Phaeton

Phaeton (pronounced feyt-n (U) or fey-i-tn (non-U))

(1) Any of various light, four-wheeled carriages, originally without folding tops, having one or two seats facing forward, used first in the nineteenth century.  In describing horse-drawn carriages, phaeton was later used to describe many with convertible tops (originally often as spider (or spyder) phaeton).

(2) An early-mid twentieth century touring-car with four or more seats and (later) sometimes with removable side-windows and a convertible top; some with dual-cowl coachwork.

(3) A model name for automobiles which now means nothing in particular.

1585-1595: 1742: From the (1735) French phaeton, from the Latin Phaëtōn, from the Ancient Greek Φᾰέθων (Phaéthōn).  Phaëthon was the son of Clymene and the sun god Helios who gained permission to drive his father's sun-chariot but, being unable to control the horses was struck by Zeus with a thunderbolt and slain after nearly setting on fire the whole earth.  His name translated as “shining” and was from phaein & the verb phaethô (to shine, to make gleam), from phaos (light), from the primitive Indo-European root bha- (to shine).   Even before the carriages were so named, phaeton (the spellings varied) was used to describe someone who recklessly handled horses and carts or carriages.  The alternative spellings were Phaethon, Phaéthôn, Phaëton, Phaeton, Phæton & Phaëthon.  Phaeton & phaetoneer are nouns; the noun plural is phaetons).

In a cautionary tale about the impetuosity of adolescent youth, Phaéthōn convinced his reluctant sun god father Helios father to let him drive the chariot of the sun across the skies.  Almost at once the unskilled Phaéthōn lost control of the immortal steeds and the chariot crashed, setting the earth ablaze, scorching the once fertile plains of Africa to desert.  Zeus, appalled by the destruction, smote the boy with a thunderbolt, hurling his flaming body into the waters of the River Eridanos.  The youth’s sisters, the Heliades, gathered on the banks and in their mourning, were transformed into amber-teared poplar trees.  In death, Phaethon was placed amongst the stars as the constellation Auriga (the Charioteer) or transformed into the god of the star which the Greeks named Phaethon, the planets Jupiter or Saturn depending on the translation.

1932 Cadillac V16 Special Phaeton with (V12) coach-work by Fisher.

Phaetons were a type of type of light, open four-wheeled horse carriage, English in 1742 picking up the word from French usage, coined in 1735, the link being the exposure of the passengers to the sun and until well into the modern age, they remained popular, despite the availability of carriages with partially or fully enclosed coach-work.  Indeed, they were still the most common form in the early age of the automobile but were close to extinct by the 1930s, supplanted by closed vehicles and those with convertible tops.

The Dual-Cowl Phaetons

1935 Packard Twelve dual-cowl Sport Phaeton with coach-work by Dietrich.

Among the grandest of the pre-war phaetons were the dual-cowl convertibles although, being very expensive in a time of austerity (for much of the population), few were built, the rich often reluctant to consume too conspicously.  Unlike most of the horse-drawn carriages from which the name was appropriated, the cars so-described usually had folding hoods and sometimes removable side-windows (usually called side-curtains).  Purists of course insist that any true phaeton has no windows in the doors, nor any roof, rigid or folding but that was only ever a convention and one not always adhered to during the horse & buggy era and in the age of the automobile everything became elastic.

1935 Duesenberg SJ dual-cowl Phaeton with coach-work by La Grande.  The unusual, rakish line of the convertible top exists because in 1937, Rollston Coachworks (New York) was commissioned to fit the rare option of a fixed vee-windshield, a visual and aerodynamic enhancement from a time before curved-glass screens became practical.

In the 1930s Buick began selling what would now be called a four-door convertible (with integrated winding windows) yet continued to use the phaeton label and the memorable, big dual-cowl Duesenbergs, Chryslers, Lincolns Cadillacs, Packards et al of the era were marketed as phaetons despite having folding roofs and whatever the variations in the coachwork, the appellation stuck.  In the post-war years, the four-door hardtop was probably the spiritual successor of the phaetons as rapidly the four-door convertibles faded from the scene; by the late 1970s, the four-door hardtops too would go extinct except for the odd example in the quirky world of the JDM (japanese domestic Market).  Today, like landau, phaeton is just a name which means nothing in particular although many seem aware it evokes something from the past.  In recent decades, there have been many off-road and utilitarian vehicles which, technically, are phaeton-like but they're hardly in the spirit of the machines of the 1930s.  

Parade Phaetons

Before there was crooked Hillary, there was tricky Dick.  Vice-President Richard Nixon (1913-1994; US VP 1953-1961 & president 1969-1974) at President Dwight Eisenhower's (1890-1969; US president 1953-1961) second Inaugural Parade, 21 January 1957 in 1952 Chrysler Imperial dual-cowl Parade Phaeton (one of three built).

The name of the 1952 parade cars delights the obsessives in the collector-car community because of the corporate history.  Introduced in 1926, the Chrysler Imperial sat atop the company's brand hierarchy until 1954 when Imperial was (re-)launched as a standalone brand, an arrangement which lasted until 1975 (although even by 1972 the Chrysler name had crept back somewhat and the half-hearted revivals in 1981-1983 & 1990-1993 are not fondly remembered).  The 1952 parade phaetons thus are properly designated Chrysler Imperials although, being updated by the factory in 1955 with much of the sheet-metal and other fixtures from the 1956 Imperial, they resemble the later Imperials and are sometimes erroneously described.

1940-1941 Chrysler Newport dual-cowl Phaeton by LeBaron (left), 1952 Chrysler Imperial dual-cowl Phaeton (centre) & 1997 Chrysler dual-cowl Phaeton concept car (right).

