March 7, 1997

pandemonium

Our illustrious local newscaster committed the most atrocious pun by referring to the pandemonium at the zoo surrounding the arrival of some pandas recently. Surely these words cannot be related? One source tells me that "pandemonium" is one of the levels of hell where all the demons live (pan + demon).

They're definitely not related; it wouldn't be nearly as funny if they were. The whole point of puns is to juxtapose similar-sounding words, or different meanings of the same word, and in this case if panda and pandemonium were really related, the joke would be much less interesting.

Pandemonium was coined by John Milton in Paradise Lost (1667), from Greek elements pan- 'all' and daímon 'demon'. In Milton the word referred to the capitol of Hell: "A solemn council forthwith to be held/At Pandaemonium, the high capital/Of Satan and his peers." By transferrence, Pandemonium is used to refer to Hell itself as well. These senses, usually with an initial capital, are found outside of Milton: "...as exquisite and divine a retreat as Pandemonium appeared to the demons of hell after their sufferings in the lake of fire"--Mary Shelly, Frankenstein, for example.

The figurative sense meaning 'wild uproar or tumult; a place of such disturbance', usually found lowercase, is first found in the late eighteenth century. Example from our great American humorist "Mark Twain": "A great multitude of natives from the several islands had kept the palace grounds well crowded and had made the place a pandemonium every night with their howlings and wailings, beating of tom-toms and dancing" (Roughing It, 1872).

Panda is ultimately of uncertain origin. It first appears in French in the early nineteenth century. It is often stated to be a name for the animal in a language of Nepal, and while this seems likely, an exact source has not been found.