Elysian

From Latin Elysium (from Ancient Greek Ἠλύσιον (Ēlúsion, “Elysium; one of the Elysian Fields”)) +‎ -an (adjective-forming suffix).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪˈlɪz.i.ən/
  • Hyphenation: Ely‧si‧an

  • Audio (Southern England):

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪˈliː.ʒən/
  • Hyphenation: Ely‧sian

Elysian

1. (Greek mythology) Elysium (“the home of the blessed after death”).

Elysian (not comparable)

1. Of or pertaining to Elysian or Elysium, the location.
   • 1826, John Frederick Dennett, “The Second Voyage of Captain Parry”, in The Voyages and Travels of Captains Parry, Franklin, Ross, and Mr. Belzoni; Forming an Interesting History of the Manners, Customs, and Characters of Various Nations, Visited by Enterprising Travellers, London: Published by J. Jacques and W. Wright, 13, Paternoster Row, →OCLC, page 246:

     Departed spirits do not however make a joyful and immediate entrance into these elysian fields, but must first slide for the space of five days, or, according to others, for a still longer period, down a rough rock, which the Greenlanders, by a strange contradiction, represent to be quite bloody.

   • 1897, Alexander Henry, David Thompson, “Ethnography of Fort Vermilion”, in Elliott Coues, editor, New Light on the Early History of the Greater Northwest: The Manuscript Journals of Alexander Henry, Fur Trader of the Northwest Company and of David Thompson, Official Geographer of the Same Company 1799–1814: Exploration and Adventure among the Indians on the Red, Saskatchewan, Missouri and Columbia Rivers [...] In Three Volumes, volume II, New York, N.Y.: Francis P. Harper, →OCLC, part II (The Saskatchewan and Columbia Rivers), page 529:

     But everyone that has lived a wicked life on earth, committed murder in his own nation, or been guilty of suicide, must pass by a different route to the Elysian fields. He has a steep precipice to climb, which gives him much pain and trouble; […]

2. Blissful, happy, heavenly.
   • 1774, James Beattie, The Minstrel; or, The Progress of Genius. A Poem. Book the Second, London: […] Edward and Charles Dilly, […]; Edinburgh: William Creech, […], →OCLC, stanza XXXVI, page 19:

     O vvho of man the ſtory vvill unfold, / Ere victory and empire vvrought annoy, / In that elyſian age (miſnamed of gold) / The age of love, and innocence and joy, […]

   • 1909, Louis Gillet, “Giulio Romano”, in Charles G[eorge] Herbermann et al., editors, The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church [...] In Fifteen Volumes, volumes VI (Fathers–Gregory), New York, N.Y.: Robert Appleton Company, →OCLC, pages 572, column 2 – 573, column 1:

     Unlike Raphael's "Galatea" and his "Three Graces", examples of Elysian happiness in a race in the state of innocence, Giulio [Romano]'s decorations resemble saturnalia of lubricity itself.

   • 2007 spring, H[oward] P[hillips] Lovecraft, “Astrophobos”, in John Gregory Betancourt, editor, Adventure Tales, volume 1, number 4, Rockville, Md.: Wildside Press, →ISBN, page 117:

     Mystic waves of beauty blended / With the gorgeous golden rays / Phantasies of bliss descended / In a myrrh'd Elysian haze. / In the lyre-born chords extended / Harmonies of Lydian lays.

   • 2015, David Turner, “Embracing the Examination Incubus 1945–1979”, in The Old Boys: The Decline and Rise of the Public School, New Haven, Conn., London: Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 193:

     Winchester College has an Elysian quality, doubtless appreciated by the classical masters who supplied its educational staple for most of its six-century history.

• elysian

• (blissful, happy): see Thesaurus:blissful

• Elysian Fields

• Champs-Élysées

Elysian (plural Elysians)

1. An inhabitant of the mythological Elysium.

• Elysium on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Elysian Fields (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• Ainsley