Word Woman

Welcome to another mind-bending episode of Word Woman's Weekly Work-Out! This is the season of giving, so give your brain some quality time by doing crossword puzzles, sudoku or just curling up with a good book. Here's the Word of the Week for a little mental warm-up:

Epitome: An 'epitome (Greek epitemnein—to cut short) is a summary or miniature form; an instance that represents a larger reality, also used as a synonym for embodiment.

Many documents from the Ancient Greek and Roman worlds survive now only "in epitome", referring to the practice of some later authors (epitomators) who wrote distilled versions of larger works now lost. Some writers attempted to convey the stance and spirit of the original, while others added further details or anecdotes regarding the general subject. As with all secondary historical sources, a different bias not present in the original may creep in.

Documents surviving in epitome differ from those surviving only as fragments quoted in later works, and those used as unacknowledged sources by later scholars, as they can stand as discrete documents, albeit refracted through the views of another author.

The word is often mispronounced; its correct English pronunciation is IPA: [əˈpɪtəmi].

Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epitome, last modified on 17 December 2009 at 03:41.

Example: The broken window in the den, which had gone unrepaired for the entire 20 years that they had owned their home, was the epitome of Bob and Jane's dilapidated marriage.