Physiognomy

Physiognomy (pronounced fiz-ee-og-nuh-mee or fiz-ee-on-uh-mee)

(1) The face or countenance, especially when considered as an index to the character.

(2) The art of determining character or personal characteristics from the form or features of the body, especially of the face (also called anthroposcopy).

(3) The outward appearance of anything, taken as offering some insight into its character.

(4) Estimation of one's character and mental qualities by a study of the face and general bodily carriage.

1350-1400: From the Late Middle English phisognomie or phisiognomie (art of judging characters from facial features), from the Medieval Latin physionomi from the Late Latin physonomia, from the Late Greek physiognōmía, a syncopated variant of physiognōmonía (art of judging a person by his features).  The construct in Greek was physio- (from physios (nature) + gnōmōn (genitive gnōmōnos) (a judge, interpreter, indicator) from the primitive Indo-European root gno- (to know).  The word soon replaced the earlier Middle English forms fisenamie, fisnamie & fisnomie (from the Middle French fisonomie & the Old French phizonomie).  There was also the strange medieval linguistic cul-de-sac phusiognōmia, an erroneous form of phusiognōmonia (from phusis (nature) + gnōmōn (judge)).  The related form still occasionally used in technical literature is physiognomical.

There’s nothing in science which proves physiognomy can’t be anthropomorphic.  The website Cats that look like Hitler accepts submissions from owners, victims and others who contribute photographs of führeresque felines.  Everyone knows one can tell if a cat is evil by looking into its eyes.

In the same way astrology was once respectable science taught in universities, physiognomy was well accepted by ancient Greek philosophers though it fell into disrepute in medieval times when practiced by crooks and con-men.  As a pseudo-science, it was later revived and briefly popularized by the Swiss theologian Johann Kaspar (1741–1801) who actually enjoyed a friendship with Goethe (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; 1749–1832) until the author distanced himself, finding the priest just too weird and superstitious.  There was a revival of interest in the late nineteenth century when people started to apply their own interpretations of Darwin’s theories and observations, physiognomy and physical anthropology among the techniques used as a basis for “scientific” racism.  This period of its popularity, not uncoincidentally, happened during the height of European colonialism.  Of late, there’s been a revival of interest because of the rapid improvements in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning for facial recognition.  With big data-sets, it becomes, at least theoretically, possible to determine if correlations really do exist between facial appearance, personality and behavior.

Using just an image of Lindsay Lohan downloaded from Wikipedia, the analysis engine used by physiogomicia.com was able to determine she "practices self-denial" and "gets inspired and fantasizes".  The promotional material for the website physiognomica.com begins by asking: "Do you want to learn more about the people surrounding you?"  It promises to "open all the secrets of identity" so that:

"All human secrets will be accessible to you. Is someone capable of lying, is he/she kind, likely to get rich, intelligent or lazy? After analyzing just one photo, we will tell you about the personality and the motives that lead this person. Everything is spread before the eyes. And it is absolutely free of charge.  Nothing stays buried forever!  You will be literally reading people’s minds.  Even before having a conversation with the person you will know exactly how to behave.  From now on it will be easy to evaluate motives of the person.  No more lie detectors and without long discussions with the psychologist."

Anorexia

Anorexia (pronounced an-uh-rek-see-uh)

(1) In clinical medicine, loss of appetite and inability to eat.

(2) In psychiatry, as anorexia nervosa, a defined eating disorder characterized by fear of becoming fat and refusal of food, leading to debility and even death.

(3) A widely-used (though clinically incorrect) short name for anorexia nervosa.

1590–1600: From the New Latin, from the Ancient Greek ἀνορεξία (anorexía), the construct being ἀν (an) (without) + ὄρεξις (órexis) (appetite; desire).  In both the Greek and Latin, it translated literally as "a nervous loss of appetite".  Órexis (appetite, desire) is from oregein (to desire, stretch out) and was cognate with the Latin regere (to keep straight, guide, rule).  Although adopted as a metaphorical device to describe even inanimate objects, anorexia is most often (wrongly) used as verbal shorthand for the clinical condition anorexia nervosa.  The former is the relatively rare condition in which appetite is lost for no apparent reason; the latter the more common eating disorder related to most cases to body image.  Interestingly, within the English-speaking world, there are no variant pronunciations.

