All 3 Uses of
infirm
in
The Magic Mountain
- It comes from an era of superstitious contrition, when the idea of humanity was demeaned and distorted into a caricature, a fearful era, when harmony and health were considered suspicious and devilish, whereas infirmity in those days was as good as a passport to heaven.†
Chpt 4.1 *infirmity = weakness from old age or disease
- Perhaps, if Herr Settembrini had had a Saint Elizabeth at his side back then, when the infirmities of his body had prevented him from attending the convention for progress in Barcelona, why then ...They all laughed, and before the humanist could fly off the handle, Hans Castorp quickly told about a thrashing he had once received—a punishment still administered sometimes in the lower grades of his high school, where there had been riding crops in every room;†
Chpt 6.6infirmities = weaknesses from old age or disease
- The satisfaction that old age and infirmity prevent me from offering you by means of weapons, I now offer you in this form; I offer it in the form of a bond of brotherhood, of the sort that is usually established against a third party, against the world, against someone else, but which we shall establish in our feelings for someone.†
Chpt 7.4infirmity = weakness from old age or disease
Definitions:
-
(1)
(infirm) weak from old age or disease
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
A comprehensive dictionary will have more specialized definitions of infirm.