Built in 1952 for ceremonial use by the US government and the municipal corporations of New York City and Los Angeles, the three dual-cowl parade phaetons were thought the last of the breed but in 1997 Chrysler unexpectedly displayed a concept car in the same vein.  A pastiche of the original 1941 Plymouths and the 1952 cars, it was obviously not intended for production but did include an intoxicatingly attractive specification including a bespoke 48 valve, 333 cubic-inch (5.4 litre) V12 engine rated at 425 horsepower, 5.4 litres and 425 horsepower both iconic values from Chrysler's happier past.

Comrade Stalin's 1936 Packard Standard Eight Phaeton.  It wasn't used during Moscow's colder months.

Packard was one of the US industry's storied names with roots in the nineteenth century and during the inter-war years had been one of the most prestigious in the nation; it had been the sound of the V12 Packards which inspired Enzo Ferrari (1989-1988) to declare Una Ferrari è una macchina a dodici cilindri (a Ferrari is a twelve cylinder car).  The appeal was real because it was a 1936 Packard Standard Eight Phaeton which comrade Stalin (1878-1953; Soviet leader 1924-1953) used as his parade car and the ZiS-115 limousine (1948-1949 and based on the ZiS 110 (1946-1958), all better known in the West as ZILs) he used in his final years was a reversed-engineered (ie copy) version of the 1942 Packard.  Reverse-engineering was a notable feature of Soviet industry and much of its post-war re-building of the armed forces involved the process, exemplified by the Tupolev Tu-4 heavy bomber (1947) which was a remarkably close copy of the US Boeing B-29 (1942).  Other countries also adopted the practice which in some places continues to this day for mot civilian and military output.  After spending World War II engaged in military production, notably a version of the Merlin V12 aero-engine built under license from Rolls-Royce, Packard emerged in 1945 in sound financial state but found the new world challenging, eventually in 1953 merging with fellow struggling independent, Studebaker.  Beset with internal conflicts from the start, things went from bad to worse and after dismal sales in 1958-1959 of the final Packards (which were really modified Studebakers and derided by many as "Packardbakers"), the Packard brand was retired with the coming of 1959.  The Studebaker-Packard Corporation in 1962 reverted to again become Studebaker but it was to no avail, the last Studebaker being produced in 1967.

FDR & Ford

1937 Ford V8 Phaeton

As the American car buyer came to prefer the creature comforts offered by closed coupés & sedans or convertibles (with proper, winding windows), sales of the more basically configured roadsters and phaetons began in the 1930s rapidly to decline.  The exotic dual cowl phaetons continued to appeal to those who wanted something extravagant in which to be chauffeured on warm, sunny days but for those for whom economics dictated ownership of a single vehicle, the attractions of some protection from the elements was attractive, especially in a northern winter.  Surprisingly, it was Ford, a pioneer (if not the originator) in the techniques of mass-production and the optimization of economies of scale which kept the roadster and phaeton on the books longer than most, their last roadster built in 1937 and the final phaeton the following year although production in 1938 totaled but 1169 cars, little more than an administrative inconvenience to a company which measured its output in chunks of tens of thousands.  When the Ford line was updated for 1939, the phaeton was deleted from the list.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s (FDR, 1882–1945, US president 1933-1945) 1936 Ford V8 Phaeton; his New York license plate was “3”, the governor was allocated “1” and the lieutenant governor “2” (an allocation which reflects late eighteenth century political thought in most of the states).  Afflicted by polio, FDR’s cars were fitted with hand controls for the brake and clutch, a cigarette dispenser always included.

2004 Volkswagen Phaeton W12.

A Volkswagen which should have been an Audi or (not inconceivably) a Lamborghini (both brands part of the VW conglomerate), the VW Phaeton was produced between 2002-2016 as a four-door sedan in a standard and long-wheelbase configuration, the Phaeton name nothing to do with the traditional definition and chosen presumably because it was thought to impart some vague notion of exclusivity and wealth.  That was MBA marketing-think and probably made sense but what did not was the belief it would re-position perceptions of the VW name as a true luxury brand, the "modest success" enjoyed when the W8 engine was offered at high-price in the smaller VW Passat between 2001-2004 seemingly not a sufficiently salutatory lesson.  Why the MBAs didn’t take note of why Toyota created Lexus (so they would have their own Audi) isn’t clear but they may have been the same folk who couldn’t understand the Maybach name made sense positioned below Mercedes-Benz, not above.  The principles used in the washing powder business don’t always translate to other sectors.

Mercedes-Benz 600 Landaulet and (SWB) standard sedans.

The 1970 Pullman Landaulet (one of twelve known informally as the "presidential" because the folding portion of the roof extended to the driver's compartment, the other 58 Landaulets having a convertible top only over the rear seat) was purchased by the Romanian government and used by comrade president Nicolae Ceaușescu (1918–1989; general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party 1965-1989) until he and his wife were executed (by AK47) after a “people's tribunal” held a brief trial, the swiftness of which was aided by the court-appointed defense counsel who declared them both guilty of the genocide of which, among other crimes, they were charged.  Considering the fate of other fallen dictators, their end was less gruesome than might have been expected.  Comrade Josip Broz Tito (1892–1980; prime-minister or president of Yugoslavia 1944-1980) had a similar car (among other 600s) but he died undisturbed in his bed.  The blue SWB (short wheelbase) car to the rear is one of the few SWB models fitted with a divider between the front & rear compartments including hand-crafted timber writing tables and a refrigerated bar in the centre console.  It was delivered in 1977 to the Iranian diplomatic service and maintained for the Shah’s use.

