“It’s there in the light-rinsed atmosphere, the brush strokes he permits us to see, up close, for exactly what they are – hand worked flashes of pigment, the very passage of the bristles visible – and then at a distance, the miracle, or the joke as Horst called it, although really it’s both, the slide of transubstantiation where paint is paint and yet also feather and bone.” – Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch
transubstantiation
noun [ U ] religion specializeduk /ˌtræn.səbˌstæn.ʃiˈeɪ.ʃən/ us /ˌtræn.səbˌstæn.ʃiˈeɪ.ʃən/
the belief, especially by Roman Catholics, that during Mass ( = a religious ceremony) bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Jesus Christ
SOURCE: Cambridge Dictionary(1)
I discovered this word in the above mentioned passage in The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt(2) and was transfixed by it. Although I felt I had a vague understanding of the meaning of the word, naturally, I still checked the meaning in the dictionary and added it to my word bank. (I find keeping a word bank of unusual or interesting words really helps me with my own writing, enabling me to enrich the language I use and broaden my knowledge of vocabulary – click here to visit my word bank and for tips on starting your own.)
Interestingly, the only entry in the Cambridge dictionary for this word is the one listed above. The Oxford English Dictionary(3) however, offers two meanings:
- The changing of one substance into another (often with allusion to sense 2 below.)
- The conversion in the Eucharist of the whole substance of the bread into the body and of the wine into the blood of Christ, only the appearances (and other ‘accidents’) of bread and wine remaining: according to the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church.
This word really leapt off the page to me and I was not surprised to learn of its roots in religious doctrine. This was not the first time I had noticed the authors use of religious metaphor and language. Donna Tartt is after all a convert to Catholicism. (4) My favourite passage of the Goldfinch contains a reference to beatification – the way in which saints are announced – which I talk about in this Book Club post: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.
Similar words meaning to change or transform:
overchanging Transmutation; an instance of this.
transmutation Change of one thing into another; conversion into something different; alteration, transformation. Also with a and plural, a case or instance of this.
permutation Change of form, position, state, etc.; alteration, transformation, transmutation; successive change, vicissitude; (also) an instance of this.
transmogrification The action of transmogrifying, (strange or grotesque) transformation.
metamorphosing The action or process of changing form, nature, or character; transformation.
metastasis gen. Transformation; change from one condition to another.
interconversion The process of converting each of two or more things into the other(s).
transnaturation Change of nature.
transmorphism Transformation of one thing into another, as in the process of evolution.
segue More generally: a transition from one state or thing to another.
SOURCED FROM THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY HISTORICAL THESAURUS
References
- Cambridge Dictionary, online. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/ accessed 05 August 2024
- The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt, 2013, Little Brown, London
- Oxford English Dictionary. online https://www.oed.com/ accessed 05 August 2024
- Donna Tartt – Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_Tartt accessed 05 August 2024