The Facts on File Dictionary of Allusions - Green Valley High School

å X ååååå
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Xanadu (zanadoo) A magnifi cent, exotic residence
or other place, especially one with mystical
qualities. <strong>The</strong> allusion is to Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s
unfi nished poem “Kubla Khan” (1816), which
begins with a reference to the great summer residence
of the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan (1215–
94) at Shang- du, north of Beijing: “In Xanadu did
Kubla Khan / A stately plea sure- dome decree.”
Coleridge was drawing upon a description of the
palace at Shang- du written by Samuel Purchas in
Purchas his Pilgrimage (1613), in which it was said to
encompass 16 miles of land, with fertile meadows,
pleasant springs, and a sumptuous house. Centuries
later Xanadu was the name was given to the
vast mansion built by the fi ctional Charles Foster
Kane in the movie citizen kane (1941). “Oxford
was my Xanadu” (Irene Young, Enigma Variations,
1990).
Xanthippe (zanthipee, zantipee) An ill-tempered,
peevish, shrewish woman; a nag. <strong>The</strong> original fi fthcentury
b.c. Xanthippe, or Xantippe, was the wife
of the Greek phi los o pher Socrates, who acquired a
notorious reputation for her scolding of her husband,
variously attributed to her impatience at her
husband’s neglect of her in favor of philosophical
discussion and to his lack of interest in practical
matters, specifi cally the business of making a living.
Another school of thought has it that Socrates
deliberately held his celebrated discussions in the
open air primarily to escape his wife’s censorious
attentions. William Shakespeare subsequently
referred to Xanthippe in her role as the archetypal
nag in <strong>The</strong> Taming of the Shrew (c. 1593): “Be she as
foul as was Florentius’ love, / As old as Sibyl, and
as curst and shrewd / As Socrates’ Xanthippe, or a
worse, / She moves me not.” She reappears in a
similar role in many other works, including the
novel Tom Jones (1748) by Henry Fielding: “ ‘By this
Xanthippe’ (so was the wife of Socrates called, said
Partridge)—‘by this Xanthippe he had two sons, of
which I was the younger.’ ”
xanthous (zanthbs) Yellowish or reddish- yellow;
having yellowish hair and a light complexion. <strong>The</strong>
word is descended from the name of the Xanthus
River (meaning yellow river), the ancient Greek name
for the river Scamander and hence the name also of
the city that sprang up on its banks. Legend has it
that the river was named by the poet Homer, who
noted how the fl eeces of local sheep were stained
golden red by its silt- laden waters. Another derivation,
though, suggests a link with a Greek hero of
the same name who reputedly routed a force of
Trojans on the banks of the river. <strong>The</strong>y watched as a
xanthous stain spread through the sluggish water.