Glossary of Key Terms

A reference or quotation to a work of literature or other cultural artifact that readers are expected to recognize as a result of their cultural and literary awareness. A reader recognizing the allusion can then apply its context and meaning to the context of the work making the allusion and so gain a deeper understanding. For instance, the title of William Faulkner's novel The Sound and the Fury is taken from Shakespeare's Macbeth, where Macbeth refers to time as "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Recognizing the allusion, a reader is able to apply this knowledge to Faulkner's novel in order to better understand the novel.

"[T]he complete final destruction of the world, especially as described in the biblical book of Revelation. The word is recorded from Old English, and comes ultimately, via Old French and ecclesiastical Latin, from Greek apokaluptein 'uncover, reveal'" ("Apocalypse")

archetype[ar-ki-typ], a symbol, theme, setting, or character-type that recurs in different times and places in myth, literature, folklore, dreams, and rituals so frequently or prominently as to suggest (to certain speculative psychologists and critics) that it embodies some essential element of 'universal' human experience. Examples offered by the advocates of myth criticism include such recurrent symbols as the rose, the serpent, and the sun; common themes like love, death, and conflict; mythical settings like the paradisal garden; stock characters like the femme fatale, the hero, and the magician; and some basic patterns of action and plot such as the quest, the descent to the underworld, or the feud. The most fundamental of these patterns is often said to be that of death and rebirth, reflecting the natural cycle of the seasons: the Canadian critic Northrop Frye put forward an influential model of literature based on this proposition in Anatomy of Criticism (1957). Archetypal criticism originated in the early 20th century from the speculations of the British anthropologist J. G. Frazer in The Golden Bough (1890-1915)—a comparative study of mythologies—and from those of the Swiss psychologist C. G. Jung, who in the 1920s proposed that certain symbols in dreams and myths were residues of ancestral memory preserved in the collective unconscious. More recently, critics have been wary of the reductionism involved in the application of such unverified hypotheses to literary works, and more alert to the cultural differences that the archetypal approach often overlooks in its search for universals. ("Archetype")

For more information, see http://www.billstifler.org/en111/archetype.html

"Extrapolating from Sir William Jones's theory of Central Asian origins for the world's largest linguistic group, a variety of European intellectuals posited the existence of a strong, technologically superior race that conquered the prehistoric world from India to Iceland, thus leaving its indelible mark on the languages, myths, and gene pool of this vast territory. This hypothetical race, which they called the Aryans, provided 19th-century German nationalists with an ancient, heroic Golden Age upon which to base their theories of national greatness" (Leonard, par. 32).

Quizzes or exams students may be required to take to complete the course

self-rule

"The central pivot of the earth or of the entire cosmos." ("Axis Mundi")

Paired opposities, such as off and on; left and right; right and wrong; good and evil; black and white. In Marx's view, one group is privileged while the other is marginalized in a society or culture.

A term used by Marx to refer to the ruling class

Browsing occurs when the user traverses a directory structure and scans a list of files, ultimating selecting one or more.

Joseph Campbell, circa 1982
Promotional image,
© Joseph Campbell Foundation
WikipediaJoseph Campbell has popularized the study of mythology. His approach largely follows Jung. He is particularly well known for his discussion of the monomyth.

For more information, see a the Joseph Campbell Foundation web site

"In Aristotle, the cleansing (purifying, purging) of feelings such as pity and fear by feeling them in an aesthetic context, such as the theatre. The aim of tragedy is to achieve this purification. According to the younger Freud a psychological disorder could be relieved by a process of catharsis when the original traumatic event was re-enacted, although he later held that other repressive factors might inhibit this outcome" ("Catharsis").

The "code of behaviour practised in the Middle Ages, especially in the 12th and 13th centuries, by the mounted soldier or knight. The chivalric ethic represented the fusion of Christian and military concepts of conduct. A knight was to be brave, loyal to his lord, and the protector of women" ("Chivalry").

disorder; the universe seen as without order

The chat tool is used for real-time conversations between students and/or instructors.

A checkbox is used to give a choice in which more tan one of the possible items may be selected. It appears as a square. When clicked it is filled with an x.

The "code of behaviour practised in the Middle Ages, especially in the 12th and 13th centuries, by the mounted soldier or knight. The chivalric ethic represented the fusion of Christian and military concepts of conduct. A knight was to be brave, loyal to his lord, and the protector of women" ("Chivalry").

