porphyrogenite love

Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Same as porphyrogenitus.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun historical an honorific title given to a son of a reigning emperor in the Byzantine Empire, notably borne by Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Medieval Latin porphyrogenitus, from Ancient Greek πορφυρογέννητος (literally "born in the purple").

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Examples

  • An apartment of the Byzantine palace was lined with porphyry: it was reserved for the use of the pregnant empresses; and the royal birth of their children was expressed by the appellation of _porphyrogenite_, or born in the purple.

    History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 4 Edward Gibbon 1765

  • An apartment of the Byzantine palace was lined with porphyry: it was reserved for the use of the pregnant empresses; and the royal birth of their children was expressed by the appellation of porphyrogenite, or born in the purple.

    History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 4 Edward Gibbon 1765

  • An apartment of the Byzantine palace was lined with porphyry: it was reserved for the use of the pregnant empresses; and the royal birth of their children was expressed by the appellation of porphyrogenite, or born in the purple.

    The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 1206

Comments

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  • A prince born after his father's succession, or literarlly "into the purple". Leo Blair, for example.

    December 23, 2008