The 1969 SWB to the right (identified as a US market car by the disfiguring headlight treatment) had a less eventful past, purchased by a California real estate developer, who took advantage of the Mercedes-Benz European Delivery Program (discontinued in 2020 after some sixty years), collecting the 600 from the Stuttgart factory.  With due respect to Californian property developers (and Pope Paul VI (1897-1978; pope 1963-1978) who had a very special one), more than any other car the 600 seemed to attract dictators, leading drug dealers, megalomaniacs and those with dubious past or present (many owing several), the roll-call including Coco Chanel, Herbert von Karajan, Daniel arap Moi, comrade Chairman Mao, comrade Deng Xiaoping (who inherited his from the chairman), comrade Kim Il-Sung (The Great Leader), comrade Kim Jong-il (The Dear Leader), comrade Kim Jong-un (The Supreme Leader) (the DPRK's brace of presidential Landaulets passed down the line along with the rest of North Korea), comrade Enver Hoxha, Papa Doc Duvalier, Baby Doc Duvalier (another family inheritance), Ferdinand Marcos, Hastings Banda, Hosni Mubarak, Idi Amin, comrade Josip Broz Tito, Jean-Bédel Bokassa, John Vorster, PW Botha, FW De Klerk (who for whatever reason found his government-owned 600 embarrassingly large and otherwise excessive), comrade Leonid Brezhnev (his three successors stuck to ZILs), the last Shah of Iran, General Zia Ul Haq, Mobutu Sese Seko, comrade Nicolae Ceaușescu, Omar Bongo, Park Chung Hee, Pablo Escobar, Robert Mugabe, Saddam Hussein, Silvio Berlusconi and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.  Of course, just as the reputation the 600 gained from such associations was beginning to be forgotten, it emerged one was owned by Jeremy Clarkson and there may be no recovering from that.

600s at the Tehran Car Museum.

In exile, the Shah of Iran died of natural causes after being deposed in the 1979 revolution which created the Islamic Republic of Iran under the rule of the Imam, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1900-1989; Supreme Leader, Islamic Republic of Iran, 1979-1989).  The ayatollah's taste in cars was more modest but three of the Shah's Mercedes-Benz 600s are among the dozens on display (over a hundred in storage or undergoing restoration) at the Tehran Car Museum, open to the public Sunday-Wednesday (09:00-17:30) & Thurdsay & Friday (09:00-18:30).  It is closed on Saturday.   The museum is located at Azadi Square, Special Karaj Road, near Sepah Store while the office is situated on Resalat Highway, not far from Africa Highway, at the Foundation of the Oppressed, Building Number One, Fourth Floor, Cultural Institute of Museums.

That class of clientele associated with the 600 wasn't as drawn to the VW Phaeton.  For the top VW there were six cylinder petrol and diesel engines and even a V10 diesel but what attracted most interest (if not buyers) was the choice of a 4.2 litre (255 cubic inch) V8 or a 6.0 litre (366 cubic inch) W12, the most potent of the latter rated at a then impressive 444 horsepower (331 kW).  Unfortunately, most who could afford the hefty price lingered not long over the impressive specification but focused instead on the badge, still so associated with the old Beetle.  By all accounts, the Phaeton was a fine piece of engineering and highly regarded by the critics but over fifteen years, fewer than 85,000 were sold, the line never profitable and the depreciation on the W12 was famously high, the failure of the range always explained by the lack of cachet the VW brand enjoyed at that end of the market.  Failure is however a relative term, Mercedes-Benz in the eighteen-odd years between 1963-1981 managed to produce only 2677 of their sinister 600s yet it lent the marque a luster which lingers to this day, despite tireless efforts by the the MBAs to devalue things.  Although doubtlessly also sold at a loss, Mercedes-Benz gained much from the 600; VW got little from the Phaeton.

Exordium

Exordium (pronounced ig-zawr-dee-uhm or ik-sawr-dee-uhm)

(1) The beginning of anything.

(2) The introductory part of an oration, treatise etc.

(3) In formal rhetoric, the introductory section of a discourse in Western classical rhetoric.

(4) In legal drafting (probate), as an exordium clause, the first paragraph or sentence in a will and testament

1525–1535: From the Latin exōrdium (beginning, commencement), from exōrdīrī (I begin, commence) the construct being ex- (out of; from) + ōrd(īrī) (to begin) + -ium.  The ex- prefix was from the Middle English, from words borrowed from the Middle French, from the Latin ex (out of, from), from the primitive Indo-European eǵ- & eǵs- (out).  It was cognate with the Ancient Greek ἐξ (ex) (out of, from), the Transalpine Gaulish ex- (out), the Old Irish ess- (out), the Old Church Slavonic изъ (izŭ) (out) & the Russian из (iz) (from, out of).  The “x” in “ex-“, sometimes is elided before certain constants, reduced to e- (eg ejaculate).  The –ium suffix (used most often to form adjectives) was applied as (1) a nominal suffix (2) a substantivisation of its neuter forms and (3) as an adjectival suffix.  It was associated with the formation of abstract nouns, sometimes denoting offices and groups, a linguistic practice which has long fallen from fashion.  In the New Latin, it was the standard suffix appended when forming names for chemical elements.  Exordium and exord are nouns, exordior is a verb, exordial is an adjective; the noun plural is exordiums or exordia, the choice dictated by consistency of use within a document, either the Latin or English being used in all cases where both exist.

The original meaning of the Latin exōrdium was “the warp laid on a loom before the web is begun” which entered general use as “starting point” and used liberally of physical objects, processes or abstractions.  The term came to assume a specific technical meaning when it was applied to the first of the traditional divisions of a speech established by classical rhetoricians, this later extended to many forms of literature to describe introductions, especially the opening section of a discourse or composition.  In English law, this was formalized in the law of probate as the exordium clause in wills, an opening statement of (more or less) standardized facts. In English, there are many words used to convey the same meaning including introduction, forward, preamble, abstract, (executive) summary, preface, prologue, preliminary, prelude, opening, presentation, proposition, signal, overture, preliminary, prolegomenon, prelusion & proem.  However, although English is notorious for accumulating synonyms (often with other or overlapping meanings), the language is not unique in that, the synonyms of the Latin verb exōrdior (I begin) (present infinitive exōrdīrī, perfect active exōrsus sum) including incohō, occipiō, incipiō, coepiō, ōrdior, initiō, ineō, moveō & mōlior.