The myths of the Greeks and Romans

Approach to myth dominating 19th century studies of mythology based on Herder's Volk Theory (see Volk Theory) where people's myths were seen as an indirect consequence of their physical environment. Myths were Three schools: Comparative Mythologists, Nature School, Ethnologists

to make sacred

"A theory of the origin of the universe, whether religious, mythical, or scientific." ("Cosmogony")

The study of the origins of the world system or world order: In religion and philosophy, the focus is on the system of beliefs by which someone views the world as an ordered place (cosmos). In science, it is the study of the origin, current development, and eventual end of the universe. In myth, cosmological myths are myths of the cosmos, the world of order, that include creation or cosmogonic myths (the origin of the world of order), flood myths (a temporary destruction/cleansing of the world of order), apocalyptic myths (the end of the world of order), and myths of the afterlife (that which follows the world of order, that otherworld).

ordered world; the universe as an ordered place

An extravagant, artificial, stylized relationship characterized by the following traits:

1. They must be aristocratic. Courtly love is practiced by lords and ladies (never commoners), and its proper place is the royal palace or the royal court.
2. They are ritualistic, exemplified by the exchanging of gifts. A lady is wooed according to ritualistic rules, given symbolic gifts, and made the constant theme of songs, poems, etc. She need only show a hint of approval or the mere shadow of affection to the man in return for his advances.
3. They are controlled by the lady.
4. They are secret. Lovers pledge strict secrecy which perhaps is the source of its special aura and exoticism in which the rest of the world is excluded. This secret world is a universe composed of rules, codes, and commandments the lovers create.
5. They are adulterous. One of the principle attractions of courtly love is that it offered an escape from the dull routines and boring confinements of noble marriage which was usually little more than a political or economic alliance.
6. They are literary. Before it was established as a real-life activity, courtly love gained attention as a subject and theme in imaginative literature. Nobles and their adored ladies were already popular figures in song and stories before they began spawning a host of real life imitators.

"From Greek 'popular', (sic) a further elaboration of hieratic. Developed in northern Egypt in the 7th century BC. The normal everyday script of the Late and Graeco-Roman Periods. Latest dated text 452 AD." (Demotic)

The discussion board is used to post public messages. Instructors often carry on a dialogue with class using this tool.

A file is downloaded when it is copied from a remote computer to a local computer.

the dropbox is used for uploading files such as term papers for the instructor to grade.

Term used by Freud to refer to rational part of the human psyche that balances the forces of the id and superego and makes decisions based on the "reality principle," a response to the reality of the situation (see id, superego).

Your course uses its own internal e-mail system for private messages between people or groups of people. The messages may only be sent between members of the course.

A "[l]ong narrative poem in an elevated style that celebrates heroic achievement and treats themes of historical, national, religious, or legendary significance." Primary epics, also known as traditional or classical epics, were originally oral legends of a culture's heroes which have been recorded. Secondary epics, also known as literary epics, are works which began as literary forms and were "self-consciously produced by sophisticated poets who adapted aspects of traditional epic for specific literary and ideological purposes." Examples of primary epics include the Iliad and the Odyssey. Secondary epics include the Aeneid and John Milton's Paradise Lost ("Epic," par. 2), Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes.

"A tendency or disposition to judge other ethnic groups, cultures, nations, or societies by the standards and customs of one's own, often accompanied by a dislike or misunderstanding of other such groups and a belief in the intrinsic superiority of one's own." ("Ethnocentrism")

Someone "who interprets myths as primitive explanations of the natural world or as time-distorted accounts of long-past historical events." (Leonard and McClure 5)

Model for behavior

(alt. spelling: extroverted) A person primarily motivated by external motivations. As a consequence, extraverts are often very sociable.

A brief story, often involving talking animals, which teaches a moral lesson ("Fable").

"Fertility deities and myths exist nearly everywhere that agriculture is important—that is, in most parts of the world.

"Animistic myths involving the sacrificial dismemberment and "planting" of body parts and the subsequent germination of crops are obvious fertility myths. The Hainuwele myth of the people of Ceram is an example, as are the many Corn Mother myths, such as those we find in Native North America and in the Slavic tradition.

"Myths of sacrificed and resurrected gods— the grain god Osiris in Egypt; Attis, the son of the earth goddess Cybele in Phrygia; Adonis in Phoenicia and Greece; Narcissus and Hyacinth in Greece—who die and are reborn as plants may be said to be fertility myths. The fertility aspect of many deities is indicated by their being depicted ithyphallically, as in the case of several gods in Egypt, or as bulls, as in most parts of the Middle East.

"Storm or weather gods—such as Tlaloc or Chac in Mesoamerica, the Assyrian Aramean Adad-Hadad, and several Hittite- Hurrian deities—whose power brings the new life associated with rain, are fertility deities, as are the many goddesses—the Mesopotamians Ninhursag and Inanna/ Ishtar and the Canaanite Anat/ Astarte—who descend and return from temporary death in the dark underworld. The many-breasted Artemis of Ephesus is a clear representation of human fertility. Other important fertility goddesses are Freya and Frigg in the Norse pantheon, Brigid in Ireland, and Demeter/ Ceres and her daughter Persephone in Greece and Rome.

