled until barely enough to provide crumbs for the monks

pittance—pt of speech/meaning

noun/a small amount of portion (especially of money), insufficiency

preposterous backstory

ancient rome gave us the expression "to put the cart before the horse” which means to be mixed up/do things in the wrong order. the Latin word for this was praeposterus (prae=before, post=after). so the word preposterous literally means “before coming after”

preposterous—pt of speech/meaning

adjective/ridiculous, obviously absurd, contrary to reason

macabre backstory

the middle ages produced morality plays in which abstract qualities (like Good deeds, poverty, wealth, and sin) were represented. these plays taught moral lessons through conflict of good and evil. in one play, death debated with humans and wins the argument, then leads the victims off stange in a strange dance of death (depicted as a dancing skeleton by artists). the black death (the bubonic plague) contributed to the popularity of the gruesome dance macabre as a subject for art.

macabre—pt of speech/meaning

adjective/gruesome, horrible, causing fear, suggesting the horror of death, grim

farce/bombast backstory

both words have to do with suffering and padding. most people were illiterate in the middle ages, but one way for them to learn about the bible/religion was through watching religious plays. however the spectators sometimes grew restless when the actors took time to change costumes between acts of a play. preformers began to fill these gaps with humorous sketches called farces (from the Latin word farcire, which means to stuff, because they were stuffed between acts). bombast also derives from stuffing since men’s court costumes were padded with cotton, the padding was called bombace

farce—pt of speech/meaning

noun/ridiculous, light comedy, absurdity, mockery, nonsense

bombast—pt of speech/meaning

noun/speech or writing that sounds grand but has little meaning, wordiness

rog=

“ask”

perogative—pt of speech/meaning

noun/exclusive, special right, privilege

derogatory—pt of speech/meaning

adjective/tending to make a person/thing seem lesser than, belittling

interrogate—pt of speech/meaning

verb/to question formally, closely, systematically

arrogant—pt of speech/meaning

adjective/showing and excessive/unpleasant sense of superiority, haughty, too proud

abrogate—pt of speech/meaning

verb/to abolish, repeal, cancel, legally to away with