"'Euxenia' is a compound word in ancient Greek. The root of the primary word is 'xenos' or guest; 'xenia' is the solemn and sacred code of hospitality one must afford them. Failure to adhere to this code was an affront to Zeus, the most powerful member of the pantheon. The word 'xenia' refers overtly to this generosity, voluntary or otherwise, but just under the surface is the thought that the guest has the potential to be a threat: our modern word 'xenophobia' includes some of this unease. The prefix 'eu-' means simply 'good', but here again the full significance is not derived by accepting the meaning at face value. In the linguistic world of the ancient Greeks, it was often applied apotropaically, in other words with full awareness that the subject in reality embodied the exact opposite of the stated meaning, in this case 'good'. Names were sometimes given in this way in the hope that the characteristics of the place or being would change to fit the name. They usually didn't."

The object of this gem of masterful aesthetic illumination is my dear cousin, who creates beautiful works of art like these:


         Rhegmalogia
Series Intro
Interrogation
Shelf Edge
Sympiesis
Dialogue
Euxenia
Catalog
Euneclasteia
Treasury of the Siphnians

If you go to his site and wend through Rhegamalogia to Euxenia, you will find the piece about which he writes above. I am awestruck at his naming of names, the wispy windy thoughts dancing behind them, and the forms with which he gives them body in bold material form.

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