"Whole classes of deities, such as the Vanir in Scandinavia, are fertility figures, representing female-centered agricultural societies, as opposed to later patriarchal, male-centered warrior societies represented by such groups as the Norse Aesir gods.

"Farmer god myths of the Balts and Slavs are obviously fertility myths. The Nummo twins of the African Dogon creation story are fertility deities who, like many such culture hero figures, teach the people how to grow things.

"In Arthurian lore, the loss of fertility is depicted in the failure of the Fisher King. In other cultures, such as those of Japan and the Hittites-Hurrians, for example, that loss is depicted by the disappearance of a sun deity" ("Fertility Myths").

"The promotion of the generative powers of earth, water, and human, animal, and fish populations is a common concern of major religions and small-scale cults the world over. In this general sense Christian farmers praying for a bountiful harvest, Muslim prayer leaders seeking to hasten the rains, and 'magicians' of the Trobriand Islands, chanting harvest charms to enrich 'the belly of the garden', pursue similar objectives despite varied ritual styles. These types of performances have existed in human cultures for thousands of years" (Beaver, par. 1)

"Many forms of fertility rite use simple forms of association to build a complex metaphysics of generation. These associations have been classified as the two laws of sympathy: (i) the law of similarity ensures that 'like acts on like', 'opposites act on opposites'. Accordingly, a ligature or knotted cord will produce impotence or inhibit procreation, and water will overwhelm dryness to produce rainfall; and (ii) the law of contact dictates that objects once joined share a special sympathetic relationship, even when separated. Consequently, the middle finger of an aborted child will retain a power to limit fertility, and the shadow of a 'lusty' woman will communicate her fertility to the barren. Recent scholars have used these 'laws', which modern science would reject, to explain why preindustrial societies experienced high fertility even though they practised sometimes elaborate forms of fertility control" (Beaver, par. 5).

Traditional tales, songs, rituals, or ideas that express the mores and beliefs of a culture ("Folklore"). These stories may take place in the future, the present, the historic past, or a timeless realm (Delahoyde and Hughes, par. 4) but are relevant to the present (Laubach 1). David C. Laubach identifies four key aspects of folklore: expresses oral traditions, associated with a particular group or culture, has different versions or variants, and has no known origin or author (Laubach 1-2).

A glossary is a list of specialized words and definitons.

Belief in a golden past when life was better. The view is often tied to views of history which show cycles of growth and destruction or linear movements toward a final apocalypse.

"Literally 'a missing of the mark', hamartia could in ancient Greek range in meaning from innocent mistake to wilful evil. Aristotle's tragic protagonist is somehow responsible for an act he performs in ignorance of its true nature; and in some tragedies he undergoes a change in fortune (peripeteia) because of some hamartia. The traditional debate about hamartia as moral flaw or intellectual error makes it an attribute of character, but it is equally possible to see it as part of the plot, an action rather than a character flaw. We might also see it as ignorance itself, the human condition that renders the act tragic" (RWV, "Harmartia").

"a Greek word meaning 'sacred symbol.' In Egypt, one of some seven hundred signs used in writing (considerably more if one counts signs used exclusively in the Old Kingdom and the periods after the New Kingdom). 'Hieroglyphs' refers to the signs themselves; 'hieroglyphic script' is Egyptian writing. (Calling the signs 'hieroglyphics' is incorrect.)"

"(Gk., hieros, 'sacred', + phainein, 'to show'). The manifestation of the divine or the sacred, especially in a sacred place, object, or occasion. Manifestations of some particular aspect may be named after the aspect revealed, e.g. theophany (of divinity), kratophany (of power)." ("Hierophany")

the page which appears first; the main, or central page in a web site

Above all else, the Homeric hero seeks

aretê

timé

kleos

hubris

menin

até

nemesis

Hovering requires the user to move the mouse over an area of the screen but NOT to click.

Word coined by Freud to refer to that part of the human psyche driven by natural instincts or desires and operates according to the "pleasure principle," that is, which makes decisions based on what gives the most pleasure to the individual by satisfying the individual's desires and needs (See ego, superego).

"[A] system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy"; "the set of beliefs characteristic of a social group or individual" ("Ideology noun").

Image of the world, a symbolic representation of the ordered world or universe

"[in med-i-ahs rayss] The Latin phrase meaning 'into the middle of things', applied to the common technique of storytelling by which the narrator begins the story at some exciting point in the middle of the action, thereby gaining the reader's interest before explaining preceding events by analepses ('flashbacks') at some later stage. It was conventional to begin epic poems in medias res, as Milton does in Paradise Lost. The technique is also common in plays and in prose fiction: for example, Katherine Mansfield's short story 'A Dill Pickle' (1920 ) begins in medias res with the sentence 'And then, after six years, she saw him again.'" ("In Medias Res," par. 1)

Web pages that require the user to move or click the mouse or enter data into a text box and observe the results are called interactive pages.

