
A.Word.A.Daywith Anu Garg
Lord of the Flies
PRONUNCIATION:
MEANING:
adjective: Marked by a breakdown of order into cruelty, chaos, and savagery.
ETYMOLOGY:
After Lord of the Flies (1954), a novel by William Golding. Earliest documented use: 1969.
NOTES:
In the novel, a group of English schoolboys are stranded on an uninhabited island after a plane crash. At first, they try to establish rules and live together peacefully, but their makeshift society descends into cruelty and savagery.
The title refers to Beelzebub, from Hebrew ba’al-zebub (lord of flies), the name of a Philistine god of the city of Ekron. In later Christian tradition, Beelzebub became identified with the prince of demons, or Satan.