Both Uses of
ineffable
in
Ulysses, by James Joyce
- Dunlop, Judge, the noblest Roman of them all, A.E., Arval, the Name Ineffable, in heaven hight: K.H., their master, whose identity is no secret to adepts.†
Chpt 9 *
- The prohibition of the use of fleshmeat and milk at one meal: the hebdomadary symposium of incoordinately abstract, perfervidly concrete mercantile coexreligionist excompatriots: the circumcision of male infants: the supernatural character of Judaic scripture: the ineffability of the tetragrammaton: the sanctity of the sabbath.†
Chpt 17
Definitions:
-
(1)
(ineffable) something that cannot be adequately described with words--perhaps something too wonderful or intense to describe
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Much more rarely, ineffable can describe something that cannot be said due to social custom--such as the name of God.