I forgot the important place that drooling occupies in mythological and symbolic contexts. For example, there is the famous Homeric epic formula to describe the reaction of Paris when he first met Helen, which can be translated roughly as "drooly-chinned Paris." [see Iliad, Book II, line 967]
Then there is the phrase in one of the letters of Eloisa to Abelard, from the Middle Ages, "etiam salivebas in memoriam meam," translated roughly, "And oh how you used to drool over me!"
But perhaps in modern times the most important droologism is that to be found in Wagnerian opera. As you may know, the spectacle is not only controlled and united by the leitmotiv, the recurrent musical theme that links important moments together, such as the appearance of the Holy Grail, but there is likewise the drool motive [German: drulmotiv--it's supposed to have an umlaut over the "u"]. At important moments in the drama, the passion of the hero is signified by an operatic drooling--and this adds immeasureably to the erotic intensity of the entire spectacle. |
