Apotheosis
Literally God-like!
You may have heard someone or something being described as “the apotheosis of [something]” and wondered what it meant. It sounds good, and it sounds like one might like to be described that way oneself.
So where does the word comes from, and what exactly does it mean?
Well, we are back to Ancient Greek today! The word “apotheosis” means, quite literally, “the elevation of a person to a divine status” or refers to “the highest possible point of development of something”. It is very nearly synonymous therefore with “glorification” or even “deification”, and is clearly higher up the rankings than the “mere” canonisation (a noun describing the act of elevating a dead person to sainthood)!
Indeed, here we touch on an important point of detail. The Ancient Greeks as well as the Ancient Romans were principally peoples who lived in the context of polytheism, i.e. their religion and religious beliefs involved many gods, not just one, as in the monotheistic religions, for example the Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, each of which believes in one god and only one god (a discussion of the one in three and three in one of the Christian Holy Trinity is beyond the scope of this article, you will perhaps be pleased to hear!). Footnote material: The Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, who ruled from 306-337 AD/CE, was the first emperor to convert to Christianity, of course.
The word “apotheosis” in English is a direct lift from the Ancient Greek noun apotheosis which means the act of deification i.e. making a god, although some scholars will assert that the word enjoyed a brief transitional interlude in Late Latin on its way from Greek to English, but that is decidedly also footnote material for the pedant as far as I can see. The word is created by the concatenation of apo- meaning “away” or “off”, and theos meaning “god”. There is also a verb in Greek, apotheoun meaning “to make a god of”.
The word in English can be applied equally to people, or to abstract ideas, in the latter case, especially in connection with art and music to describe a grand, exalted, or glorified final scene or movement.
Usage examples
Sir Mo Farah is widely acknowledged to be the very apotheosis of a long distance runner.
Roger Federer displayed the very quintessence of a great tennis player over many years, reaching the apotheosis of his sport.
The musical recital reached its apotheosis in the final piece, leaving the audience thrilled beyond words.
The Apple Macintosh is generally believed to be the apotheosis of a beautifully designed and easy-to-use personal computer.
That's a good one Nuck