Gordian

See also: gordian

English

Etymology

From Gordius +‎ -an or Gordium +‎ -an.

Adjective

Gordian (comparative more Gordian, superlative most Gordian)

1. Of or pertaining to Gordium (now Yassihüyük in Turkey), capital of Phrygia.
2. Of or pertaining to Gordius, king of Phrygia
3. Of the Gordian knot.
4. Twisted; convoluted; tied as a knot.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 347–349:

     […] cloſe the Serpent ſly,
     Inſinuating, wove with Gordian twine
     His braided train, […]

   • 1819, John Keats, “Lamia”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, →OCLC, part I, page 6:

     […] he found a palpitating snake, / Bright, and cirque-couchant in a dusky brake. / She was a gordian shape of dazzling hue, / Vermilion-spotted, golden, green, and blue; […]

   • 2005, Lance Parkin, The Gallifrey Chronicles, page 205:

     When you put it that way it was so simple, so self-explanatory, so beautiful, so obvious that what had seemed the most Gordian problem was instantly almost mundane, and its elegance was its own proof.

Derived terms

• Gordian knot

Proper noun

Gordian

1. Gordianus, name of three Roman emperors.

Translations

name of Roman emperors

• Parthian: 𐭂𐭅𐭓𐭕𐭍𐭉𐭅𐭎 (gwrtnyws)

Anagrams

• adoring, gradino, idorgan, roading