palingenesis

Definition

Rebirth; regeneration; (countable) an instance of this.

Etymology

Probably a variant of palingenesia + -genesis (suffix meaning ‘origin; production’). Palingenesia is a learned borrowing from Late Latin palingenesia (“rebirth; regeneration”), from Koine Greek παλιγγενεσία (palingenesía, “rebirth”), from Ancient Greek πᾰ́λῐν (pắlĭn, “again, anew, once more”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to turn (end-over-end); to revolve around; to dwell, sojourn”)) + γένεσις (génesis, “creation; manner of birth; origin, source”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to beget; to give birth; to produce”)) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). By surface analysis, palin- + genesis. Sense 2 (“apparent repetition, during the development of a single embryo, of changes that occurred previously in the evolution of its species”) is from German Palingenesis; while sense 3 (“regeneration of magma by the melting of metamorphic rocks”) is from Swedish palingenes. Both are derived from the Greek word: see above. The plural form is probably from palingenesis + Latin genesēs (a plural form of genesis).

Example Sentences

• "The elegant and fashionable female of London, would start back with horror and consternation—with loathing and disgust—could palingeneses of her ancient ancestors be presented to her."
• "If in connection with [Friedrich] Schleiermacher we reflect on the method of his speculations and on the contrasts which intersect each other, it can hardly be called a leap if we pass from him to the two men who were designated above […] as those who improved the System of Identity. For one of these, Johann Jakob Wagner, who had been misunderstood and was almost forgotten, a palingenesis had already begun."
• "Thebes, […] is an originary site, a primal scene of writing; a point of transumption, where the Phoenician alphabet transmutes into the Greek, initiating thereby the variegated career of Greek writing and its palingeneses."