Skip to content

Table of Contents

The word for today is…

pandemonium (noun):

1: a wild uproar (as because of anger or excitement in a crowd of people)
2 capitalized : the capital of Hell in Milton’s Paradise Lost
3 capitalized : the infernal regions : hell

Source : Merriam -Webster

Etymology : When John Milton needed a name for the gathering place of all demons for Paradise Lost, he turned to the classics as any sensible 17th-century writer would. Pandæmonium, as the capital of Hell is known in the epic poem, combines the Greek prefix pan-, meaning “all,” with the Late Latin daemonium, meaning “evil spirit.” (Daemonium itself traces back to the far more innocuous Greek word daím?n, meaning?“spirit” or “divine power.”) Over time, Pandæmonium (or Pandemonium) came to designate all of hell and was used as well for earthbound dens of wickedness and sin. By the late-18th century, the word implied a place or state of confusion or uproar, and from there, it didn’t take long for pandemonium to become associated with states of utter disorder and wildness.

If you enjoyed this BFD word of the day please consider sharing it with your friends and, especially, your children.

Latest

Is This the Foundation of a Crisis?

Is This the Foundation of a Crisis?

In Westminster systems, the courts are supposed to act as apolitical arbiters of existing laws. David Seymour’s Treaty Principles Bill has highlighted a profound tension at the heart of our democracy. 

Members Public