'Pelion on Ossa' - meaning in English
halcombe
rather, got) bandied about without being necessarily properly
understood.
My ODQ helpfully cites Vergil's 'Georgics' I 281:
"Imponere Pelio Ossam
Scilicet, atque Ossae frondosum involvere Olympum."
Which it as helpfully translates as
"In sooth...to pile Ossa on Pelion and roll leaf-crowned Olympus on
Ossa."
That is what the quotation means in Latin.
What I want to know is, What does the quotation mean *in English*?
I had a sort of idea that it meant something like "One damned thing
after another" or "The straw that broke the camel's back" - and,
neither explanation seeming at all satisfactory, resolved not to use
it.
To compare - Marie Antoinette's 'mot' about the 'brioches' is cited as
evidence of her ignorance or indifference to the sufferings of the
poor, not as a meal suggestion.
'Oů sont les neiges d'antan?' is not taken as an early indication of
global warming.
A 'rara avis' will seldom be a bird of the feathered variety.
Etc, etc.
Robert Stonehouse
The giants made war on the gods. They piled up two neighbouring
mountains - Pelion and Ossa - to make a siege mound from which they
could attack Mount Olympus. So this now means "add one crime to
another", making things worse, exacerbating the fault.
Virgil hyperbolically speaks of adding Olympus itself to the pile.
That is possible because by his time the assumption was that the
gods lived in the sky, not on top of a particular mountain - hence
"caelum rescindere". Heaven was regularly given the name Olympus
after that change.
ew...@bcs.org.uk
Jerry Friedman
...
> To compare - Marie Antoinette's 'mot' about the 'brioches' is cited as
> evidence of her ignorance or indifference to the sufferings of the
> poor, not as a meal suggestion.
As long as you're reading the ODQ, check this one. I thought it was
actually a character in a Rousseau book who was supposed to represent
Marie Antoinette.
> 'Oů sont les neiges d'antan?' is not taken as an early indication of
> global warming.
(The accent goes the other way.)
...
--
Jerry Friedman
Juliet Hattersley
cake." That quote came from a popular story and
was falsely attributed to her as part of the
Revolution's propaganda machine.
Juliet
--
Juliet W. Hattersley
Isabelle Cecchini
Jerry Friedman <jerry_f...@yahoo.com> a écrit dans le message :
96efe132.02051...@posting.google.com...
> halc...@subdimension.com (halcombe) wrote in message
news:<d7fa3848.02050...@posting.google.com>...
> ...
> > global warming.
>
> (The accent goes the other way.)
> ...
Which accent? Where? Où ça ?
Isabelle Cecchini
Jerry Friedman
...
> 'Oů sont les neiges d'antan?' is not taken as an early indication of
> global warming.
I apologize for the error in my earlier follow-up. You have the right
accent in "oů". A slip of the memory.
--
Jerry Friedman
William C Waterhouse
ew...@bcs.org.uk (Robert Stonehouse) writes:
>...
> The giants made war on the gods. They piled up two neighbouring
> mountains - Pelion and Ossa - to make a siege mound
The basic source for this story is in the Odyssey, Book 11:
[A]t nine years old they were nine fathoms high, and measured
nine cubits round the chest. They threatened to make war
with the gods in Olympus, and tried to set Mount Ossa on the
top of Mount Olympus, and Mount Pelion on the top of Ossa,
that they might scale heaven itself...
--- trans. Butler
William C. Waterhouse
Penn State
masakim
halcombe wrote:
>
> 'Piling Pelion on Ossa' is one of those annoying tags that
> get (or rather, got) bandied about without being necessarily
> properly understood.
>
[snip]
>
> I had a sort of idea that it meant something like "One damned
> thing after another" or "The straw that broke the camel's back"
> - and, neither explanation seeming at all satisfactory, resolved
> not to use it.
>
[snip]
>
From _Longman Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs_ (1983) by Rosemary
Courtney:
pile Pelion upon Ossa
to make something big even bigger:
"Then, having won the national competition, the team went to win the
international competition, piling Pelion upon Ossa."
"Asking me to run the department and teach a full load of courses is
piling Pelion upon Ossa."
----------------------------
A variant: "pile Ossa on Pelion."
In piling Ossa on Pelion, Webster did not overlook mundane
considerations -- the economic and political substance of the pending
issue, the sale of those annoying western lands.
--C. & M. Beard, _The Rise of American Civilization_ (1927)
Regards,
masakim
au...@gellius.demon.co.uk
tmac...@gmail.com
david.ll...@gmail.com
>
> A 'rara avis' will seldom be a bird of the feathered variety.
>
> Etc, etc.