Enron Mail

From:wsmith@wordsmith.org
To:linguaphile@wordsmith.org
Subject:A.Word.A.Day--theophany
Cc:
Bcc:
Date:Fri, 30 Mar 2001 04:24:00 -0800 (PST)

theophany (thee-OF-uh-nee) noun

An appearance of a god to a person.

[Medieval Latin theophania, from Late Greek theophaneia, Greek theo-, +
-phaneia, to show.]

"Any mundane reality could yield a theophany, if approached with reverent
imagination: a place, a rock, a tree, a man or a woman."
Karen Armstrong, Divinity and Gender: a God for both sexes,
The Economist (London), Dec 21, 1996.

This week's theme: uncommon words with common suffixes.

............................................................................
Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great
teacher. -Japanese proverb

Monday, Apr 2, 2001, our seventh online guest will be Lisa Simeone,
host of Weekend All Things Considered on National Public Radio.
For more details and to join the chat, visit http://wordsmith.org/chat
You can read the transcripts of previous chats there, as well.

Pronunciation:
http://wordsmith.org/words/theophany.wav
http://wordsmith.org/words/theophany.ram