Saturnalian

From Saturnalia +‎ -an.^[1]

Saturnalian (comparative more Saturnalian, superlative most Saturnalian)

1. (historical) Of or pertaining to Saturnalia.
2. Alternative letter-case form of saturnalian (“riotously merry; dissolute”).

Saturnalian (plural Saturnalians)

1. (historical) One celebrates or takes part in Saturnalia.
   • a. 1666, Robert Gell, “Notes and Observations upon Hebrews II. 14.”, in R[obert] Bacon, compiler, Gell’s Remaines: or, Several Select Scriptures of the New Testament Opened and Explained: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Brooke, […], published 1676, →OCLC, page 578:

     What masking, what mumming, what carding, what dicing, what gluttony, what drunkenneſs, what chambering, what wontonneſs, what turning nights into days, and days into nights! This Feaſt [i.e., Christmas] was occaſioned by thoſe most licentious Saturnalians, and they have indeed for many years become very like them, only worſe, and that not only by connivance of Authority; […]

   • 1747 [1658], [François-Antoine Pomey], translated by Andrew Tooke, “The Historical Sense of the Fable. By Saturn Is Meant Noah.”, in The Pantheon, Representing the Fabulous Histories of the Heathen Gods, and Most Illustrious Heroes; […], 16th edition, London: […] A[aron] Ward, S[amuel] Birt, C[harles] Hitch, C[harles] Bathurst, and M[ary] Cooper, →OCLC, part II, chapter I (Of the Terrestrial Deities), page 145:

     As Noah was once overcome with Wine, becauſe perhaps he never experienced the Strength of it before; ſo the Saturnalians did frequently drink exceſſively, becauſe Saturn protected drunken Men.

     [original: Noëmus vino ſuccubuit ſemel, ejus vires fortè nondum expertus. Saturnalibus more receptum erat, multo mero ſe ingurgitare: & ebrietati Saturnus præerat.]

     Saturnals in earlier editions.

   • a. 1772, John Gill, “A Dissertation Concerning the Rise and Progress of Popery”, in A Collection of Sermons and Tracts: […], volume II, London: […] George Keith […], published 1773, →OCLC, page 574:

     This was a tenet of the antient hereticks; this branch of the myſtery of iniquity ſoon began to operate among them, and was held by them; by the Ebionites, who, as Epiphanius [of Salamis] ſays, magnified virginity, and by the Saturnalians, who ſaid, to marry and beget children was of the devil; […]

   • 1920 December 25, “The Present Moment”, in Rose Young, editor, The Woman Citizen: A Weekly Chronicle of Progress, volume LI (Old Style) / V (New Style), number 30, New York, N.Y.: The Woman Citizen Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 813, column 1:

     No matter whether it is the women of Tammuz drying their eyes after weeping for Adonis, or east side children snatching oranges off a settlement Christmas tree, they have all echoed a universal, recurrent, perennial thrill—the thrill of a world glad again and of people glad together. And saying it together has brought good will to men. The Saturnalians made all men equal. The Provencals killed all enmities over their Yule Log. Peace on Earth was said in Rome when the gates of war were shut at the turn of every year.

   • 2008 [2006], Silvia Malaguzzi, translated by Brian Phillips, “Carnival, a Festival of Food”, in Food and Feasting in Art, Los Angeles, Calif.: Getty Publications, →ISBN, page 109:

     There is no doubt that, historically, Carnival is a continuation of the Saturnalia, the festivities in honor of Saturn. The burlesque figure (Carnival), who is publicly put to death after a period of dissipation, seems to be a direct descendant of the king of the Saturnalians.

     [original: Storicamente il Carnevale presenta una continuità accertata con i Saturnalia: feste in onore di Saturno; lo stesso personaggio burlesco (Carnevale), che viene messo a morte pubblicamente dopo un periodo di dissipatezze, sembra discendere direttamente dal re dei Saturnali.]

2. Alternative letter-case form of saturnalian (“a merrymaker, a partygoer”).
   • 1906 December, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Compliments of the Season”, in Ainslee’s […], volume XVIII, number 5, New York, N.Y.: Ainslee Magazine Co., →OCLC, page 133, column 2:

     Christmas Eve, impatiently expected, was peeping over the brink of the hour. Millions had prepared for its celebration. Towns would be painted red. You, yourself, have heard the horns and dodged the capers of the Saturnalians.

   • 1959, Miroslav Krleža, translated by Zora G. Depolo, The Return of Philip Latinovicz (Modern Yugoslav Novels), London: Lincolns-Praeger, →ISBN, pages 156–157:

     The howling of drunken wedding-guests, the fluttering of ribbons, the stampede of frightened horses, the breaking of glasses, the dancing on the edge of bloody, atrocious crime, all this should roll across the picture like a moving, swollen ocean, and above it all […] clouds of drunken Saturnalians who devour their own flesh, and have turned their stinking backs on all that is star-like above us, and everything reeks and smokes and flings itself into the abyss!

   • 2008, Eric Robert Morse, chapter 84, in Monaco: A Novel, United States: New Classic Books, →ISBN, part V (Such Great Heights), page 488:

     A salvo of pops shook the atmosphere momentarily as champagne bottles released their excitement into the air and their nectar fell onto the smiling lips of the newly arrived singing Saturnalians.