'Syzygy' () is a kind of unity, especially through coordination or alignment, most commonly used in the
astronomical and/or
astrological sense
[1]. ''Syzygy'' is derived from the
Late Latin syzygia, "conjunction," from the
Greek σύζυγος (''syzygos''), "yoked together."
Usage in academia
Astronomy
In
astronomy, a syzygy is the alignment of three or more
celestial bodies in the same gravitational system along a straight line. The word is usually used in context with the
Sun,
Earth, and the
Moon or a
planet, where the latter is in
conjunction or
opposition.
Solar and
lunar eclipses occur at times of syzygy, as do
transits and
occultations. The term is also applied to each instance of
New Moon or
Full Moon when Sun and Moon are in conjunction or opposition, even though they are not precisely on one line with the Earth.
The word 'syzygy' is often loosely used to describe interesting configurations of planets in general. For example, one such case occurred on
March 21,
1884 at around 23:00 UTC, when
Mercury transited the
Sun as seen from
Venus, and Mercury and Venus both simultaneously transited the Sun as seen from
Saturn. It is also used to describe situations when all the planets are on the same side of the Sun although they are not necessarily found along a straight line, such as on
March 10,
1982.
Gnosticism
In
Gnosticism, a ''syzygy'' is a divine active-passive, male-female pair of
aeons, complementary to one another rather than oppositional; in their totality they comprise the divine realm of the
Pleroma, and in themselves characterise aspects of the unknowable Gnostic
God. The term is most common in
Valentinianism.
Mathematics
In
mathematics, a syzygy is a relation between the generators of a
module M. The set of all such relations is called the 'first syzygy module of M.' A relation between generators of the first syzygy module is called a 'second syzygy' of M, and the set of all such relations is called the 'second syzygy module of M.' Continuing in this way, we get the n-th syzygy module of M by taking the set of all relations between generators of the (n-1)-st syzygy module of M. If M is finitely generated over a
polynomial ring over a
field, this process terminates after a finite number of steps; i.e., eventually there will be no more syzygies (see
Hilbert's syzygy theorem). The syzygy modules of M are not unique, for they depend on the choice of generators at each step.
Medicine
In
medicine, the term is used to signify the fusion of some or all of the organs.
Music
Syzygy was the name of the electronic music duo that recorded for
Rising High Records and Infonet Records in the 1990s.
Dominic Glynn and Justin Mackay produced a hybrid of techno, ambient and electronica culminating in the cult album "Morphic Resonance".
Syzygy is also the name of a 1998 CD made by the band
Lynch Mob. It is a project led by former
Dokken bandmember and guitar virtuoso
George Lynch.
Philosophy
In
philosophy, the Russian theologian/philosopher
Vladimir Solovyov (1853-1900) used the word "syzygy" to signify "unity-friendship-community," used as either an adjective or a noun, meaning:
★ a pair of connected or correlative things, or
★ a couple or pair of opposites.
Poetry
In
poetry, ''syzygy'' is the combination of two
metrical feet into a single unit, similar to an
elision.
Consonantal or
phonetic syzygy is also similar to the effect of
alliteration, where one consonant is used repeatedly throughout a passage, but not necessarily at the beginning of each word.
Psychology
In
psychology,
Carl Jung used the term "syzygy" to denote an
archetypal pairing of
contrasexual opposites, which symbolized the communication of the conscious and unconscious minds.
The conjunction of two organisms without the loss of identity.
Zoology
In
zoology, ''syzygy'' is
★ the association of two protozoa end-to-end or laterally for the purpose of
asexual exchange of
genetic material,
★ the pairing of
chromosomes in
meiosis
Usage in popular culture
Athletics
''Syzygy'' is the name of
Carleton College's Women's
Ultimate team.
Books
''Syzygy'' in
books:
★ ''Syzygy'', a
1975 science fiction novel by
Michael G. Coney
★ ''Syzygy'', a
1982 science fiction novel by
Frederik Pohl (Save for the concept of aligned planetary bodies, Pohl's novel is completely unrelated to Coney's.)