The exordium clause

In common law jurisdictions a will need not contain an exordium clause, indeed, an English court once held to be valid a will which consisted of the words “All to mum” scratched on the paint of the overturned tractor which would crush to death the writer.  It was a document of interest too because the judge ruled the “mum” referred not to the deceased’s mother (as would be the prima facie assumption under the usual principles of interpretation) but instead his wife, the decision based on evidence of the man’s use of the term.  It’s said to be the shortest legitimate will in the English language although a Czech court trumped it for brevity by accepting the linguistically unambiguous Vše ženě (everything to wife) scrawled on a bedroom wall.  One might be tempted to ponder the circumstances in which that transpired.

Extract from Adolf Hitler’s last will & testament (with English translation, held by US National Archives).

Adolf Hitler’s (1889-1945; German head of government 1933-1945 & head of state 1934-1945) will contained an exordium which was unlike the prosaic list of facts familiar in English law but, in the circumstances prevailing in the Führerbunker on 29 April 1945, it was probably thought redundant to bother with things like name, address or an assertion of one’s soundness of mind although he did mention his upcoming marriage, though without naming the lucky woman.

As I did not consider that I could take responsibility, during the years of struggle, of contracting a marriage, I have now decided, before the closing of my earthly career, to take as my wife that girl who, after many years of faithful friendship, entered, of her own free will, the practically besieged town in order to share her destiny with me. At her own desire she goes as my wife with me into death. It will compensate us for what we both lost through my work in the service of my people.

He went on to the brief business of what he was leaving to his beneficiaries:

What I possess belongs - in so far as it has any value - to the Party. Should this no longer exist, to the State; should the State also be destroyed, no further decision of mine is necessary.  My pictures, in the collections which I have bought in the course of years, have never been collected for private purposes, but only for the extension of a gallery in my home town of Linz on Donau.  It is my most sincere wish that this bequest may be duly executed.

I nominate as my Executor my most faithful Party comrade, Martin Bormann.  He is given full legal authority to make all decisions. He is permitted to take out everything that has a sentimental value or is necessary for the maintenance of a modest simple life, for my brothers and sisters, also above all for the mother of my wife and my faithful co-workers who are well known to him, principally my old Secretaries Frau Winter etc. who have for many years aided me by their work.

Saving others the trouble, he thoughtfully then made the funeral and cremation arrangements.

I myself and my wife - in order to escape the disgrace of deposition or capitulation - choose death. It is our wish to be burnt immediately on the spot where I have carried out the greatest part of my daily work in the course of a twelve years' service to my people.

Page 1 of Adolf Hitler’s political testament.

As a will, Hitler’s document was valid at the time of its execution and remained so even after the dissolution German state.  Hitler’s sister Paula (1896-1960) attempted in 1952 to enforce the will in a FRG (Federal Republic of Germany, the old West Germany) court but was denied on the technical grounds that he’d not yet been declared legally dead and it wasn’t until 1960, some six months after her death, that a Federal Court in Berchtesgaden awarded her a portion of the estate.  The companion document, Hitler’s political testament, has bothered legal theorists and political scientists ever since.  Arbitrarily, Hitler reverted to the constitutional model to that which had last existed in 1934, splitting the roles of head of state (president) and government (chancellor), appointing two different people although the title of Führer remained unique to him.  He also named a new cabinet (although not all of these offices were so-filled) and the consensus among historians is that in the circumstances of the time and given the nature of the führerstaat (the leadership practices and principles in the Nazi state), the appointments were lawful between Hitler’s death and the dissolution of the German state on 8 May 1945.  It was thus a continuation of the existing entity, not a "Fourth Reich" as the last few weeks are sometimes called and certainly, there was after the dissolution no legal basis for the so-call “cabinet” which continued to meet until the members were arrested on 23 May 1945. 

Jane Austen’s (1775–1817) last will & testament.

However it’s recommended a will include an exordium clause in something like its standard form though it need not be described as such and what the clause does is list the document’s key elements including (1) the name of the person making the will (including any other names by which they may then or in the past have been known), (2) the person’s normal place of residence (expressed in full including street or flat numbers, the locality and province etc), (3) a declaration revoking any earlier wills and (4) a declaration the document is the will belonging to the named person.  The historical practice (still often seen in fiction) of (5) including a phrase like “being sound of mind and body” seems now used with less frequency but some still feature this.  In long or complex wills, all other matters may be handled in other clauses but if the matters are simple, (6) beneficiaries can be included in the exordium clause, as can (7) any other parties who may in some way be involved including issues dealing with the guardianship of minors.

What an exordium clause thus does is set out basic facts and it’s important they are written in such a way that there can be no misinterpretation or ambiguity, beneficiaries for example identified where necessary with some collateral information such as a date of birth or some other information unique to them.  A well-written exordium clause can ensure there can be no contesting of a will on the basis of factual error and seeking legal advice is recommended, even Warren Burger (1907–1995 US Chief Justice 1969-1986) causing his executor problems because the judge was a bit sloppy in his drafting.  A model example might be:

I, Lindsay Dee Lohan, born July 2, 1986, residing at 10585 Santa Monica Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90025, being sound of mind and body, declare this to be my will and I revoke any and all wills and codicils previously made.

Although not allowed in all jurisdictions, the exordium clause can work in conjunction with other clauses including (1) the residuary clause which deals with any assets which remain after the specifics of the will have been executed, (2) the in terrorem (in fear) clause which states that should a beneficiary challenge the will, they will be denied any benefits of that will, (3) the testamentary trust clause which, for various purposes, passes the estate into a trust prior to any distribution of assets and (4) a no-contest clause, a variation of the in terrorem clause in that it denies benefits to any beneficiary who challenges the will and loses, the purpose being to discourage vexatious actions or those with no prospect of success.

