For Ghosts who race to pierce the veil.
Definition/Summary:
A flammeum “Nubes veil”
- Prominent feature of a costume worn by the bride at Roman weddings
- The veil was a deep yellow color reminiscent of a candle flame
- Evoked the veil of the Flaminica Dialis, the Roman priestess who could not divorce her husband, the high priest of Jupiter, and thus was seen as a good omen for lifelong fidelity to one man
- Romans thought of the bride as being “clouded over with a veil” translation origin from the word nubes for cloud
Expanded info:
Yellow aka Gelwaz: meaning shield in proto Germanic
- Oldest written use of the Anglo-Saxon word is found in the epic poem Beowulf, which was penned in Old English sometime between the 8th and 11th century
Irresistible force paradox aka Shield and Spear paradox
- Example Chinese word for contradiction (Chinese: 矛盾; pinyin: máodùn; literally: “spear-shield”)
Originates from a story in the philosophical book by Han Feizi - A man was trying to sell a spear and a shield. When asked how good his spear was, he said that his spear could pierce any shield. Then, when asked how good his shield was, he said that it could defend from all spear attacks. Then one person asked him what would happen if he were to take his spear to strike his shield; the seller could not answer
- This led to the idiom of “zìxīang máodùn” (自相矛盾), or “self-contradictory”