(alt. spelling, introvert) A person who is primarily motivated by internal forces. Consequently, introverted persons are often given to introspection and tend to be less socially active.

"A subtly humorous perception of inconsistency, in which an apparently straightforward statement or event is undermined by its context so as to give it a very different significance. In various forms, irony appears in many kinds of literature, from the tragedy of Sophocles to the novels of Jane Austen and Henry James , but is especially important in satire , as in Voltaire and Swift. At its simplest, in verbal irony, it involves a discrepancy between what is said and what is really meant, as in its crude form, sarcasm; for the figures of speech exploiting this discrepancy, see antiphrasis, litotes, meiosis . The more sustained structural irony in literature involves the use of a naïve or deluded hero or unreliable narrator , whose view of the world differs widely from the true circumstances recognized by the author and readers; literary irony thus flatters its readers' intelligence at the expense of a character (or fictional narrator). A similar sense of detached superiority is achieved by dramatic irony, in which the audience knows more about a character's situation than the character does, foreseeing an outcome contrary to the character's expectations, and thus ascribing a sharply different sense to some of the character's own statements; in tragedies , this is called tragic irony. The term cosmic irony is sometimes used to denote a view of people as the dupes of a cruelly mocking Fate, as in the novels of Thomas Hardy . A writer whose works are characterized by an ironic tone may be called an ironist. For a fuller account, consult Claire Colebrook, Irony (2003)" ("Irony").

see Campbell, Joseph

A keyword is a search term used when searching for a particular concept or discussion message within the course using the search tool.

These are stories about great heroes, considered historically accurate ("Legend") but may contain references to the gods or to accounts of extraordinary or miraculous events. These heroes serve as exemplars or models of behavior for people within a society.

The phallus; in archetypal imagery, "all images whose length exceeds their diameter (towers, mountain peaks, snakes, knives, lances, and swords) [are seen] as male or phallic symbols" (Guerin, et al. 128)

A Greek word translated "word" or "story." Over time the meaning of the word evolved from everyday discourse or "crafty 'legalese'" to "a means of arguing" to absolute or ordering truths (Leonard and McClure 2-4). The apostle John uses the word to refer to Christ as the divinely inspired absolute word of God (Leonard and McClure 6-7).

"Literally, a community of related families under the authority of a female head called a matriarch; applied more generally to any form of social organization in which women have predominant power, there being controversy as to whether a matriarchy has ever existed, although there is no doubt that matrilineal societies have existed" ("Matriarchy n.")

"Or mother-centered. Refers to a family structure in which the mother plays a dominant role" ("Matrifocal")

"Of or relating to descent, kinship, or inheritance through the female line, as occurs in some non-western societies" ("Matrilineal adj.").

"The most important and widespread figure of speech, in which one thing, idea, or action is referred to by a word or expression normally denoting another thing, idea, or action, so as to suggest some common quality shared by the two. In metaphor, this resemblance is assumed as an imaginary identity rather than directly stated as a comparison: referring to a man as that pig, or saying he is a pig is metaphorical, whereas he is like a pig is a simile . Metaphors may also appear as verbs (a talent may blossom) or as adjectives (a novice may be green), or in longer idiomatic phrases, e.g. to throw the baby out with the bath-water" ("Metaphor").

"The Greek word for imitation, a central term in aesthetic and literary theory since Aristotle. A literary work that is understood to be reproducing an external reality or any aspect of it is described as mimetic, while mimetic criticism is the kind of criticism that assumes or insists that literary works reflect reality" ("Mimesis").

A course module is a unit of study within the course.

monad n. Literally, a group of one, but more usually denoting a fundamental or indivisible metaphysical unit. According to the German rationalist philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646-1716), it is an elementary indestructible element, not belonging to ordinary space, of which reality is composed. See also entelechy. monadic adj.

Of or relating to monads, or (in logic and mathematics) having only one term.[From Greek monas, monados a unit, from monos alone]

Literally, the mountain of Venus; a reference to the pubic mound; in mythology, the sacred mountain is the mons veneris of the earth.

A theory proposed by Joseph Campbell that hero stories reflect a cycle of birth and rebirth, paralleling the cycle of the seasons, an adventure from innocence to mature awareness which transforms the hero and helps the hero find his/her place in the world (Leonard and McClure 17). See the ORIAS version of the monomyth at http://ias.berkeley.edu/orias/hero/.