Anorexia Nervosa and the DSM

The pro-ana community has created its own sub-set of standard photographic angles, rather as used car sites typically feature certain images such as the interior, the odometer, the engine etc.  Among the most popular images posted on "thinspiration" pages are those which show bone definition through skin and, reflecting the superior contrast possible, there's a tendency use grayscale, usually converted from color originals.  The favored body parts include the spine, hip bones, clavicles (collar bones) and the shoulder blades.     

Although documented since antiquity, the condition in its modern form wasn't noted in western medical literature until an 1873 paper presented to the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) called “Anorexia Hysterica”, a description of a loss of appetite without an apparent gastric cause.  That same year, a similar condition was mentioned in a French publication, also called “l’anorexie hystérique”, and described food refusal combined with hyperactivity.  Although the author of the earlier work had within a year changed the descriptor to “Anorexia Nervosa”, the implication in all these papers was of an affliction exclusively female, something very much implied in “l’anorexie hystérique”, hysteria then a mainstream diagnosis and one thought inherently "a condition of women".

A slight Lindsay Lohan demonstrates "an anorexic look" which is something distinct from the clinically defined condition "anorexia nervosa" although there's obviously some overlap.

After its acceptance as a psychogenic disorder in the late nineteenth century, anorexia nervosa (AN) was the first eating disorder placed in the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).  In the first edition (DSM-I (1952)), it was considered a psycho-physiological reaction (a neurotic illness).  In the DSM-II (1968), it was listed with special symptoms & feeding disturbances, which also included pica and rumination.  In DSM-III (1980), eating disorders were classified under disorders of childhood or adolescence, perhaps, at least in part, contributing to the under-diagnosis of later-onset cases.  At that time, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) created two specific categories that formally recognized the diagnosis of eating disorders: AN and binge eating (called bulimia in DSM-III and bulimia nervosa (BN; the obsessive regurgitation of food) in both the revised DSM-III (1987) and DSM-IV (1994).  In the DSM-IV, all other clinically significant eating disorder symptoms were absorbed by the residual categories of eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS) and binge-eating disorder (BED), noting the disorders were the subjects for further research.  Subsequently, When the DSM-IV was revised (2000), eating disorders moved to an independent section.  The DSM-5 (2013) chapter for eating disorders added to the alphabet soup.  In addition to pica, AN, BN and BED, DSM-5 added  avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) and other specified feeding or eating disorder (OSFED), the latter including some other peculiar pathological eating patterns, like atypical AN (where all other criteria for AN are met, but weight is in the normal range).

Chthonian

Chthonian (pronounced thoh-nee-uhn)

(1) In Classical mythology, of or relating to the deities, spirits, and other beings dwelling under the earth.

(2) Dwelling in, or under the earth

1840–1850: From the Greek chthóni(os), the construct being chthon (stem of chthṓn (earth) + -ios (the adjectival suffix, accusative masculine plural of –ius) + -an (from the Latin -ānus, which forms adjectives of belonging or origin from a noun.  It was akin to the Latin humus (earth).  The alternative spelling in Ancient Greek was khthonios (in or under the earth), from χθών (khthṓn) (earth, ground, soil).

The Furies (Erinyes)

In Greek mythology, the Furies were the three chthonic female deities of vengeance; known also as Erinyes (the avengers), their counterparts in Roman mythology, the Dirae.  The names of this grumpy triumvirate were Alecto (the angry one), Tisiphone (the avenger) and Megaera (the grudging one).  In the literature, they’re sometimes called the infernal goddesses.

In Internet mythology, three chthonic female deities of vengeance.  Opinion might be divided about the allocation of the labels Angry, Avenging & Grudging. 

