phantasmagoria

English

WOTD – 9 September 2006

Alternative forms

phantasmagory, fantasmagoria

Etymology

From French phantasmagorie, from Ancient Greek φάντασμα (phántasma, “ghost”) + possibly either ἀγορά (agorá, “assembly, gathering”) + the suffix -ia or ἀγορεύω (agoreúō, “to speak publicly”).

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌfæntæzməˈɡɒɹi.ə/
(US) IPA^(key): /ˌfæntæzməˈɡɔːɹi.ə/
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -ɔːɹiə

Noun

phantasmagoria (plural phantasmagorias)

(historical) A popular 18th- and 19th-century form of theatre entertainment whereby ghostly apparitions are formed.
Synonym: magic lantern
A series of events involving rapid changes in light intensity and colour.
A dreamlike state where real and imagined elements are blurred together.
- 1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], OCLC 742335644:
  this mental phantasmagoria
- 1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life Chapter V
  It is impossible to convey, in words, any idea of the hideous phantasmagoria of shifting limbs and faces which moved through the evil-smelling twilight of this terrible prison-house. Callot might have drawn it, Dante might have suggested it, but a minute attempt to describe its horrors would but disgust. There are depths in humanity which one cannot explore, as there are mephitic caverns into which one dare not penetrate.

Derived terms

phantasmagorial
phantasmagorian
phantasmagoric
phantasmagorical
phantasmagorically
phantasmagorist

Translations

a series of events

Chinese:
Mandarin: 走馬燈 (zh)
Finnish: fantasmagoria (fi)
Japanese: 幻灯 (ja) (げんとう, gentō), 走馬灯 (そうまとう, sōmatō), 影絵 (ja) (かげえ, kage-e)
Serbo-Croatian: fantazmagòrija (sh) f

a dreamlike state

Belarusian: фантасмаго́рыя f (fantasmahóryja)
Finnish: fantasmagoria (fi)
French: fantasmagorie (fr) f
German: Phantasmagorie (de) f
Hungarian: fantazmagória (hu)
Japanese: 幻 (ja) (まぼろし, maboroshi)
Polish: fantasmagoria (pl) f
Russian: фантасмаго́рия (ru) f (fantasmagórija)
Serbo-Croatian: fantazmagòrija (sh) f
Spanish: fantasmagoria f
Ukrainian: фантасмаго́рія f (fantasmahórija)