A system of belief where there exists only a single god. (see polytheistic)

"Cultural norms that articulate the most basic social values about appropriate behavior and that carry a strong sanction if violated. The nearly universal prohibition against incest is an example. Waving goodbye, on the other hand, is a lesser norm--sometimes characterized as belonging to the folkways of a group or community" ("Mores")

a recurring image, action, theme, character type, metaphor or other literary element within a work or one that recurs across a range of works over a range of times

"Mystery is that which is obscure, hidden, but which by revelation can be divined as the depth of the divine reality. Thus mystery is inaccessible, but can be apprehended by intuition" (Deneken, par. 1); "a secret imparted only to the initiated, what is unknown until it is revealed, whether it be easy or hard to understand" (Orr, par. 1)

"Belief in a perception of reality that is elevated above normal human understanding. It may involve some form of spiritual search for unity of self with God or the universe. It is found in most major religions, and exponents of mysticism (mystics) may experience trances, dreams, or visions. In India, mysticism has long been important in Hinduism, and is based on Yoga. Mysticism in Judaism is apparent in Hasidism and the Cabbala. Mystics in the Far East have mostly been followers of Taoism or Buddhism" ("Mysticism").

A myth is a story, usually involving a god or gods, which attempts to answer the basic questions of human existence. The truth of a myth is metaphorical; that is, a myth is true regardless of its historical accuracy in that it expresses a truth about human nature. The truth of a myth is also transcendent; that is, myth attempts to relate human existence in time and space with the transcendent, that which is beyond time and space, infinite and eternal. A myth develops out of a unique culture and both explains this culture and defines models of behavior within this culture. At the same time, myths express universal attitudes and feelings about what it means to be human.

The term mythology is used in two senses. First, mythology refers to the scholarly study of myth. Second, mythology is used to refer to the corpus of myths of any particular culture, for example, Greek mythology, Norse mythology, or Aztec mythology.

A Greek word translated as "word" or "story." Originally, the word was used by Hesiod to refer to "divinely inspired poetic utterances" but eventually evolved to mean fanciful or imaginative story (Leonard and McClure 2).

"The process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring. The theory of its action was first fully expounded by Charles Darwin, and it is now regarded as the main process that brings about evolution" ("Natural Selection noun").

"Nearly always an extended fictional prose narrative , although some novels are very short, some are non-fictional, some have been written in verse, and some do not even tell a story. Such exceptions help to indicate that the novel as a literary genre is itself exceptional: it disregards the constraints that govern other literary forms, and acknowledges no obligatory structure, style, or subject-matter. Thriving on this openness and flexibility, the novel has become the most important literary genre of the modern age, superseding the epic , the romance , and other narrative forms. Novels can be distinguished from short stories and novellas by their greater length, which permits fuller, subtler development of characters and themes. (Confusingly, it is a shorter form of tale, the Italian novella, that gives the novel its name in English.) There is no established minimum length for a novel, but it is normally at least long enough to justify its publication in an independent volume, unlike the short story. The novel differs from the prose romance in that a greater degree of realism is expected of it, and that it tends to describe a recognizable secular social world, often in a sceptical and prosaic manner inappropriate to the marvels of romance. The novel has frequently incorporated the structures and languages of non-fictional prose forms (history, autobiography, journalism, travel writing), even to the point where the non-fictional element outweighs the fictional. It is normally expected of a novel that it should have at least one character, and preferably several characters shown in processes of change and social relationship; a plot , or some arrangement of narrated events, is another normal requirement. Special subgenres of the novel have grown up around particular kinds of character (the Künstlerroman , the spy novel), setting (the historical novel , the campus novel ), and plot (the detective novel); while other kinds of novel are distinguished either by their structure (the epistolary novel , the picaresque novel ) or by special emphases on character (the Bildungsroman ) or ideas (the roman à thèse)" ("Novel," par. 1) [see also, Romance].

Latin for divine will or power; used to refer to a local power or spirit ("numen, n.")

"[T]he navel. Metaphorically, the centre of a geographical area, e.g. the sea, a city (= the agora), the world. Title to the last was claimed by Delphi, at least by early in the Classical period, and reinforced by identification with a solid object, namely an egg- (or navel-) shaped stone. Strabo gives the fullest description of the Delphic omphalos: it was covered by wreaths and had two images on it representing the two birds sent by Zeus, one from the west, one from the east, meeting at Delphi. This stone was in the temple. The marble stone seen by Pausanias--and preserved to this day--as a man-made object, the wreaths depicted in relief. It stood on the esplanade outside the temple" ("Omphalos").

acronym for the Office of Resources for International and Area Studies, University of California, Berkeley. The ORIAS web site has a nice graphical model of Campbell's monomyth.

a method for organizing the course content, or a part thereof, by providing icons hyperlinked to individual units

"All the gods of a people or religion collectively: [as in] the deities of the Hindu pantheon" ("Pantheon noun").

"Literally, a community of related families under the authority of a male head called a patriarch; applied more generally to any form of social organization in which men have predominant power" ("Patriarchy n.").

