dormitive principle

Englisch - Englisch

Definition von dormitive principle im Englisch Englisch wörterbuch

A type of tautology in which an item is being explained in terms of the item itself, only put in different (usually more abstract) words

And to any intelligent reader, explanation of an 'inherent ability' was reminiscent of Molière's mock explanation of the soporific effects of opium - that it contained a 'dormitive principle'.

Relevante Übersetzungen

dormitive principles

plural form of dormitive principle

Silbentrennung

dormitive Prin·ci·ple

Synonyme

dormitive virtue

Etymologie

() A modern translation of Latin, virtus dormitiva, coined by Molière in The Imaginary Invalid. In the play, he lampoons a group of physicians providing an explanation in macaronic Latin of the sleep-inducing properties of opium as stemming from its "virtus dormitiva".