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lotus|ˈləʊtəs|
(Also lotos 7 erron. lutes.) Pl. lotuses.
[a. L. lōtus, Gr. λωτός, the name of several dissimilar plants; it is not known whether the word in the various applications is etymologically identical; in sense 3 Herodotus speaks of it as Egyptian.]
1. The plant yielding the fruit which was the food of the Lotophagi of Greek legend; represented by Homer (Od. ix. 90 ff.) as producing in those who ate it a state of dreamy forgetfulness, and loss of all desire to return home. Hence often allusively.
The Homeric lotus was identified by later Gr. writers with a North African shrub, the descriptions of which are thought by most naturalists to refer to the jujube-tree (Zizyphus Lotus), though other identifications have been proposed.
1540–41Elyot Image Gov. 39 Whan the Companions and seruantes of Ulisses had eaten abundantly of the herbe called Lotos. 1591Spenser Virg. Gnat 193 And them amongst the wicked Lotos grew, Wicked for holding guilefully away Vlysses men. a1600T. Deloney Thomas of Reading (1632) G j b, Then would I be like those men (that eating of the tree Lutes) forget the Country where they were borne. 1628Sir R. Le Grys tr. Barclay's Argenis 182 What Lotos in Africa doth hinder thy returne hither? 1725Pope Odyss. ix. 106 Lotos, the name; divine, nectarious juice! 1773Johnson Journ. West. Isl. Wks. X. 400 At Dunvegan I had tasted lotus and was in danger of forgetting that I was ever to depart. 1832Tennyson Lotos-Eaters 105 Eating the Lotos day by day. 1900Contemp. Rev. July 57 If it had all been Yalta, I could have eaten of the lotus for many a day, but Sebastopol is grim and grey [etc.].
2. A tree mentioned by ancient writers, distinguished by its hard, black wood, of which statues, flutes, etc. were carved; prob. the nettle-tree, Celtis australis. Also, the date-plum, Diospyros Lotus.
1551Turner Herbal i. H vj b, Affryca..bryngeth furth an excellent tree called lotus,..the wood hath a black color and is myche desyred of men for to make pypes. 1669Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 99 The Larch and Lotus..deserve to be propagated for their rarity, excellent Shade, and durable Timber. 1760J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 317 Lotus or Lote-tree, Celtis. Ibid., Lotus, supposed, of Homer, Diospyros.
3. a. The water-lily of Egypt and Asia, Nymphæa Lotus (and other species), and Nelumbium speciosum. b. Arch. An ornament representing the Egyptian water-lily: cf. lotus blossom, etc. in 6.
1584Rich tr. Herodotus ii. 92 b, In time of the floude..there arise in the water great plenty of lyllyes, which the people of ægypt call Lotos. 1601Holland Pliny I. 397 The ægyptian Lotus..groweth in the marishes of ægypt. 1785Wilkins Bhagvat v. 45 The leaf of the lotus. 1859Tennent Ceylon I. i. iii. 123 The chief ornaments of these neglected sheets of water are the large red and white Lotus. 1877Longfellow Kéramos 286 The grand Osiris holding in his hand the lotus. 1883H. W. V. Stuart Egypt 204 The blue and pink lotus of India. 1900Max Müller in 19th Cent. Nov. 732 After death the souls enter into the calyx of a lotus.
c. The plant treated symbolically in Hindu and Buddhist thought; also, in Yogic exercises, a bodily position said to resemble the lotus blossom. Cf. lotus gospel, pose, etc. in 6.
1848J. D. Hooker Himalayan Jrnls. Nov. (1854) I. x. 229 Low stone dykes, into which were let rows of stone slabs, inscribed with the sacred ‘Om Mani Padmi om’.—‘Hail to him of the lotus and jewel.’ 1887E. Arnold (title) Lotus and jewel, containing ‘In an Indian temple’, ‘A casket of gems’..with other poems. 1949S. Muzumdar Yogic Exercises 103 There are insuperable impediments because of which many will fail to master the Lotus. 1973R. Rendell Some lie & some Die xviii. 183 Vedast..had taken up a Yoga position, a half-Lotus, on the floor.
4. Some kind of clover or trefoil (referred to by Homer as food for horses). † wild lotus, perh. Melilotus officinalis.
1562Turner Herbal ii. 42 a, Lotus syluestris that is called wylde lotus, which som call y⊇ less trifoli, groweth in Libia. c1611Chapman Iliad xiv. 294 With his leaves did dewy lotus store Th' Elysian mountain. 1682Wheler Journ. Greece i. 3 Yellow Flowers..like those of wild Lotus. 1709Addison Tatler No. 147 ⁋4 While the Earth beneath them sprung up in Lotus's, Saffrons, Hyacinths [etc.]. 1820Shelley Hymn to Mercury xvii. 6 When with rush-grass tall, Lotus and all sweet herbage, every one Had pastured been. 1842Tennyson Œnone 96 And at their feet the crocus brake like fire, Violet, amaracus and asphodel, Lotos and lilies.
5. Adopted by botanists as the name of a genus of leguminous plants; hence in popular language spec. the Bird's-foot Trefoil, Lotus corniculatus.