★ ''The Perfect Host'', a
1948 science fiction novella by
Theodore Sturgeon
★ ''It Wasn't Syzygy'', a
1947 fantasy short story by
Theodore Sturgeon
Broadway
''Syzygy'' is the word Rona Lisa Peretti spelled correctly when she won the Putnam Spelling Bee as a child in the musical
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
Candles
Circa 1971, ''Syzygy'' was used by a candle company in California. (See "Video games", below.)
Comic books
''Syzygy'' in
comic books:
★
Syzygy Darklock is a key character in the
Space Opera Dreadstar, premier title of
Epic Comics.
★ Syzygy is a
webcomic by Alicorn.
★ For a brief period in the
Doctor Strange comics, Strange invoked the syzygy of all planets to tap into "catastrophe magic."
★ Syzygy is mentioned in the webcomic
Dinosaur Comics here.
Computer software
''Syzygy'' is a
virtual reality grid
operating system for PC clusters, tele-collaboration, and multimedia supercomputing.
[2]
(See also video games, under "games", below.)
Film
A major plot point in the film ''
Tomb Raider'' concerns a planetary alignment taking place every 5,000 years, during which a magic item, The Triangle of Light, can be utilized. To preserve a fictional environment, the exact chronology of this alignment is not given except the date of the first phase,
May 15.
Games
''Syzygy'' is the name of a word
puzzle game made by Little Fish Industries.
[1]
Video games
''Syzygy'' was the first choice of name
Nolan Bushnell and
Ted Dabney had used (in
1971) for their new
video game company, which was incorporated as
Atari in
1972. The name had already been registered by another Californian company (a candle company owned by a hippy commune
[2]). The term "Syzygy Engineered" appeared first associated with their Nutting Inc. released
Computer Space [3] and later on Atari's first product, the coin-operated ''
Pong'' game.
The
Syzygy Cult is a
freeware development company active during the mid 1990s that developed classic
Apple Macintosh games.
''Syzygy''
computer games:
★
Project Syzygy is an
alternate reality game, now referred to as
Perplex City. (See also the
Perplex City Wiki.)
★ ''Syzygy'' was the name of a
Star Wars-inspired graphical
text adventure published by
Microdeal for the
Dragon 32/64 computers in
1984.
Use of ''syzygy'' within
video game environments:
★ ''Syzygy'' is the name of a
bot in
Unreal Tournament 2003 and
Unreal Tournament 2004.
★ A ''syzygy'' was a major plot point in the
Gamecube game .
★ ''SyzYgY'' is the name of a minnesota-based pseudo-professional gamer best known for his performance on the team Powers Gaming,
Cyberathlete Amateur League-Invite and
Cyberathlete Professional League 2005 champions.
The parameter ''syzygy'' enables the cheats in the
PC version of
Avoid the Noid.
Social Activism
''Syzygy'' is the name of the annual meeting of all national branches of
City Year, a US volunteer service organization operated under the
AmeriCorps umbrella.
Television
''
Syzygy'' is the name of a
1996 episode of the
science fiction mystery TV show
The X-Files. The alignment of
Mercury,
Mars and
Uranus happens at the same time several murder cases occur in a small town.
FBI agents
Scully and
Mulder investigate in a climate of fear and mob mentality.
A skit in a
1997 episode of ''
Saturday Night Live'' featured "syzygy" as a spelling bee word which is asked to
Mary Katherine Gallagher (
Molly Shannon) by host
Rudolph Giuliani. When she asks for the word's usage in a sentence, Giuliani replies, "Sure. Your spelling bee word is 'syzygy'."
On the 18 April 2007 episode of the
Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert used "syzygy" in its poetic sense – after
synecdoche and
metonymy – as part of a threat made against actor
Sean Penn, in preparation for the next night's "Metaphor Off" between the two.
Wine
Syzygy is the name of a winery located in
Walla Walla, WA.
Trivia
Syzygy is the shortest English word containing three 'y's.
If y is classed as a consonant, syzygy is the second-longest English word without a vowel, tied with rhythm (the longest being rhythms). However, y is usually considered a vowel in the English language when it operates in the same way as a vowel (as it does in all three of its appearances in the word syzygy).
References
1. http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=Syzygy&x=56&y=22
2. http://www.isl.uiuc.edu/syzygy.htm
3. http://www.marvin3m.com/arcade/cspace.htm
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