looking for definition

jerico · Post by **jerico** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 3:52 pm

First off - is there a thread where we can inquire about the availability of literary definitions/terms?

For instance, I'm looking for a term that would descibe names like "teacher, father, mother, guardian, master" etc... So basically a term that defines someone in position of authority...

any takers?

aldan · Post by **aldan** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 11:25 pm

By saying "position of authority", you automatically made me think, 'authority figure'. I just don't know if you're trying for something a bit more exotic sounding than that, or if that term would even work for you in what you're trying to do with it.

jerico · Post by **jerico** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 11:45 am

yeah, perhaps "authority figue" isn't the best description to fish for a term. I'm thinking something along the lines of "entitlement" or "endearment", but of course, those don't work. I couldbe looking for a term that doesn't exist.

LightBrigade · Post by **LightBrigade** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 6:44 pm

- This could well be the thread.

- Aldan's suggestion is the best in English for the examples you mentioned in your first post above.

- You are right, 'entitlement' does not exist.

- Of your second post following the first, I understand you seek a term for 'father, teacher etc' to include the concept of 'endearment' and 'power to entitle or position of having been entitled'. Which finds me at a loss to combine what you state in your first and in your second post.

Unless you mean a fatherly figure of authority who is moved by love, in the sense of The Creator as you can perceive it, or the archetypal condition of man in the womb, where the mother-type figure also includes a sense of endearment.
- - -
In any case, the literary terms related could be, on the one hand (as Aldan suggested) authority figure and on the other, if you pinpoint what you seek as one of the original human figures as literature has them from the psychology point of view, the term is archetype. In this case, you can add a definition for the archetype you wish to show.

Neurolanis · Post by **Neurolanis** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 5:47 pm

Looking up 'leader' in my thesaurus, I get:

bellwether, chieftain, conductor, coryphaesus, counsellor, director, doyen(ne), flagship, guide, kingpin, mahatma, pacesetter, principal, ringleader...

For 'father':

abbot, architect, begetter, confessor, elder, forebear, forefather, founder, governor, originator, padre, pastor, pater, paterfamillias, patriarch, patron, predecessor, procreator, senator, sire...

Is patriarch what you were looking for?

LightBrigade · Post by **LightBrigade** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 5:54 pm

Neurolanis wrote:Is patriarch what you were looking for?

jerico · Post by **jerico** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 10:22 pm

patriarch won't cut it because I don't want to suggest a male figure.

Magus · Post by **Magus** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 11:15 pm

Female then, or non gender specific?

Matriarch?

Director?

Sensei?

Spiderkeg · Post by **Spiderkeg** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 8:25 am

I'm thinking that "appellation" would be what you were looking for, but since that is often used more for geography, perhaps "designation" is better suited.

In the broad spectrum of titles given to people, looking beyond gender, I think either of these two terms would be fitting. Otherwise, you'll be trying to use a descriptive phrase to narrow down the definition(s) you have in mind.