Gordian Knot - Wiktionary

Jump to content

Contents

move to sidebar hide

• Beginning
• 1 English Toggle English subsection
  • 1.1 Etymology
  • 1.2 Pronunciation
  • 1.3 Noun
    • 1.3.1 Derived terms
    • 1.3.2 Related terms
    • 1.3.3 Translations

• Entry
• Discussion

English

• Read
• Edit
• View history

Tools Tools move to sidebar hide Actions

• Read
• Edit
• View history

General

• What links here
• Related changes
• Upload file
• Permanent link
• Page information
• Cite this page
• Get shortened URL
• Download QR code

Print/export

• Create a book
• Download as PDF
• Printable version

In other projects Appearance move to sidebar hide From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

[edit] WOTD – 14 July 2006

English Wikipedia has an article on:Gordian KnotWikipedia

Etymology

[edit]

From the name of a legendary knot tied to a pole near the temple of Zeus in Gordium. It was prophesied that whoever loosed the knot would become ruler of all Asia. Alexander the Great solved the puzzle by slicing through the knot and took it as a sign of Zeus' favor. He then proceeded to conquer much of the known world.

Pronunciation

[edit]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈɡɔːdɪən ˈnɒt/
• (US) IPA(key): /ˈɡoʊɹdɪən ˈnɑt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

[edit]

Gordian knot (plural Gordian knots)

1. (Greek mythology) The legendary knot tied to a pole near the temple of Zeus in Gordium.
2. (by extension) Any intricate and complex problem having a simple solution.
   • 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:List his discourse of war, and you shall hearA fearful battle rend'red you in music;Turn him to any cause of policy,The Gordian knot of it he will unloose.
   • 1785 August 19, Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Peter Carr:The knot which you thought a Gordian one, will untie itself before you.
   • 1825, William Hazlitt, “The Late Mr. Horne Tooke”, in The Spirit of the Age […] , London: Printed for Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:Mr. Tooke thought he had answered this question satisfactorily, and loosened the Gordian knot of grammarians[…]
   • 1881, James Greenwood, chapter 10, in Low-Life Deeps:The right hon. gentleman, who was doubtless aware of the popularity of the old English saying, "what is sauce for the goose should be sauce for the gander," shrewdly judged that he could not go far wrong if he cut the Gordian knot in which the publican's disagreement was bound, by declaring his conviction that what was good for the Crown and Cushion, in the Strand, was likewise good for the Three Jolly Tinkers, in Brick Lane; and that, to put an end to the vexed question, the shortest way would be to tar them all with the same brush.

Derived terms

[edit]

• cut the Gordian knot

Related terms

[edit]

• Gordius
• Gordium

Translations

[edit] mythical knot

Armenian: գորդյան հանգույց (hy) (gordyan hanguycʻ) Belarusian: го́рдзіеў ву́зел m (hórdzijew vúzjel) Bulgarian: го́рдиев въ́зел m (górdiev vǎ́zel) Catalan: nus gordià (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 戈耳狄俄斯之結 / 戈耳狄俄斯之结 (zh) (Gē'ěrdí'ésī zhī jié) Czech: gordický uzel m Danish: gordisk knude c Finnish: Gordionin solmu French: nœud gordien (fr) m German: Gordischer Knoten Greek: γόρδιος δεσμός (el) m (górdios desmós) Hungarian: gordiuszi csomó (hu) Icelandic: Gordíans hnúturinn m Italian: nodo gordiano (it) m Japanese: ゴルディオスの結び目 (ゴルディオスのむすびめ, gorudiosu no musubime) Limburgish: Górdische knoup m Macedonian: гордиев јазол m (gordiev jazol) Norwegian: gordisk knute m Pannonian Rusyn: Ґордийов ґузел m (Gordijov guzel) Polish: węzeł gordyjski (pl) m Portuguese: nó górdio m Romanian: nod gordian (ro) n Russian: го́рдиев у́зел (ru) m (górdijev úzel) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: Гордијев чвор m Latin: Gordijev čvor m Slovak: gordický uzol m Slovene: gordijski vozel m Spanish: nudo gordiano (es) m Swedish: gordisk knut (sv) c Ukrainian: го́рдіїв ву́зол (uk) m (hórdijiv vúzol)

intricate problem

Albanian: nyja gordiane Armenian: գորդյան հանգույց (hy) (gordyan hanguycʻ) Czech: gordický uzel m Danish: gordisk knude c Dutch: gordiaanse knoop m Finnish: Gordionin solmu French: nœud gordien (fr) m Greek: γόρδιος δεσμός (el) m (górdios desmós) Hungarian: gordiuszi csomó (hu) Icelandic: Gordíans hnúturinn m Italian: nodo gordiano (it) m Japanese: ゴルディオスの結び目 (ゴルディオスのむすびめ, gorudiosu no musubime) Limburgish: Górdische knoup m Norwegian: gordisk knute m Polish: węzeł gordyjski (pl) m Portuguese: nó górdio m Romanian: nod gordian (ro) n Russian: го́рдиев у́зел (ru) m (górdijev úzel) Slovene: gordijski vozel m Spanish: nudo gordiano (es) m Swedish: gordisk knut (sv) c Ukrainian: го́рдіїв ву́зол (uk) m (hórdijiv vúzol)

Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Gordian_knot&oldid=89281116" Categories:

• English terms with IPA pronunciation
• English terms with audio pronunciation
• English lemmas
• English nouns
• English countable nouns
• English multiword terms
• en:Greek mythology
• English terms with quotations
• en:Knots
• English terms derived from toponyms
• English terms derived from Greek mythology

Hidden categories:

• Word of the day archive
• Word of the day archive/2006/July
• Word of the day archive/2006
• Pages with entries
• Pages with 1 entry
• Quotation templates to be cleaned
• Entries with translation boxes
• Terms with Armenian translations
• Terms with Belarusian translations
• Terms with Bulgarian translations
• Terms with Catalan translations
• Terms with Mandarin translations
• Terms with Czech translations
• Terms with Danish translations
• Terms with Finnish translations
• Terms with French translations
• Terms with German translations
• Terms with Greek translations
• Terms with Hungarian translations
• Terms with Icelandic translations
• Terms with Italian translations
• Terms with Japanese translations
• Terms with Limburgish translations
• Terms with Macedonian translations
• Terms with Norwegian translations
• Terms with Pannonian Rusyn translations
• Terms with Polish translations
• Terms with Portuguese translations
• Terms with Romanian translations
• Terms with Russian translations
• Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations
• Terms with Slovak translations
• Terms with Slovene translations
• Terms with Spanish translations
• Terms with Swedish translations
• Terms with Ukrainian translations
• Terms with Albanian translations
• Terms with Dutch translations

Search Search Toggle the table of contents Gordian knot 9 languages Add topic