Satyriasis & Nymphomania

Satyriasis (pronounced sey-tuh-rahy-uh-sis or sat-uh-rahy-uh-sis)

(1) In psychology & psychiatry, a neurotic condition in men in which the symptoms are an excessive and unrestrainable venereal desire, manifesting as a compulsion to have sexual intercourse with as many women as possible.  In modern clinical use, it’s linked also to an inability to sustain lasting relationships.

(2) A disease involving swelling around the temples, causing the victim to resemble a satyr, based on the depiction in Hellenic art of satyriatic men as horned goats.

1650s: A creation of Medical Latin, from the Late Latin satyriasis, from the Ancient Greek στυρ́ησς (saturíēsis) (excessively great venereal desire in the male), from satyros, accusative plural of satyrus, from the Ancient Greek σάτυρος (sáturos) (satyr-like).  The construct was στράω (saturiáō) +‎ -σις (-sis).  The –sis suffix was from the Ancient Greek -σις (-sis) and was used to forms noun of action), often via Latin but increasingly also from French; it had exactly the same effect as the Latin –entia and the English -ing.  Historically, the use in terms borrowed from Ancient Greek was comparatively rare but there are many modern coinages based on Ancient Greek roots, reflecting to ongoing reverence for the ancient languages.  Satyriasis, satyriasist, satyromaniac, satyrization & satyr are nouns, satyriatic is an adjective; the common noun plural is satyriasist.

In Greek mythology, a satyr was a deity or demigod, male companion of Pan or Dionysus, represented as part man and part goat, and characterized by riotous merriment and lasciviousness, depicted sometimes with a perpetual erection.  Although that’s the same symptom as the condition of priapism (morbidly persistent erection of the penis), a sufferer is not of necessity also satyriatic.  The noun priapism was from the Late Latin priapismus, from the Greek priapismos (lewdness), from priapizein (to be lewd), from Priapos (the god of male reproductive power).  In Roman mythology satyr was a synonym of faun and, by extension, a lecherous man.  In modern casual use, it’s referred to also as Don Juanism, an allusion to the fictional fourteenth century Spanish nobleman Don Juan, whose sexual exploits became a thing of legend.  The term satyriasis (if not the condition) is largely archaic although still used in literature and by clinicians with a sense of history, the more popular form being satyromania, a coining in Modern Latin from 1759 which first appeared in dictionaries of English in 1889.

Don Juan (circa 1911), oil on canvas by Charles Ricketts (1866–1931).

Nymphomania (pronounced nim-fuh-mey-nee-uh or nim-fuh-meyn-yuh)

In psychology & psychiatry, a neurotic condition in women in which the symptoms are an excessive and unrestrainable venereal desire, manifesting as a compulsion to have sexual intercourse with as many men as possible.  In modern clinical use, it’s linked also to an inability to sustain lasting relationships.

1775: From the New (Medical) Latin as nymphomania (morbid and uncontrollable sexual desire in women), from the Classical Latin nympha (labia minora), the construct thus nympho- +‎ -mania.  The first known instance of publication in English was in a translation of Nymphomania, or a Dissertation Concerning the Furor Uterinus (1771) by French physician Jean Baptiste Louis de Thesacq de Bienville (1726-1813) on the model of the Ancient Greek nymphē (bride, young wife, young lady) + -mania (madness) and may have been influenced by the earlier French nymphomanie (a frenzied state of (usually erotic) emotion, especially concerning something or someone unattainable).  The adjective nymphomaniac was used first in 1861 in the sense “characterized by or suffering from nymphomania”, the specific reference to “a woman who is afflicted with nymphomania” first noted in medical literature in 1867.  In pre-modern medicine, the synonyms were the now obsolete furor uterinus and œstromania which, curiously, is said still to be mentioned in some textbooks.

Nymph was from the Middle English nimphe, from the Old French nimphe, from the Latin nympha (nymph, bride), from the Ancient Greek νύμφη (númphē) (bride) and a doublet of nympha.  The alternative spelling nymphe is archaic except as a poetic device.  In Greek & Roman mythology, a nymph was any female nature spirit associated with waterways, forests, grottos, the breezes etc and is common use was applied to beautiful or graceful young girls (often as nymphet or nymphette) although the specialized use in entomology to refer to (1) the larva of certain insects and (2) any of various butterflies of the family Nymphalidae is analogous with the nymphs of antiquity only in relation to fragility and gracefulness rather than anything specifically female.  The modern equivalent (Lolita & lolita) is decidedly “of youthful femininity”).  The suffix –mania was from the Latin mania, from the Ancient Greek μανία (mania) (madness).  In modern use in psychiatry it is used to describe a state of abnormally elevated or irritable mood, arousal, and/or energy levels and as a suffix appended as required.  In general use, under the influence of the historic meaning (violent derangement of mind; madness; insanity), it’s applied to describe any “excessive or unreasonable desire; a passion or fanaticism” which can us used even of unthreatening behaviors such as “a mania for flower arranging, crochet etc”.  As a suffix, it’s often appended with the interfix -o- make pronunciation more natural.  Nymphomania is a noun, nymphomaniac is a noun & adjective and nymphomaniacal is an adjective; the usual noun plural is nymphomaniacs.

Fairly or not, Lindsay Lohan may in 2013 have cemented a reputation as a nymphomaniac when, in a Beverley Hills hotel room, she complied a list of three dozen "conquests" although it wasn't clear if the list was selective or exhaustive and it produced reactions among those mentioned ranging from "no comment" to a Clintonesque "I did not have sex with that woman".  In partially redacted form, the list was in 2014 published by In Touch magazine and points of interest included Ms Lohan's apparently intact short & long-term memory and her commendably neat handwriting.  She seems to favor the "first letter bigger" style in which the style is "all capitals" but the first letter (in each word in the case of proper nouns such as names) is larger.  In typography, the idea is derived from the "drop cap", a centuries-old tradition in publishing where the opening letter of a sentence is many times the size of the rest, the text wrapping around the big letter.  In many cases, a drop cap was an elaborate or stylized version of the letter.

