Apollonian

English

Etymology

Apollo +‎ -n- +‎ -ian

Adjective

Apollonian (not comparable)

1. (Greek mythology) Of or relating to the ancient Olympian Greek God Apollo.
   • 1877, Henry Kendall, “Ode to a Black Gin”, in The Australian Town and Country Journal, page 24:

     You have your lovers - dusky beaus / Not made of the poetic stuff / That sports an Apollonian nose, / And wears a sleek Byronic cuff.

   • 1979 August 4, Linda Stein, “Stopping Short of Self-Awareness”, in Gay Community News, page 18:

     The forces of nature is a major theme embodied in the two main goddess characters. The "northern woman" is Appollonian in her nature — cold, reserved, quiet, identified with the moon; the "southern woman" is Dionysian — passionate, a sun goddess.

2. Of or relating to the Ancient Greek mathematician Apollonius of Perga.
3. Pertaining to Apollonia.
   • 2011, Power and State Formation in West Africa: Appolonia from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century, →ISBN:

     They speak Aowin [Anyi] but their blood is Apollonian blood.

4. Alternative form of apollonian

Noun

Apollonian (plural Apollonians)

1. One who is apollonian.
2. One who follows/worships Apollo.
   • 2008, Herbert Spiegel, David Spiegel, Trance and Treatment: Clinical Uses of Hypnosis, →ISBN, page 120:

     By contrast, Apollonians value reason more than feeling.

   • 2011, Yuri Slezkine, The Jewish Century, →ISBN, page 24:

     Apollonians and Dionysians are usually the same people: now sober and serene, now drunk and frenzied.

   • 2013, Raphael Massarelli, Lloyd A. Horrocks, Julian N. Kanfer, Phospholipids and Signal Transmission, →ISBN:

     Those of us who were Apollonians had thus a chance to organize a programme. The Dionysians knew what was going to happen to them, but, of course, did not know yet how to cope with it.

   • 2016, Ellen Goldberg, Dorian Bergen, The Art and Science of Hand Reading, →ISBN:

     Apollonians are creative artists, but while all Apollonians love the arts, there are both creative and business types of Apollonians.

3. A native of Apollonia.
   • 1824, Isaac Littlebury, transl., The History of Herodotus:

     But the Apollonians being soon informed of the thing, caused him to appear without delay before the court of justice; and sentenced him to lose his eyes, for sleeping when he ought to have watched.

   • 1978, Paul Mmegha Mbaeyi, British Military and Naval Forces in West African History, 1807-1874:

     Another clause in the rules of conduct drawn up for defeated Appolonia virtually transferred jurisdiction to Maclean: by it, he invited 'every Appolonian who may be oppressed or injured wither [i.e. whether] by Quacoe Accah [Kwaku Akkah, the King] or any other chief ... to make his complaint to the governor of Cape Coast

   • 2015, Joel D. Irish, G. Richard Scott, A Companion to Dental Anthropology, →ISBN, page 261:

     McIlvaine and colleagues (2014) examined a cemetery at the Greek colony of Apollonia, Albania to assess to what degree interbreeding may have occurred between indigenous Illyrians and colonial Apollonians.

4. (science fiction) A native of the planet Apollo.
   • 2008, C. G. Stevenson, The Apollonian Appearance: The Being from the Planet Apollo, →ISBN:
   • 2013, Jim Henry, Universal Life Force Series Featuring Antiquity Calais Vol. 1-3, →ISBN:

     At first, when the Apollonians converged on her, Mary Theresa thought she had made a major mistake by going to the battle.

   • 2013, James Bartholomeusz, The Grey Star, →ISBN, page 17:

     The last person who tried this kind of appeal was actually the new vessel -- an Apollonian, one I knew briefly.

Derived terms

• Apollonian circle
• Apollonian gasket
• Apollonian net

Translations

See also

• Dionysian