There are several myths of the birth of the Furies.  The most popular is they were born simultaneously with Aphrodite but in Hesiod’s Theogony, he claimed the Furies were born out of Uranus’ blood while Aphrodite was being born from sea foam when Titan Cronus castrated his father Uranus and cast his genitals to the sea; implicit in this version is the Furies preceded the Olympian Gods.  Another myth suggests they were born of a union between air and sea while according to Roman Poets (Ovid's (Publius Ovidius Naso; 43 BC–17 AD) Metamorphoses and Virgil's (Publius Vergilius Maro (70–19 BC)) Aeneid, they were the daughters of Nyx (the Night). In some old Greek hymns and Greco-Roman poet Statius' (Publius Papinius Statius (circa 45-circa 96) Thebaid they were the daughters of Hades and Persephone, serving them in the kingdom of underworld.  Furies listened to the complaints and callings of victims in the world when these people cursed the wrongdoers.  Those who murdered their mothers or fathers were especially important for Furies because (at least according to the Ancient Greek poet Hesiod (7-8^th century BC)), they were born of a child’s wrongdoing to his father.  They punished people who committed crimes against gods, crimes of disrespect, perjury and those who broke their oaths, but they thought murder the most vile crime and one demanding the most cruel punishment.

Virgil pointing out the Erinyes (1890), engraving by Gustave Doré (1832–1883).

The Furies served Hades and Persephone in the underworld.  When souls of the dead came to the kingdom of Hades, firstly they were judged by three judges; that done, the Furies purified souls the judges deemed good and permitted their passage. Souls deemed wicked were condemned to the Dungeons of the Damned in Tartarus to be subjected to the most awful torture, overseen by Furies.  Descriptions of the Furies (almost always by male writers or artists) varied in detail but mostly they were depicted as ugly with serpents about their hair and arms, wearing black robes with whips in their hands.  Some claimed they also had wings of a bat or bird with burning breath and poisonous blood dripping from their eyes.

Denunciate & Denounce

Denunciate (pronounced dih-nuhn-see-yet or dih-nuhn-shee-yet)

To denounce; openly to condemn.

1585-1590: From the Latin dēnuntiātus (announced), past participle of denuntio (I declare) & dēnunciāre (to declare) and, in English, the same word as denounce except directly from Latin.  It’s a strange word in that as a verb it’s rare to the point of obscurity yet is common as the noun denunciation.  Denunciate is a verb (used with or without object), denunciated & denunciating are verbs, denunciable is an adjective, denunciator & denunciator are nouns and denunciatory is an adjective.

Denounce (pronounce dih-nouns)

(1) To condemn or censure openly or publicly; to deplore, vehemently or openly to condemn.

(2) To make a formal accusation against an individual or institution, usually to the authorities.

(3) In law and international relations, to give formal notice of the termination or denial of a treaty, pact, agreement etc (rare except in technical use).

(4) To announce or proclaim, especially as something evil or calamitous (archaic in a secular context, still used in religious circles).

(5) To portend (obsolete).

1250–1300: From the Middle English denouncen, from the Old French denoncier (to speak out; to proclaim), from the Latin dēnuntiāre (make an official proclamation, to threaten), the construct being dē- (from) + nuntiāre (to announce), from nuntius (messenger).  Denounce (used with object), denounced & denouncing are verbs, denouncement & denouncer, noun and denounced is an adjective.

Denunciate & Denounce

Technically, the difference between the two is that denounce is a synonym of denunciate and denunciate is a related term of denounce.  As verbs, the historic difference was that denunciate meant “openly to condemn” while denounce meant “to make known in a formal manner; to proclaim; to announce; to declare”, a use long obsolete.  By inclination a reductionist and polished by the party pros in the practice of delivering easy-to-understand slogans and messages using simple words, repetitively recited, Scott Morrison (b 1968; Australian prime-minister 2018-2022) wasn't noted for linguistic flourishes but, late in November 2021, chose to say he was “…denunciating any violence…”.  The context was an earlier public protest against certain COVID-19 measures and what he said was a clarification his of earlier remarks which some had claimed were in the spirit of Donald Trump's (b 1946; US president 2017-2021)  “…good people on both sides” comment when discussing a protest in the US at which a fatality occurred.  That hadn’t gone down all that well and Mr Morrison probably wanted to avoid the accusation of being "neutral in the battle between the fire and the fire brigade", Winston Churchill's (1875-1965; UK prime-minister 1940-1945 & 1951-1955) vivid evocation of what he thought the BBC's nihilistic attitude to things he though bad.