"A term used in kinship theory to denote the tracing of kinship through the male line. The term agnatic is also used. A patrilineal group is a descent group that traces its ancestry to a single male ancestor and acts as a corporate group for political purposes. Patrilineal systems depend on the principle of passing on property and status from father to legitimate son. However, like legitimacy, membership of a lineage may not only be through actual blood ties but can be socially ascribed" ("Patrilineal").

A stylized representation of an object used to stand in for the word the object represents

Plagiarism means using another person's words, ideas, pictures, or data without acknowledging the source of the material. Plagiarism comes from the Latin term plagiarius meaning, "One who abducts the child of another." Plagiarism is a serious offense, both legally and academically.

To avoid plagiarism,

• When taking notes on simple passages containing facts, limit your notes, as much as possible, to nouns
• For more complex passages,
• Read the material several times carefully and thoughtfully.
• Jot down key nouns
• Re-read the passage
• Without looking at the original source, but using the key nouns you recorded, paraphrase or summarize the passage
• Check the summary or paraphrase against the original for accuracy.
• Avoid using any characteristic words or phrases from the original source. If such are used, surround the words or phrases with quotation marks.
• Integrate details from multiple sources when writing the draft of the paper.

serious offense

For more on plagiarism, see "Academic Dishonesty" in the syllabus, and read the topics on research.

A system of belief that includes many gods

Your course uses a special tool called the compile for printing in order to print collections of pages. This tool can be found on the Course Content page. To print pages that are in P D F format, use the print icon on the p d f document toolbar.

Common or ordinary, the opposite of sacred (see sacred). That which is ordinary, without order, chaos, the secular world (Eliade, Sacred and Profane 20; Eliade, Patterns 1)

Term used by Marx to refer to the common laborer and working class

Literally, the divine child (eternal boy); the child who grows to be a hero in the hero myths (Leeming 105)

A radio button is used to give a choice in which only one of the possible items may be selected. It appears as a circle. When clicked it is filled with a solid dot.

"A fictional story in verse or prose that relates improbable adventures of idealized characters in some remote or enchanted setting; or, more generally, a tendency in fiction opposite to that of realism . The term now embraces many forms of fiction from the Gothic novel and the popular escapist love story (also known popularly as romances) to the 'scientific romances' of H. G. Wells, but it usually refers to the tales of King Arthur's knights written in the late Middle Ages by Chrétien de Troyes (in verse), Sir Thomas Malory (in prose), and many others (see arthurian literature, chivalric romance ). Medieval romance is distinguished from epic by its concentration on courtly love rather than warlike heroism. Long, elaborate romances were written during the Renaissance , including Ludovico Ariosto 's Orlando Furioso (1532 ), Edmund Spenser 's The Faerie Queene (1590 - 96 ), and Sir Philip Sidney 's prose romance Arcadia (1590 ), but Cervantes' parody of romances in Don Quixote (1605 ) helped to undermine this tradition. Later prose romances differ from novels in their preference for allegory and psychological exploration rather than realistic social observation, especially in American works like Nathaniel Hawthorne 's The Blithedale Romance (1852 ). Several modern literary genres , from science fiction to the detective story , can be regarded as variants of the romance (see also fantasy, marvellous ). In modern criticism of Shakespeare, the term is also applied to four of his last plays--Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest—which are distinguished by their daring use of magical illusion and improbable reunions" ("Romance," par. 1) [see also, Novel].

"Theory, proposed by German-born US physicist Albert Einstein, based on the postulate that the motion of one body can be defined only with respect to that of a second body. Mass, space and time are interdependent. This theory led to the concept of a four-dimensional space-time continuum in which the three space dimensions and time are treated on an equal footing ("Relativity"). The term came to be applied more generally across culture to refer to views of reality based on the observer's unique perspective.

"A system of belief in a higher power than humans, usually with rites, traditions, values, and customs that govern aspects of behavior, including many with implications for health and human rights, such as marital customs, rights of women, childbearing and human reproduction, permitted and proscribed foods, methods for disposal of the dead, and attitudes toward others with different beliefs and/or practices" ("Religion").

"Generally, an often-repeated pattern of behaviour which is performed at appropriate times, and which may involve the use of symbols. Religion is one of the main social fields in which rituals operate, but the scope of ritual extends into secular and everyday life as well. For example, the dramaturgical sociology of Erving Goffman makes extensive reference to 'interaction rituals', the various ritualized codes of everyday behaviour by which actors co-operate in acknowledging a shared reality and preserve each other's sense of self " ("Ritual").

