enigma
(ɪˈnɪgmə)
Forms: 6–9 ænigma, 7 æ-, enigm(e, (anigma, inigma), 6– enigma. pl. enigmas; also 6–7 æ-, enigmata.
[a. L. ænigma, Gr. αἴνιγµα (pl. αἰνίγµατα), f. αἰνίσσεσθαι to speak allusively or obscurely, f. αἶνος apologue, fable. The adapted forms æ-, enigm(e in 17th c. may be due to the Fr. énigme.]
1. a. A short composition in prose or verse, in which something is described by intentionally obscure metaphors, in order to afford an exercise for the ingenuity of the reader or hearer in guessing what is meant; a riddle. † b. In wider sense: An obscure or allusive speech; a parable (obs. exc. as transf. from 1 a).
| 1539 Taverner Erasm. Prov. 69 He pronounced also many Enigmata or Symboles. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. iii. i. 128 Some enigma, some riddle, come, thy Lenuoy begin. 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1354 Hidden under darke ænigmes and covert speeches. 1644–52 J. Smith Sel. Disc. vi. iii. (1821) 201 Those ænigmata of Joseph's sun, moon, stars, and sheaves. 1681 H. More Exp. Dan. vi. 159 Delivering the matter without any Prophetick ænigm or Parable. 1684 ― An Answer 249 Symbols, Parables, or Enigmes. 1715 Pope Let. Sir W. Trumbull 16 Dec., It was one of the Enigma's of Pythagoras, ‘When the winds rise, worship the Eccho’..when popular tumults begin, retire to solitudes. 1781 Harris Philol. Enq. (1841) 441 Nor ought a metaphor to be farfetched, for then it becomes an enigma. 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian xxiv, You speak in enigmas, father. 1809–10 Coleridge Friend (1865) 158 In a complex enigma the greatest ingenuity is not always shown by him who first gives the complete solution. 1849 W. Fitzgerald tr. Whitaker's Disput. 186 ænigmas which Œdipus himself could never solve. |
2. fig. Something as puzzling as an enigma; an unsolved problem.
| c 1605 Rowley Birth Merl. v. i. 349, I will erect a monument..A dark enigma to the memory. 1609 Ev. Woman in Hum. ii. i. in Bullen O. Pl. IV, All which to me are problematique mines, Obsurde inigmaes. a 1667 Jer. Taylor Serm. (1678) 340 A person both God and Man, an ænigma to all Nations, and to all Sciences. 1795 Burke Let. Dr. Hussey (1844) IV. 325 As to Spain, it certainly has been, and long will be, an enigma. 1836 Thirlwall Greece II. xiv. 200 If the fleet..could be supposed to solve this enigma. 1875 Farrar Silence & V. ii. 33 Separated from the thought of God, the conscience becomes an idle enigma. |