While the noun denunciation is in common use, the verb denunciating is so rare there were some who mistakenly assumed he’s conflated denouncing with enunciating, either misunfortunistically (in the George W Bush (George XLIII, b 1946; US president 2001-2009) way) or, as one tweet more ominously observed: “You don’t need Freud to understand the mixed message.”  Whatever might be the take on the politics, grammatically, the prime-minister was correct but the use was so unusual that one might wonder if it was tossed in as a linguistic distraction.  Mr Morrison was often denouncing things, individuals and ideas he found abhorrent, whether it be anti-corruption bodies which look a little too closely as how politicians operate or the CEOs of public corporations being a bit generous with bonuses not served in the politicians' troughs.  If again he needs to seek inspiration, he may turn to the Bible, both the King James Version (KJV; 1611) and New International Version (NIV; 1978-2011 and said to be most popular with Pentecostal preachers) often using the word and, if ever things seem a bit obscure, there’s always Leviticus and Ezekiel, both offering plenty about what demands some denunciating.

Balaam proclaimed his poem:Balak brought me from Aram;the king of Moab, from the eastern mountains:“Come, put a curse on Jacob for me;come, denounce Israel!”  (Numbers 23:7)

How can I curse someone God has not cursed?How can I denounce someone the Lord has not denounced?  (Numbers 23:8)

I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. (Deuteronomy 30:18)

Hannah prayed, "My heart rejoices in the Lord; my horn is exalted high because of the Lord. I loudly denounce my enemies, for I am happy that you delivered me. (1 Samuel 2:1)

Who would denounce his behavior to his face?Who would repay him for what he has done? (Job 21:31)

Whoever says to the guilty, “You are innocent”—people will curse him, and tribes will denounce him; (Proverbs 24:24)

I will denounce your righteousness and your works, for your collections of idols will not benefit you. (Isaiah 57:12)

Then certain ones said, “Come, let’s make plans against Jeremiah, for instruction will never be lost from the priest, or counsel from the wise, or an oracle from the prophet. Come, let’s denounce him and pay no attention to all his words.” (Jeremiah 18:18)

Indeed, I hear many people whispering, "Terror on every side. Denounce him, let's denounce him!" All my close friends watch my steps and say, "Perhaps he will be deceived, and we can prevail against him and take vengeance on him." (Jeremiah 20:10)

Just then, certain influential Chaldeans took this opportunity to come forward and denounce the Jews. (Daniel 3:8)

Then He proceeded to denounce the towns where most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent: (Matthew 11:20)

Blessed [morally courageous and spiritually alive with life-joy in God’s goodness] are you when people hate you, and exclude you [from their fellowship], and insult you, and scorn your name as evil because of [your association with] the Son of Man. (Luke 6:22)

The world cannot hate you [since you are part of it], but it does hate Me because I denounce it and testify that its deeds are evil. (John 7:7)

Therefore you have no excuse or justification, everyone of you who [hypocritically] judges and condemns others; for in passing judgment on another person, you condemn yourself, because you who judge [from a position of arrogance or self-righteousness] are habitually practicing the very same things [which you denounce]. (Romans 2:1)

This testimony is true. Therefore sternly denounce them, that they may be robust in their faith (Titus 1:13)

However, do this with gentleness and respect, keeping your conscience clear, so that when you are accused, those who denounce your Christian life will be put to shame. (1 Peter 3:16)

The film Mean Girls (2004) was based on Rosalind Wiseman's (b 1969) book Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence (2002) which explored the interaction of the shifting social cliques formed by schoolgirls.  A tale of chicanery & low skullduggery, once deconstructed, Mean Girls can be understood as a series of denunciations which act as the pivot points, both within and between scenes.

Carpet

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