“In descriptions of enigma, the most common lexis and troping by far is that of light and dark. Down through the centuries, poets and rhetoricians and novelists and others routinely speak of enigma as “dark” or “obscure.” Johann Buchler’s 1548 Parnasstus’ Poeticus provides a list of modifiers for the Latin word aenigma. The list reads: “caecum, durum, latebrosum, tenebrosum,” that is, “blind (i.e. dark or unintelligible or concealed), hard, obscure, shadowy.”. . .
“Obscure” belongs to a whole family of synonyms that describe riddles and enigmas: veils, clouds, mists, and so on.”
—Eleanor Cook, from Enigmas and Riddles in Literature, 2006.
(I’m just here for the radio links.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma
Enigma
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Look up enigma in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
An enigma is a puzzle or mystery. The word comes from the Greek word, αἴνιγμα (ainigma).
Enigma may refer to:
In the history of cryptography:
* Enigma machine, a machine for encrypting communications during the second World War
In music:
* Enigma (musical project), the musical project created by Michael Cretu
* Enigma (band), the 80’s disco band
* Enigma Records, a music record label
* Enigma Variations, the musical work by Edward Elgar
* The Pernicious Enigma, a 1997 music album by Esoteric
In literature:
* Enigma (novel), a novel by Robert Harris based on the cracking of the Enigma cipher machine
* The Enigma (magazine), a monthly publication of the National Puzzlers’ League
* The Enigma of Arrival, a 1987 novel by Nobel laureate V.S. Naipaul
* The Enigma of the Gift, a 1996 work by Maurice Godelier, a French Social anthropologist
In television and film:
* Enigma (2001 film), a movie adapted from the Robert Harris novel
* Enigma (1983 film), a movie starring Martin Sheen and Sam Neill
* The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, a 1974 German film
etc