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Is it Deux Ex Machina or Deus Ex Machina?

Jack Denfeld

02:00 / 02.03.04

We're arguing over which one it is. And is there a reference somewhere online as to which if not both are correct?

Cailín

02:09 / 02.03.04

It's Deus Ex Machina. The word Deux didn't turn up in the Latin to English translator I used (http://www.nd.edu/~archives/latgramm.htm), whereas Deus shows up with: deus -i m. [a god , deity]; 'di meliora (ferant)', [God forbid]. The only use for the word "deux" that I know of is the French for "two". Hope that helps.

Cloned Christ on a HoverDonkey

03:25 / 02.03.04

quote:

In some ancient Greek drama, an apparently insoluble crisis was solved by the intervention of a god, often brought on stage by an elaborate piece of equipment. This "god from the machine" was literally a deus ex machina.

Few modern works feature deities suspended by wires from the ceiling, but the term deus ex machina is still used for cases where an author uses some improbable (and often clumsy) plot device to work his or her way out of a difficult situation. When the cavalry comes charging over the hill or when the impoverished hero is relieved by an unexpected inheritance, it's often called a deus ex machina.

aus

05:30 / 02.03.04

Like in almost every Star Trek episode?

"We can't adapt the cofangle synaptic array, but if we bend the subatomic aura from the matter transmitter into Mr Spock's left testicle, it might confuse the heck out of the Klingons long enough for us to repair the dimensional warp drive and escape..."
"Make it so."
"It will take us at least 72 hours."
"Do it in 20 minutes."
"Give me 30 and I can do it, but I won't be able to replace the blown light bulb in your cabin."
"Hmmmm... I can create radiant glow by firing my phaser so I can still read in bed... You have 25 minutes."
"Yes, Captain!"

Jack Denfeld

16:01 / 02.03.04

Thanks everyone.

Krug

16:24 / 02.03.04

More importantly...

Is it pronounced "Mahkina" or "Musheena?" I've heard all sorts of people say both.

ONLY NICE THINGS

18:54 / 02.03.04

Lordy...

Deus ex Machina - prn "day-us eks ma-khi-na", approximately. It's a latinisation of "theos ek (or apo) mechanei (mechanes)".

And it isn't really "the god from the machine". A "mechane" is specifically a device for lifting, and then by extension a device or contrivance (or seige engine) - so, it's more like a crane. It wasn't always a god, either, strictly speaking - the demigod Heracles crops up at the end of the Philoctetes, and the device is probably used with Medea at the end of the Medea - it's the arrival of somebody who brings the action to a close by whatever means are necessary. The bully on the pulley, if you will.

passer

19:55 / 02.03.04

I think the linguistic argument for "musheena" based on the pronunciation of modern Italian can be made (and has been made, but being lazy and forgetfull I am without citation).

On a lighter note, Haus, I also deeply resent the phrase latinisation, you Hellenist.

Lurid Archive

20:11 / 02.03.04

The modern Italian pronounciation of "Machina" would be "ma-khi-na", as Haus wrote. So the "sh" sound isn't justified on those grounds.

aus

20:22 / 02.03.04

Down with latinisers! Boo!

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=Deus%20ex%20Machina

passer

20:42 / 02.03.04

aya! cc is "ch" right? Mea culpa.

I still stand by my hellenist slur though! Credibility be damned.

ONLY NICE THINGS

21:52 / 02.03.04

And every time I feeel it slipping away,
It just makes me wanna cry,
What's so funny 'bout peace, love and graicising?
Ooooo-ooooh

Ahem.

Sorry.

I take your point, passer, in the sense that the "ch" sound may have been soft rather than aspirated in Latin, but I'm not sure I buy it. There's some stuff based on spelling mistakes that, IIRC, suggests that the aspirated consonants were hard rather than soft, certianly in Greek and I think probably in Latin for a long time...

I tend to pronounce chi as like the kh in "pack-horse", which *is* hellenising and very bad form....

03:34 / 04.03.04

"Speak."

"We do not need you!"

"What Do You want?"

"And if you fail?"

"It is done."

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