Sex doesn't appear in the annals of psychiatry with quite the frequency suggested by the volume of material published for popular consumption but it's certainly a significant part of the development of the discipline and Sigmund Freud's (1856-1939) thoughts on sex are better known even than his dream analysis.  Few would doubt that sexual behaviours are integral to some psychiatric diseases and while women are thought not ordinarily prone to nymphomania, it has been treated as expression of delusional disorder (which some, controversially, call late-onset paranoia, a rare condition which may be under-diagnosed because research suggests sufferers seem to avoid treatment.  It's of particular interest because while women with delusional disorder appear often develop a powerful sexual fixation, men's fixations arise usually in the absence of anything which could be diagnosed as a delusional disorder.  Such caveats aside, the profession has always been interested in the phenomenon of persistent, socially deviant sexual behavior accompanied by an excessive sexual appetite that may be maladaptive for the individual and the terms “compulsive sexual behavior”, “sex addiction”, “Don Juanism”, “satyriasis” & “nymphomania” are all expressions of “hypersexuality”.  Despite the long and well-documented history, when the editorial committee of the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) met to discuss amendments and additions to the fifth edition (DSM-5, 2013), the members decided not to introduce hypersexual disorder as a distinct diagnostic category, apparently because of what was said to be a paucity of research on valid diagnostic criteria.

Nymphomaniacs, hysteria and steam-induced parosysm

The gender-neutral form of satyriasis and nymphomania is erotomania (abnormal exaltation of the sexual appetite which, perhaps surprisingly, predates the modern culture wars, noted in the medical literature since 1875.  The construct of erotomania was eroto- +‎ -mania, eroto from the Ancient Greek ἐρωτικός (erōtikós) (related to love), from ἔρως (érōs) (passionate or sexual love).  There were however in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, echoes of the culture wars because physicians were known to diagnose nymphomania in women they deemed “to enjoy sex too much”.  Some physicians however were sympathetic practical as well as sympathetic.  While they might diagnose women as “hysterical” (then an orthodox part of medicine without the exclusively “loaded” meaning of today, some were prepared to stimulate the vagina until "parosysm" (the then preferred terminology for orgasm) was achieved.   For the doctor however, it could be a tiring business, some taking longer to climax than others although (officially) the treatment was offered only to unmarried women, reducing the patient load, so there was that.

Dr Taylor’s steam-powered Manipulator. Still, hands and wrists must quickly have tired, thus the attraction of the vibrator, a device which pre-dates the use of electricity, crank-driven models (resembling a very specialised egg-beater) first produced in 1734 and the early, powered, vibrators of the nineteenth century were a deviation from the engineering practices of the day which were really a collection of techniques designed to optimize specific efficiencies.  By contrast, the early vibrators required inefficient motors.  While all motors have moving parts and will vibrate, engineers use precise tolerances to achieve balance, ensuring the vibrations are minimized because vibrations are just wasted energy.  However, by definition a vibrator needs to vibrate and at the time, the easy way to achieve this with an inefficient motor, thus the steam-powered Manipulator invented by US physician George Taylor (1821-1896) in 1869.  Steam-powered, it certainly vibrated as needed but was big and noisy, the steam engine installed in an room adjoining the surgery, the apparatus protruding through the wall.  However, as a proof-of-concept exercise it worked and Dr Taylor reported good results.   Since then the devices have evolved to be smaller, quieter and battery-powered and although electrical power has become ubiquitous, one innovation proved a cul-de-sac, the Electro-Spatteur (which augmented its vibrations with electric shocks) lacking sales appeal.  The un-powered devices however didn’t entirely disappear and early in the twentieth century, the Pulsocon was advertised in the Sears mail-order catalog (the amazon.com of the age) and as recent examinations (it’s not clear if the tests were practical) confirmed, it worked well as a vibrator, its promoters jailed in 1913 only because the other claims they were making for its efficacy (curing just about every ailment known) were variously unproven, unsustainable, unbelievable or simply lies.

The Pulsocon.

Fungible

Fungible (pronounced fuhn-juh-buhl)

In law, finance and commerce, being of such nature or kind as to be freely exchangeable or replaceable, in whole or in part, for another of like nature or kind (especially as applied to physical goods).

1765: From the Medieval Latin fungibilis, the construct being fung(ī) (to perform the office of) + -ibilis (-ible) (a variant of -bilis, the suffix usually added to certain verbs to form an adjective denoting passive qualities).  Root was the Latin fungor (I perform; I discharge a duty), source of the Modern English function, it was originally a legal term in Medieval Latin drawn from Roman civil law, res fungibilis (replaceable things), used typically in proceedings in phrases such as fungi vice (to take the place).  The adjectival form was first used in 1818.  The synonyms are interchangeable, exchangeable & replaceable.  Of late, the word has acquired a new life in the NFT, the non-fungible token, an entry in the digital ledger the blockchain which, thus far, provides an owner with an unimpeachable, blockchain-verified proof of ownership.  Fungible is a noun and adjective, fungibility is a noun and nonfungible & unfungible are adjectives that of late have come more frequently to be used; the noun plural is fungibles.  