"A fictional story in verse or prose that relates improbable adventures of idealized characters in some remote or enchanted setting; or, more generally, a tendency in fiction opposite to that of realism . The term now embraces many forms of fiction from the Gothic novel and the popular escapist love story (also known popularly as romances) to the 'scientific romances' of H. G. Wells, but it usually refers to the tales of King Arthur's knights written in the late Middle Ages by Chrétien de Troyes (in verse), Sir Thomas Malory (in prose), and many others (see arthurian literature, chivalric romance ). Medieval romance is distinguished from epic by its concentration on courtly love rather than warlike heroism. Long, elaborate romances were written during the Renaissance , including Ludovico Ariosto 's Orlando Furioso (1532 ), Edmund Spenser 's The Faerie Queene (1590 - 96 ), and Sir Philip Sidney 's prose romance Arcadia (1590 ), but Cervantes 's parody of romances in Don Quixote (1605 ) helped to undermine this tradition. Later prose romances differ from novels in their preference for allegory and psychological exploration rather than realistic social observation, especially in American works like Nathaniel Hawthorne 's The Blithedale Romance (1852 ). Several modern literary genres , from science fiction to the detective story , can be regarded as variants of the romance (see also fantasy, marvellous ). In modern criticism of Shakespeare, the term is also applied to four of his last plays--Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest--which are distinguished by their daring use of magical illusion and improbable reunions" ("Romance," par. 1) [see also, Novel].

An object or place set apart for or dedicated to the gods (see profane).

"One blamed, punished, or stigmatized for the misdeeds of others, after the classic atonement tale in Leviticus 16, in which one of two goats was sent into the wilderness after having the sins of the people symbolically placed upon it" ("Scapegoat").

"[A] person regarded as having access to, and influence in, the world of good and evil spirits, especially among some peoples of northern Asia and North America. Typically such people enter a trance state during a ritual, and practise divination and healing" ("Shaman"). "Shamanism can best be defined as a technique of ecstasy, in which the soul of the shaman leaves the body and journeys through the spirit world. In their trances, shamans are able to communicate with the dead, and with demons, nature spirits, and the elements, without becoming subject to them. They speak secret or otherworldly languages, and, in the soul's 'magical flight', they can travel immense distances, ascend to the sky or descend to the underworld. Shamans cure illnesses, accompany the dead to the next world, and serve as mediators between people and the gods. They form a small mystical elite which directs the community's religious life and guards its 'soul’" (Hattori, par. 2)

Sculptured on a stone recording
privileges granted to Ritti-Marduk
by Nebuchadnezzar I (British Museum).
From Myths of Babylonia and
Assyria, by Donald A. Mackenzie.
Project Gutenberg."Stele (plural usually stelae) An upright, (usually) tall, rectangular stone monument, often with carved decorations and/or text. Though they are all over ancient Ethiopia, Axum has the greatest concentration of them. Technically, our standing grave stones are stelae. Stele is word used in archeological that comes to English from Greek by way of Latin. A stele is oblong in cross section while an obelisk, its close neighbor, is square." (Metras)

"A character of the same general type appearing in a number of different plays. The Italian commedia dell'arte offered traditional general types—the young lovers, the comic servants, the foolish old men—but also more specific stock characters that were also endlessly repeated: the flamboyant but cowardly Spanish captain, the foolish pedant, the elderly lover of the young wife. The comic tradition has continued through the centuries to make much use of this device, but stock characters have also been important in serious drama, every historical period developing certain type characters that were often repeated, such as the dashing heroes of the Spanish early modern 'cape and sword' plays or the darker and more introspective machiavels or revengers of England. During the English Restoration the stock comic characters of the fops, the witty couples, and the country bumpkins had their stock parallels in the noble leading figures of the heroic dramas, influenced by Corneille (MC, "Stock Character," par. 1).

"Nineteenth-century melodrama excelled in stock characters, noble heroes, persecuted maidens, aristocratic villains, stalwart British sailors, but before melodrama actors throughout the European tradition had specialized in noble fathers, male romantic leads, tyrants, soubrettes, and ingénues, since most stock companies hired, trained, and cast actors according to certain general stock types that were called emplois in France and lines of business in England. In India, the classic Sanskrit theatre manual, the Natyasastra, contains lengthy descriptions of a great array of traditional stock character types. Japanese kabuki contains similar carefully delineated traditional role categories, as does Beijing Opera ( jingju) (MC, "Stock Character," par. 2).

"The rise of modern realism with its emphasis upon the originality and uniqueness of each new drama, has muted (though by no means terminated) theatrical reliance upon stock types. Radio, film, and television continue to rely on stock characters, as in television series like soap operas or sitcoms" (MC, "Stock Character," par. 3).

"Twentieth-century school of critical thought. Ferdinand de Saussure argued that underlying the everyday use of language is a language system (langue), based on relationships of difference. He stressed the arbitrary nature of the relationship between the signifier (sound or image) and the signified (concept). Initially a linguistic theory, Claude Lévi-Strauss and Roland Barthes developed structuralism into a mode of critical analysis of cultural institutions and products. It is associated especially with the notion of a literary text as a system of signs" ("Structuralism").

