Xanadu, Marco Polo, Coleridge, xantho-, xanthic, xanthochromic, Xanthippe, Socrates

Xanadu:  [the derivation is from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem Kubla Khan (1789)] a place of idyllic beauty

    

      The poem starts:

      In Xanadu did Kubla Khan

      A stately pleasure dome decree

   The history of Xanadu is fascinating.  It was the capital of China in the 1200’s before it was moved to Beijing.  Kubla Khan had it built by a well-known architect in 1256.  It was a beautiful walled-in city filled with streams, meadows, animals and an exquisite marble “pleasure” palace.  

     There were three well-know descriptions of Xanadu prior to Coleridge’s, one of which was by Marco Polo who visited it in 1275.  Coleridge had an opium-inspired dream of Xanadu as he fell asleep while reading Samuel Purchas’ description, which was the source of this poem.

xantho- [Greek, xanthos]  yellow

      xanthic

      xanthochromic

     These adjectives are used in medicine (describing serum, for example). 

Xanthippe: \zan 'thip ee\ [the shrewish wife of Socrates]  an ill-tempered woman. 

          I was listening to an NPR quiz show and the question was who was Socrates’ wife? To my surprise, Xanthippe rolled off my tongue effortlessly…as if everyone (myself included) knew this simple fact.  

     

     I am reading a lot of Shakespeare currently and recently finished The Taming of the Shrew.    The irritable, less desirable older sister Katharina (the ‘shrew’) must be married before the beautiful younger sister, Bianca, will be permitted to marry.  Bianca’s two suitors come up with a plan to entice someone to marry Katharina.  Petruchio, an elder, wealthy suitor, tells them that he wouldn’t mind marrying Katharine since she is wealthy like himself, even if she is “…as old as Sybil, and as curst and shrewd as Socrates’ Xanthippe…”  (1.2.69).  A modern take on The Taming of the Shrew?  The movie The Quiet Man starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara.