The phrase ‘halcyon days’ though common enough years ago, is now deemed obsolete by modern dictionaries. Its origins illustrate the blurring of ancient myths with more objective and exact use of language, of which 'Herculean task' might be cited, but other examples abound. The myth was that the Halcyon was a bird that bred at the time of the winter solstice in a nest floating on the sea. It charmed the wind and waves so that the sea was especially calm during this period, enabling the eggs in the nest to hatch without disturbance.
The halcyon was a species of kingfisher ( Alcedo ispida ), genus Halcyon , or the subfamily Halcyonidæ : hence the poetic name of this bird. The species seen in England is more a bird of rivers than pelagic. The Belted Kingfisher of N. America ( Ceryle alcyon ), may be more familiar to those in the US . There is also the not unreasonable superstition that a suspended dried specimen indicates by its position the direction in which the wind was blowing.
I'm surprised it's considered obsolete. Obsolescent, perhaps, but it's still in use on rare occasions. I'm sure I've seen references every now and then, although I can't cite any examples.
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
I've usually heard it as meaning something idyllic. There's a customer where I work who runs a landscaping business called Halcyon Lawn Care, so he doesn't think it's obsolete!
[QUOTE]Originally posted by arnie: I'm surprised it's considered obsolete.
Yes. I was surprised too. The OED credits halcyon as a noun referring to the kingfisher, but gives: 2. Calm, quietude, halcyon days. Obs. It's still in use in the conversational gutters I frequent, far removed from the upmarket British Mayfair shoppers will know 'Halcyon Days' commercially for a range of attractive hand painted enamels.
So, too, is thaliomide, but some colleagues and I were discussing it just the other day. (I stand corrected; according to the Wikipedia article, the FDA has re-approved thalidomide's use in some special cases. Seems that Halcion is still on the market, too.)
I don't get the reference to soma which refers to the physical body.
Soma was a ritual drink in Indo-Iranian religions. It was called haoma in Avestan. The entire ninth mandala (chapter) of the Rigveda is dedicated to it. Nobody knows for sure what plant it was pressed from, but there has been no shortage of theories: grapes, mushrooms, ephedra, et al. It's also a brand name for a drug, as well as a fictional one in Huxley's Brave New World. To folks who live in the San Francisco Bay Area, it's also term for a neighborhood: South of Market.This message has been edited. Last edited by: zmježd,