Term coined by Freud to refer to the socially defined and critically conscious part of the human psyche which imposed restrictions on behavior and inhibits the id (see id, ego).

the instructions for successfully completing a course, including grading methods, schedule, textbook, and other critical information about the course

"Also tabu. The ritual avoidance of a person, place, or thing. The word taboo is Polynesian in origin, but it has come to designate prohibitions in many cultures. The concept has figured prominently in the anthropological tradition, enlisted variously in evolutionary, functionalist, psychological, symbolic, sociobiological, and structuralist accounts of culture. For social theorists such as Sigmund Freud and Claude Lévi-Strauss, the incest taboo is the inaugural social fact—basic to establishing the bonds of society around the principle of law (Freud) and marriage alliance (Lévi-Strauss)." ("Taboo")

"(pl. theophanies) a visible manifestation to humankind of God or a god.

- ORIGIN OE, via eccles. L. from Gk theophaneia, from theos 'god' + phainein 'to show'." ("Theophany")

A term for an actor taken from the name of the Greek playwright Thespis who was first to use an actor separate from the chorus.

Term used by Eliade for the boundary between the sacred and the profane

A tool tip is a pop up text explanation which appears breifly when the users hovers the mouse over certain areas of the screen such as graphics.

"[P]lay dealing in an elevated, poetic style with events which depict man as the victim of destiny yet superior to it, both in grandeur and in misery. The word is of Greek origin and means 'goat-song', possibly because a goat was originally given as a prize for a play at the Dionysia. The classic Athenian tragedies of Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles developed from the choral lyric, an art which reached its height among the Dorian peoples of the Peloponnese during the 6th century BC. The earliest plays began with the parados, or entrance of the chorus, which was soon preceded by a prologos for the actor or actors. Each formal ode, or stasimon, for the chorus alternated with a dramatic scene, or episode; lyrical dialogue between an actor and the chorus was called a kommos; and all that followed the final stasimon was the exodus. The chorus sang, or chanted, in unison, but probably spoke through its leader. As nothing is known about the music and dancing of the chorus, and the music-rhythms of the odes cannot be translated into speech-rhythms, it is impossible to dogmatize about the original productions of the great texts which have come down to us, and all translations and revivals can only be approximations. It was the subject-matter of the plays which exercised the greatest influence on the drama of the future. Taken from the myths of gods and heroes, it retained a link with its religious origins by the beneficent intervention, usually at the end of the play, of a god—the deus ex machina—who descended from above the stage by means of a crane or pulley. The Roman theatre produced excellent writers of comedy in Plautus and Terence, but no tragedies for the stage have survived; those by Seneca, which had an immense influence on later European drama, were closet plays" ("Tragedy," par. 1)

Tricksters are "figures of play" (Leonard and McClure 247) whose "playfulness can carry with it serious, even tragic or transcendent, overtones. . . . embodying all the infinite ambiguities of what it is to be alive in the world" (Leonard and McClure 250). The trickster "'combines in his nature the sacredness and sinfulness, grand gestures and pettiness, strength and weakness, joy and misery, heroism and cowardice that together form the human character'" (Erdoes and Ortiz qtd. in Leonard and McClure 250).

Originally, "[a] system of interpretation applied by early Christian theologians to the Hebrew scriptures (the 'Old Testament'), by which certain events, images, and personages of pre-Christian legend could be understood as prophetic 'types' or 'figures' foreshadowing the life of Christ. Typology—literally the study of types—is thus a method of re-reading the Old Testament anachronistically in terms of the New Testament, so that Adam , Isaac , Jonah , and other characters are pre-figurings of Christ, the Tree of Knowledge in Eden is a type of the Cross, and so on" ("Typology," Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms). Applied more generally as a "[s]ystem of groupings that aids understanding of the things being studied by distinguishing certain attributes or qualities among them that serve to link them together into a closed set of items" ("Typology," World Encyclopedia).

A file is uploaded when it is copied from a local computer to a remote computer.

A belief in a first language from which all others evolved. A secular view of this idea is the search for Proto-Indo-European, the root forms of languages dominating an area ranging from the Indus Valley through the European continent (Leonard and McClure 7-9).

The term "virtual" is associated with items that function as but are not in fact real, such as the Virtual Library, which acts as a library but does not exist in any one time or space.

A view developed by Johann Gottfried Herder that focused on localized groups of humans or "folk" whose life and culture were intricately and organically tied to their local environment, leading to a simple and honest lifestyle (Leonard and McClure 7-10).

the womb; in archetypal symbolism, "all concave images (ponds, flowers, cups or vases, caves, and hollows) [are seen] as female or womb symbols" (Guerin, et al. 128)