fflo: (Default)
fflo ([personal profile] fflo) wrote2007-10-24 01:10 pm

I learned a new word today.

It's a good one, too. Thanks, [livejournal.com profile] shmizla. From dictionary.com:

ca·thex·is /kəˈθɛksɪs/ Pronunciation [kuh-thek-sis]
–noun, plural -thex·es /-ˈθɛksiz/ Pronunciation [-thek-seez]
Psychoanalysis.
1. the investment of emotional significance in an activity, object, or idea.
2. the charge of psychic energy so invested.

[Origin: 1920–25; < NL < Gk káthexis a keeping, equiv. to kathek- (var. s. of katéchein to keep, hold on to, equiv. to cat + échein to have, hold) + -sis, as trans. of G Besetzung a taking possession of (Freud's term)]

—Related forms
ca·thec·tic /kəˈθɛktɪk/ Pronunciation [kuh-thek-tik]


In that second definition, "charge" comes off awf'lly figurative, to me.

my pleasure!

[identity profile] shmizla.livejournal.com 2007-10-24 06:29 pm (UTC)(link)
any time :)

[identity profile] disclaimerwill.livejournal.com 2007-10-25 10:44 am (UTC)(link)
Mike Doughty used the word "decathecting" in a song awhile back, and I always wondered what that meant... I assume he constructed it based on this! Thanks for sharing.