1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., The species of lotus, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are these. 1. The smooth hand cinquefoil lotus, called the smaller smooth horned lotus [and 22 others]. 1813Sir H. Davy Agric. Chem. (1814) 65 He was examining particularly a species of lotus. 1842E. J. Lance Cottage Farmer 9 Buckwheat, rye, tares, lucern, rape, white clover, trefoil, lotus; some one or other of these will grow readily in sandy land. 1865Gosse Land & Sea (1874) 7 The scarlet-tipped blossoms of the little bird's-foot lotus.
6. attrib. and Comb., as lotus-blossom, lotus-branch, lotus-dust, lotus-flower, lotus-flute, lotus-leaf (also attrib.), lotus-lily, lotus-pond, lotus-seed; (Buddhism and Yoga) lotus gospel, lotus pose, lotus position, lotus posture, lotus seat, lotus throne; lotus-like adj.; lotus-headed, lotus-leafed, lotus-leaved, lotus-paven, lotus-petalled adjs.; lotus-berry, Byrsonima coriacea; lotus-bird Austral. (see quot.); lotus capital, -column Egyptian Archit., a capital or column ornamented with lotuses; lotus-grass = sense 4; lotus-land, the fabled land of the lotus-eaters; a land of ease and delight; lotus-tree = lote-tree (Treas. Bot.).
1864Grisebach Flora W. Ind. 785 *Lotus-berry.
1890C. Lumholtz Cannibals 22 The Parra gallinacea, which in Australia is called the *lotus-bird. It sits on the leaves that float on the water, particularly those of the water-lily.
1850G. Wilkinson Arch. Anc. Egypt 7 The *lotus blossom, the papyrus head.
1834Baboo I. xviii. 317 A piece of jewellery, representing a *lotus-branch.
1850G. Wilkinson Arch. Anc. Egypt 47 The *lotus (or ‘full blown lotus’) capital.
Ibid. 60 The full-blown *lotus column.
1832Tennyson Lotos-Eaters 149 Round and round the spicy downs the yellow *Lotos-dust is blown.
1856R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 228 The *lotus-flowers are not the Nile.
1833Tennyson Poems 101 Melody o' the Lybian *lotus⁓flute.
1911E. A. Gordon (title) The *Lotus Gospel or Mahayana Buddhism and its symbolic teachings.
1820Shelley Œdipus ii. i. 63 In fresh dews Of *lotos-grass and blossoming asphodel.
1891T. Hardy Tess (1900) 87/2 The smoke..rose from the chimney..like a *lotus-headed column.
1842Tennyson Lotos-Eaters 154 In the hollow *Lotos-land to live and lie reclined On the hills like Gods together. 1902Longm. Mag. Jan. 214 He lived in ‘lotos land’—the Garden Isle of England.
1813Coleridge Night-Sc. 53 The God, who floats upon a *lotos leaf. 1865J. H. Ingraham Pillar of Fire (1872) 262 Majestic columns, with lotus-leaf capitals.
1852R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour (1893) 101 It cost a vast of money—fifty guineas! to say nothing of the *lotus-leafed pedestal it's on.
1837Penny Cycl. IX. 318/1 (Egyptian Architecture) The bell-shaped and *lotus-leaved capitals.
1800Asiatic Ann. Reg., Misc. Tracts 350/2 The dust of whose *lotos-like feet is holy.
1862G. Wilson Relig. Chem. 21 *Lotus-lilies sucked up from the Nile and exhaled as vapour the snows that are lying on the tops of our hills. 1878Gosse Rivers of Bible 68 The sweet lotus-lilies that are set in porcelain vases.
1820Shelley Witch Atl. lix, *Lotus⁓paven canals.
1881W. G. Palgrave in Macm. Mag. XLV. 26 The same massive tree-like columns,..the same *lotus⁓petaled capitals.
1863Alcock Capital Tycoon II. 165 He found temporary refuge in a *lotus-pond.
1966‘A. Hall’ 9th Directive ii. 17 He sat with his legs crossed under him in the *Lotus pose.
1962T. C. Lethbridge Witches v. 57 There are so many ways in which the Indian gods agree with those of Western Europe, even to their sitting in the ‘*lotus’ position. 1964I. Fleming You only live Twice i. 21 Since Bond had arrived in Japan he had assiduously practised sitting in the lotus position. 1968Guardian 29 Feb. 8/4 Sitting in the lotus position..concentrating upon one's navel and repeating the mystic syllable, ‘Om, Om’.
1884Ram Chandra Bose Hindu Philos. vi. 177 It is called Padmásana (*lotus-posture), and is highly beneficial in overcoming all diseases. 1965W. Swaan Jap. Lantern xii. 136 Ideally, one should assume the cross-legged ‘Lotus Posture’ familiar from Buddha images.
1937F. Yeats-Brown Yoga Explained ii. 71 (caption) The pupil is shown in the *Lotus Seat, padmasana, but any comfortable position can be adopted.
1893Earl Dunmore Pamirs II. 233 The favourite dish of a Chinaman, namely, *lotus seed.
1911E. B. Havell Ideals Indian Art iii. 32 The whole spirit of Indian thought is symbolised in the conception of the Buddha sitting on his *lotus-throne. |