Word-built world: Lord of the Flies

A.Word.A.Daywith Anu Garg

Lord of the Flies

PRONUNCIATION:

(lord uv thuh FLAIZ) 

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.

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