[lit-ideas] Geary on Incubi and Succubi
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 1 Jun 2004 16:00:24 EDT
In "My Memphis Memories -- & Other Animals" -- vol. 3, New Series, Seattle,
WA -- Geary writes:
>I recall I was in the seminary studying to
>be a priest and would pray -- sometimes in
>Latin, sometimes not -- all day, every day
>for a wet dream -- the only 'sex' [sic with scare
>quotes, sic] we were allowed, now doncha know.
R. Paul says that the passage on chess in PI (by Wittgenstein) is _not_
about tropes -- and that 'This is a king' is LITERAL. I wonder what trope it
is,
though, that constitutes Geary's phrase, 'wet dream'. Surely a dream itself
is not wet -- or dry for that matter -- nor the dreaming. Is this paronymy or
_what_? (cf. Henley, The Wet Dreamers, 'We are the wet dreamers, although').
Anyway, the mediaevals in the list may _not_ be interested to know that
Geary is here making reference to the well-developed theory (in Aquinas, after
St. Augustine, etc) of the incubus and the sucubus. More in the ps.
Cheers,
JL
---
From the OED
INCUBUS
Llate L. incubus (Augustine) = cl. L. incubo. Reresented as a malignant
demon who lay upon men and women; f. L. <NOBRre to lie upon. Cf. F. incube
(14th
c. in Hatz.-Darm.).]
A feigned evil spirit or demon (originating in personified representations
of the nightmare) supposed to descend upon persons in their sleep, and
especially to seek carnal intercourse [with women]. In the Middle Ages, their
existence was recognized by the ecclesiastical and civil law.
1205 LAY. 15783
Heo Heo ihaten ful iwis incubii demones..monine mon on sweuene ofte heo
ihaten.
1330 R. BRUNNE Chron. Wace (Rolls) 8088
ise spyrites do women schame; Incuby demones ys cald er name, ffendes in
bedde..at many woman han forlayn.
1386 CHAUCER Wife's T. 24
Wommen may go saufly vp and doun..Ther is noon oother Incubus but he And he
ne wol doon hem but dishonour.
1387 TREVISA Higden (Rolls) I. 419
That fend at <N a at, Wommen wel ofte to begile, Incubus hatte be , t.
1535 STEWART Cron. Scot. II. 221
Marling also wes in tha samin dais Into Britane..Ane incobus with subtill
sorcerie.
1584 R. SCOT Discov. Witchcr. II. ix. (1886) 26
They [witches] use venerie with a divell called Incubus.
1624 MASSINGER Parl. Love II. ii,
I'll sooner clasp an incubus, or hug A fork-tongued adder.
1671 MILTON P.R. II. 152
Belial, the dissolutest spirit that fell, The sensualest, and, after
Asmodai, The fleshliest incubus.
1801 W. TAYLOR in Monthly Mag. XII. 421
Angels, Incubusses, Saints jostle in his song.
1865 TYLOR Early Hist. Man. i. 7
The evil demons who trouble people in their sleep, the Incubi and Succubi.
SUCCUBUS
Med.L., masc. form (with fem. meaning) corresp. to _SUCCUBA_
(http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/cgi/crossref?query_type=word&queryword=succubu
s&edition=2e&first=1&max_to_show=10&single=1&sort_type=alpha&xrefed=OED&xrefwo
rd=succuba) , after _INCUBUS_
(http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/cgi/crossref?query_type=word&queryword=succubus&edition=2e&first=1&max_to_sho
w=10&single=1&sort_type=alpha&xrefed=OED&xrefword=incubus) .]
A demon in female form supposed to have carnal intercourse with men in their
sleep. (Cf. _INCUBUS_
(http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/cgi/crossref?query_type=word&queryword=succubus&edition=2e&first=1&max_to_show=10&sin
gle=1&sort_type=alpha&xrefed=OED&xrefword=incubus) .)
1387 TREVISA Higden (Rolls) I. 419
That fend at <N a at, Wommen wel ofte to begile, Incubus hatte be , t; And
And men er while, Succubus is at wight.
1547 BOORDE Brev. Health cxix. (1870) 78
Incubus doth infeste and trouble women, and Succubus doth infest men.
1584 R. SCOT Discov. Witchcr. III. xix. (1886) 56
The divell plaieth Succubus to the man and carrieth from him the seed of
generation, which he delivereth as Incubus to the woman.
1644 Merc. Brit. No. 23. 178,
I think Incubusses and Sucubusses are Angells of light to these.
1647 COWLEY Mistr., Not Fair 14
So men (they say) by Hells delusions led, Have ta'ne a Succu'bus to their
bed.
1691 R. KIRK Secret Commw. i. (1815) 13
For the Inconvenience of their Succubi, who tryst with Men, it is
abhominable.
1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVIII. 52/2
The truth is, the succubus is only a species of the nightmare.
1818 C. K. SHARPE Law's Memorialls Pref. p. xx,
For forty years, he [sc. Benedict of Berne] had kept up an amatory commerce
with a Succubus, called Hermeline.
1950 A. CLARKE Coll. Plays (1963) 315
Branduv is sleeping with a succubus.
1958 L. DURRELL Balthazar vii. 167
Thirst can be quenched like this, by inviting a succubus to one's bed.
1969 J. UPTON tr. R. Diaz Sánchez's Cumboto 261
The dream reoccurred many times, it was the work of a clever succubus who
came to my cot regularly to conduct her oneiric concert.
1977 A. CARTER Passion of New Eve ii. 27,
I would..remember the myth of the succubus, the devils in female form who
come by night to seduce the saints.
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