Unctuous (pronounced uhngk-choo-uhs)
(1) Characterized
by excessive piousness or moralistic fervor, especially in an affected manner;
excessively smooth, suave, or smug; one who affects an oily charm; profusely
polite, especially unpleasantly so and insincerely earnest.
(2) Of
the nature of or characteristic of an unguent or ointment; oily; greasy.
(3) In
mining, a mineral having an oily or soapy feel.
(4) Of
a liquid or substance, oily or greasy.
(5) Of
food and beverage (applied typically to wine, coffee, sauce, gravy etc.), rich,
lush, intense, with layers of concentrated, soft, velvety flavor (a use with a
positive association).
1350-1400:
From Middle English from Old French unctuous
(oily, having a greasy or soapy feeling when touched), from the Medieval Latin ūnctuōsus (oily; greasy) from unctus (act of anointing), from the past
participle stem of unguere (to anoint). The most familiar form appears to have been unctum (ointment). The literal meanings
endured for centuries and are still used today in specialist medical and
geological texts but the figurative sense of "blandly ingratiating" dates
from 1742, perhaps in part with a literal sense, but more in a sarcastic sense
from unction in the meaning "deep spiritual feeling" (from the 1690s),
such as comes from having been anointed in the rite of unction. Unctuous has also been favored by food
critics, comprising the sense of something pleasingly juicy with the more
abstract notion of a food which seems “anxious to please”. The spelling, as an adjective, unctious was
used between circa 1600-1725.
Uriah Heep, very’umble
Literature’s archetype of the unctuous is Charles Dickens’ Uriah Heep from the novel David Copperfield (18491850) Heap is famous for his cloying humility, obsequiousness, insincerity and frequent references to his own "'umbleness"; his name has become synonymous with being a sycophant. Albert Speer (1905-1981), noted the type in his prison diaries Spandauer Tagebücher (Spandau: The Secret Diaries (1975)), musing it was the combination of fawning obedience and dynamism in its functionaries on which totalitarian states depended.
The
characteristics of grasping manipulation and insincerity render Uriah Heep a
popular label for critics to use against politicians. Robert Caro applied it (perhaps a little
unfairly) to Lyndon Johnson, Philip Roth to Richard Nixon, Tony Judt to Philippe
Pétain, Paddy McGuinness to Paul Keating and Conrad Russell to Tony Blair. Some years ago, in Australia, many were
taken by the resemblance of former Speaker of the House of Representatives,
Peter Slipper, to depictions of the Dickens character. Since
leaving parliament, Mr Sliper has been ordained Bishop of Australia by the
Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church.
