Thinking about "ichor"

April 13, 2023 at 10:42 PM

Originally posted on Cohost, archived in October 2024.

A word with interesting valences and connotations, seems ripe for fantasy storytelling. "Ichor" is both: 1. The ethereal, lethal blood of the gods in Greek mythology 2. An archaic term for foul-smelling discharge from a wound

Apparently in some cases this conflation was intentional as part of early-Christian propaganda against Hellenic religions.

Maybe the most common use of ichor today is in "petrichor," literally something like "stone ichor" or "earth ichor," the word for the smell produced by rain on dry soil. The word comes up fairly often in obscure word nerd trivia, but it only dates back 60 years or so.

#worldbuilding