Both Uses of
enigma
in
Moby Dick
- For me, I silently recalled the mysterious shadows I had seen creeping on board the Pequod during the dim Nantucket dawn, as well as the enigmatical hintings of the unaccountable Elijah.†
Chpt 46-48 *enigmatical = mysterious and seemingly unexplainable
- Had you stepped on board the Pequod at a certain juncture of this post-mortemizing of the whale; and had you strolled forward nigh the windlass, pretty sure am I that you would have scanned with no small curiosity a very strange, enigmatical object, which you would have seen there, lying along lengthwise in the lee scuppers.†
Chpt 94-96
Definitions:
-
(1)
(enigma) something mysterious that seems unexplainable
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
The word may also be seen in the proper noun, Enigma Machine. It refers to an encryption device used by Nazi Germany during the second world war. Britain eventually learned to unencrypt messages sent with the machine, but kept that ability a secret.