Friday, March 29, 2013

pharaonic

pharaonic\fair-ey-ON-ik, far-\, adjective:

1. (usually lowercase) impressively or overwhelmingly large, luxurious, etc.: a construction project of pharaonic proportions.
2. (sometimes lowercase) of or like a Pharaoh: living in Pharaonic splendor.
3. (lowercase) cruelly oppressive; tyrannical: pharaonic tax laws.

Next to it a picture of a gold-and-silver-threaded pharaonic tapestry with a band around it showing ducks flying and their wings like crowns, very pretty Islamic thing.
-- Joseph McElroy, Night Soul and Other Stories, 2011
At La Chacarita, the wealthy are laid to rest in huge pharaonic tombs; mausoleums are styled after famous chapels.
-- Lloyd Jones, Here at the End of the World We Learn to Dance, 2008

Pharaonic's root can be traced back to the Egyptian pr-ʿo, literally meaning "great house." While the nounPharaoh entered the language though Old English, English speakers didn't use this particular adjectival form until the late eighteenth century.

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