Talk:Cultural History of Mazes

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W. F. Jackson Knight.
W. F. Jackson Knight.
“The nine men’s morris is fill’d up with mud; and the quaint mazes in the wanton green, For lack of tread, are undistinguishable” -- A mid Summer night’s Dream.
“The nine men’s morris is fill’d up with mud; and the quaint mazes in the wanton green, For lack of tread, are undistinguishable” -- A mid Summer night’s Dream.
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What is a Maze? [Feel free to skip over this next section that was mostly written by Nick]
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(mostly excerpts from the listserv)
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[on definitions of mazes and distinctions from labyrinth]
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One objection to calling the output a maze is the lack of a solution or single correct path through this visual pattern. However, the definitions of maze include:
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The OED lists two related senses, the first of which requires that there is *exactly* one correct path, the second of which has no such requirement:
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II. A labyrinth, and related senses.
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4. a. A structure designed as a puzzle, consisting of a complicated network of winding and interconnecting paths or passages, only one of which is the correct route through; a labyrinth; (occas. in pl.) the windings of a labyrinth. Also (as in quot. 1903): a structure comprising two points joined by a single winding line much greater in length than the direct line between the two points.
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b. In extended use: a complex network of paths or streets; a bewildering mass of things (material or immaterial), in which the individual components are difficult to separate or make out.
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In the 16th and 17th centuries often in to tread a maze, perh. with
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allusion to sense 5.
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There are quotations for the second of these senses from 1531 to 1994,
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including:
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1542 H. BRINKELOW Lamentacion sig. Cviii, Leadyng them in an endlesse
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Maze of dyrtye tradicyons and folish ceremonyes.
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So, there is an early occurrence of a maze which presumably (being endless) has no correct path through it ... and furthermore, it is endless.
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The relevant definition from the 1913 Webster's Revised Unabridged
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Dictionary is:
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3. A confusing and baffling network, as of paths or passages; an intricacy; a labyrinth. Quaint mazes on the wanton green." Shak.
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Or down the tempting maze of Shawford brook. Wordaworth.
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The ways of Heaven are dark and intricate, Puzzled with mazes, and
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perplexed with error. Addison.
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Syn. -- Labyrinth; intricacy. See Labyrinth.
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Again, nothing there requires that the maze have a solution.

Revision as of 22:42, 24 July 2010

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