Sunday Word: Apotheosis

[sallymn]

apotheosis [uh-poth-ee-oh-sis, ap-uh-thee-uh-sis]

noun:
1 the elevation or exaltation of a person to the rank of a god
2 the ideal example; epitome; quintessence

Examples:

'Accidental Gods' is not so much a chronology as an atlas of deification, but Subin nonetheless begins by tracing a history of the idea of apotheosis. In ancient Greece, only gods made other gods, mostly through procreation, but sometimes mortals were deified, too, in a kind of social climbing that could be accomplished through luck (e g, Glaucus), feats of strength (e g, Herakles), or marriage (e g, Ariadne, Psyche, et al) (Casey Cep, Should We Believe the Stories of Men Mistaken for Gods?, The New Yorker, December 2021)

He reaches his spiritual apotheosis when he dies. (Alison Croggon, Cloudstreet review - play is big on spectacle but can't solve the problems of Tim Winton's novel, The Guardian, May 2019)

We might have reached the apotheosis of 'iconic' if a candy texture is 'iconic'. Have you had a Starburst lately? It's like chewing on a wet paper. I suppose that's iconic, as well. (James Lileks, Mustard in Skittles is the devil's work, StarTribune, July 2023)

Saintcrow combines Nat's katabasis into the underworld of American divinity with her journey towards apotheosis, bringing them both together in three days and nights in the salt-black tree of the title, from which Nat will emerge either fully a divinity or - sacrificed to fuel her mother's survival - not at all. (Liz Bourke, The Salt-Black Tree by Lilith Saintcrow: Apotheosis in America, The Guardian, August 2023)

In the maidenly beauty of her eighteenth spring, the young girl's glance wanders dreamily over the apotheosis of the setting sun. (Camille Flammarion, Urania)

She disappeared in a kind of sulphurous apotheosis, and when a few years later Medora again came back to New York, subdued, impoverished, mourning a third husband, and in quest of a still smaller house, people wondered that her rich niece had not been able to do something for her. (Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence)

Origin:

'deification,' 1600s, from Late Latin apotheosis 'deification,' especially of an emperor or royal person, from Greek apothéōsis, from apotheoûn 'deify, make (someone) a god,' from apo, meaning, here, 'change' + theos 'god' (from PIE root dhes-, forming words for religious concepts) (Online Etymology Dictionary)

Among the ancient Greeks, it was sometimes thought fitting to grant someone 'god' status. Hence the word apothéōsis, from the verb apotheóō or apotheoûn, meaning 'to deify.' (All are rooted in Greek theós, meaning 'god,' which we can also thank for such religion-related terms as theology and atheism.). There's not a lot of literal apotheosizing to be had in modern English, but apotheosis is thriving in the 21st century. It can refer to the highest or best part of something, as in 'the celebration reaches its apotheosis in an elaborate feast,' or to a perfect example or ultimate form, as in 'a movie that is the apotheosis of the sci-fi genre.' (Merriam-Webster)