Fungible and non-fungible

In law, finance and commerce, the general principle of fungibility is of a thing able to be substituted for something of equal value or utility.  The classic fungible is physical cash.  If one lends $10,000 to another, it usually matters not if the loan is repaid in different banknotes than those used in the initial transaction.  However, a rare US$10,000 note is non-fungible and ten thousand one dollar notes are not a substitute in the same way that to a coin collector, a rare nickel (five cent) is not interchangeable with another whereas most nickels are in just about any transaction.  A commodity like crude oil is fungible.  When a futures trader executes a contract for 100,000 barrels of Tapas Crude six months hence, the oil may be in the ground, in a tanker or in storage tank somewhere.  Precious diamonds are often not perfectly fungible because each is unique and cannot always be substituted with another, even if of similar size and identical nominal value whereas industrial diamonds are fungible and need only conform to a specification to be an acceptable substitute.  The concept is important in criminal law.  As a general principle, when alleging theft, the state has to prove the items in position of accused are those stolen.  If the theft involves fungibles (petrol, money etc) where it may not be possible to establish the physical relationship, the state must provide other evidence.

Images associated with some of Lindsay Lohan's NFTs. 

Non-fungible tokens

A non-fungible token (NFT) is an entry on a blockchain, a digital ledger.  All the NFT does is certify the uniqueness of the token itself and it’s created usually to guarantee an exclusive (legal) ownership of some asset, typically material stored in digital format such as image and audio files.  Of themselves, NFTs don’t restrict access to a file or prevent its duplication and dissemination; they are just a proof of ownership.  Transactional volumes by 2021 had reached US$ billions; future growth will depend of (1) whether the blockchain proves as robust as it appears and (2) whether NFT prove to be actual tangible asset or bubble although there’s no reason they can’t assume a different trajectory from cryptocurrency.  Technically, a blockchain need not be associated with a cryptocurrency but to date most NFT transactions have been on the Ethereum blockchain, its infrastructure well understood and at one layer of that structure, any blockchain is just another file system, an NFT differing from a ETH coin only in that different (and additional) data are entered.  The NFT can be associated with a digital or physical asset or a license to use the asset on whatever basis may be granted and may be traded.  The underlying mechanism of the blockchain means as database entries, NFTs work like any cryptographic tokens but, unlike cryptocurrencies, NFTs are not interchangeable and are thus inherently non-fungible.  However, although every bitcoin is exactly the same, inevitability, someone will work out a way to find some unique aspect of some bitcoin (such as the “first” one) and at that point, the NFT will be created.

No NFT required.  A 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO in silver (US$70 million) and a fine replica by Tempero of a 1963 model in rosso corsa (US$1.2 million).

NFTs address one aspect of the problem associated with anything digital: the ease of creation of perfect replicas and real world analogies are illustrative of the need.  Ferrari made only thirty-nine 250 GTOs and one has sold for US$70 million but it’s possible for experts to create an almost exact replica, indeed one often of higher quality than an original but it will only ever be worth a fraction of the real thing.  With something digital, just about anyone can create an exact duplicate, indistinguishable from the source, hence the attraction of the NFT which, thus far, can’t be forged.  NFTs have been linked to real-world objects, as a sort of proof of ownership which seems strange given that actual possession or some physical certificate is usually sufficient, certainly for those with a 250 GTO in the garage but there are implications for the property conveyancing industry, NFTs possibly a way for real-estate transactions to be handled more efficiently.  For those producing items subject to much piracy (running shoes, handbags etc), there’s interest in attaching NFTs as a method of verification.

Errant & Arrant

Errant (pronounced er-uhnt)

(1) Deviating from the regular or proper course; erring; straying outside established limits (often used in sport as “errant shot”, “errant punch” etc).

(2) Prone to error; misbehaved; moving in an aimless or lightly changing manner (often used in a non-human context: breezes, water-flows et al).

(3) Journeying or traveling, as a medieval knight in quest of adventure; roving adventurously (archaic, although it may in this sense still be a literary device).

(4) Utter, complete (obsolete, the meaning now served by “arrant”).

1300–1350: From the Middle English erraunt (traveling, roving), from the Anglo-Norman erraunt, from the Middle French, from the Old French errant, present participle of errer & edrer (to travel or wander), from the unattested Vulgar Latin iterāre (to journey) (and influenced by the Classical Latin errāre (to err)), from the Late Latin itinerārī, a derivative of iter (stem itiner-) (journey) and source of the modern English itinerary), from the root of ire (to go), from the primitive Indo-European root ei- (to go).  Understandably, in the Medieval era, the word was often confused with the Middle French errant (present participle of errer (to err)) so the use in old translations need to be read with care and the Old French errant in its two senses (1) the present participle of errer (to travel or wander) & (2) past participle of errer were often confused even before entering English.  In any event, much of the latter sense went with arrant (which was once a doublet of errant).  All the muddle is attributable to the link between the Old French errant with the Latin errāns, errāntem & errāre (to err) and the present participle of errer (to wander), which was from the Classical Latin iterō (I travel; I voyage) rather than errō, which is the ancestor of the etymology of error (to err; to make an error).  The comparative is more errant and the superlative most errant and the synonyms (depending on context) include aberrant, erratic, offending, stray, unorthodox, wayward, deviating, devious, drifting, errable, fallible, heretic, meandering, misbehaving, mischievous, miscreant, naughty, rambling, ranging & roaming.  The obsolete alternative spelling was erraunt.  Errant is a noun & adjective (often postpositive) and errantly is an adverb; the noun plural is errants.

Arrant (pronounced ar-uhnt)

(1) Downright; thorough-going; flagrant, utter, unmitigated; notorious (the latter in the non-derogatory sense).

(2) Wandering; errant (obsolete).

