Sunday Rest: psychophily. Word Not To Use Today.

 There's a strong literary tradition of women falling under the spell of truly terrible men. There's Catherine and Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights; Mr and Mrs Grimethorpe in Clouds of Witness (whoops, that's two couples from the Yorkshire Moors, I'd better think of someone from somewhere else); and Billy Sykes and Nancy from Oliver Twist.

Are these all, as you'd expect, examples of psychophily?

Nope.

Sunday Rest: psychophily. This word describes the process of a plant being pollinated by a butterfly. The psycho- but comes from the Greek word psukhē, spirit or breath, and the -phily bit comes from the other Greek word philos, loving.

The symbol of the goddess Psyche (a girl who was supposed to marry a terrible man (but didn't)) is a pair of butterfly wings.

photo by Aaditya C Deodhar