1350–1400: From the Middle English, a variant of errant (wandering, vagabond), the sense developed from its frequent use in phrases like “arrant thief” which became synonymous with “notorious thief”.  Etymologists tracking the late fourteenth century shift note that as a variant of errant, it was first merely derogatory in the sense of “a wandering vagrant” and remembered as an intensifier due to its use as an epithet because of poetic phrases such as “arrant thieves and arrant knaves” (ie “wandering bandits”).  In the 1500s the word gradually shed its opprobrious force and acquiring the meaning “thorough-going, downright and notorious (the latter in the non-derogatory sense)”.  In a limited number of specific uses, arrant can still convey a negative sense such as “arrant nonsense!” (utterly untrue) and the meaning is preserved when Shakespeare’s “arrant knaves” (from the nunnery scene in Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1) is invoked.  Remarkably, there are still dictionaries which list arrant simply as an alternative form of errant, despite in practice use having separated centuries earlier and some style guides suggest arrant should be avoided because (1) some may confuse it with errant and (2) it’s an adjective which seems used mostly in clichés.  The obsolete alternative spelling was arraunt, the obsolete comparative was arranter and the obsolete superlative, arrantest.  Arrant is an adjective and arrantly an adverb.

Errant driving: The aftermath of three Lindsay Lohan car crashes although the Maserati Quattroporte (right; borrowed from her father) suffered little more than a nudge and it's said her assistant was at the wheel at the time.

Peradventure

Peradventure (pronounced pur-uhd-ven-cher (U) or per-add-ven-chur (non-U)

(1) Chance, doubt or uncertainty (rare & archaic).

(2) Surmise (obsolete).

(3) It may be; perchance or maybe; possibly; perhaps (a definitely obsolete adverb).

1250–1300: From the Middle English peraventure, & per aventure, from Old French par aventure, the spelling in English modified in the seventeenth century to emulate Latin, providing a gloss of classical respectability.  The earliest form (circa 1300) was per aventure, paradventure adopted in the fourteenth and peradventure (sometimes in the old form as peraduenture) the final change.  Adventure evolved from the Middle English aventure, aunter & anter, from the Old French aventure, from the Late Latin adventurus, from the Latin advenire & adventum (to arrive), which in the Romance languages took the sense of "to happen, befall".  Aventure was from the Vulgar Latin adventura, from the Late Latin adventurus, from the Classical Latin adventus, the construct being adveniō (arrive) +‎ -tus (the action noun–forming suffix).  Peraventure is a noun & adverb, the noun plural is peradventures.

Peradventure in the sense of “chance, doubt or uncertainty” is both rare and archaic, a combination characterizing those words Henry Fowler (1858–1933) in his A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926) listed as archaisms, words he suggested were “…dangerous except in the hands of an experienced writer who can trust his sense of congruity”, adding that the use of archaisms was “…more likely to irritate the reader than to please…” and the word does seem to appear when people seek either (1) variety, (2) a flourish or (3) a display of their “pride of knowledge”, one of the many linguistic habits of Henry Fowler damned.  Peradventure means “chance, doubt or uncertainty” (the other meanings wholly obsolete) and is used in the forms “beyond peradventure” & “beyond a peradventure”, the more usual ways of expressing the sentiment including “beyond question” & “without doubt”. 

The reason it should be avoided in normal discourse is that unlike some deliberate archaisms, (such as “afforce” which is sufficiently close in construction and meaning to “reinforce”), there is nothing in the word which would allow a interlocutor to pick up the meaning.  That’s because the element “adventure” id derived from a linguistic fork which evolved into extinction, the aventure in the Old French per aventure coming from the adventura, a future form of the verb advenire (to happen (ie something which may occur).  However by the time it entered the Old French, variously it could mean destiny or fate, a chance event, an accident, fortune or luck and it was the sense of “a chance or uncertain event” that attached to the word when it was adopted in the Middle English.  That eventually produced peradventure but “adventure” also came to be used in English as an event with some risk of danger or loss, that sense persisting in law (In admiralty law, marine insurers use adventure in the technical sense of ”the period during which insured goods are at risk” and there’s the technical term “medical misadventure”, used when doctors murder their patients).  The sense thus shifted from “a chance event” to “a hazardous undertaking or audacious exploit to the modern form” (which still exists in law) before assuming the modern meaning: “a novel or exciting experience”.  Thus, it’s unlikely to occur to most that “peradventure” means what it does.

It can of course be used among word nerds and others where a pride of knowledge is something admired.  John Parker (1885–1958), the US alternate judge sitting on the International Military Tribunal trying the Nazi leadership (the first Nuremberg Trial (1945-1946)), used the phrase “…conspiracy has been proved beyond peradventure” when resisting the objection from the French judges that the charge of “criminal conspiracy” (Count One: Conspiracy to Wage Aggressive War) was not sustainable because it was unknown in international or continental law, too vague and a conspiracy is anyway absorbed by the crime one committed.  It was an interesting discussion which didn’t convince the French although, in the circumstances, they were inclined to compromise… a little.  The primary US judge, Francis Biddle (1886–1968), noted on hearing “peradventure” that Judge Parker “liked such old-fashioned phrases, which, when he used them, sounded like the crack of a long whip, tearing other arguments to shreds”.  He might have added Parker came from the North Carolina bar, where old-fashioned phrases are perhaps more often heard.

It does also enjoy that ultimate imprimatur of authenticity, as an adverb appearing seventeen times in the plays of William Shakespeare (1564–1616), two examples being:

Henry V, Act IV, Scene I.

Some, peradventure, have on them the guilt of peradventure premeditated and contriued Murther; some, of beguiling Virgins with the broken Seales of Periurie; some, making the Warres their Bulwarke, that haue before gored the gentle Bosome of Peace with Pillage and Robberie.

Coriolanus Act II, Scene I.

…peraduenture some of the best of 'em were hereditarie hangmen.  Godden to your Worships, more of your conuersation would infect my Braine, being the Heardsmen of the Beastly Plebeans.  I will be bold to take my leaue of you.

Trend of use of peradventure, tracked by the Collins English Dictionary.

The trend however, the odd eighteenth century spike notwithstanding, is down, one of the few supporting gestures in recent years (2015) by UK Labor MP Harriet Harman (b 1950) and such was the reaction from friend and foe that, beyond peradventure, she’s unlikely to use it again.