different between litany vs orison

English

Etymology

From Old French letanie, from Ancient Greek ???????? (litaneía, “prayer”), from ???? (lit?, “prayer, entreaty”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?l?t?ni/

Noun

litany (plural litanies)

1. A ritual liturgical prayer in which a series of prayers recited by a leader are alternated with responses from the congregation.
2. A prolonged or tedious list.
   • 1988, Prepared Foods (volume 157, issues 11-13, page 9)

     The litany of packaging innovations introduced to or popularized in the U.S. food market over the last generation seems endless: flexible aseptic packaging, barrier plastics, squeezables, lightweight glass, the retort pouch, […]

   • 2016 January 30, "America deserves more from presidential hopefuls," The National (retrieved 31 January 2016):

     There are, to be sure, some differences in how the candidates propose addressing this litany of concerns.

Derived terms

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle English orisoun, from Anglo-Norman oreison, oresoun etc. and Old French oraisun etc., from Latin ?r?ti?, ?r?ti?nem (“discourse, prayer”) (whence also English oration).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /????s?n/, /????z?n/

Noun

orison (plural orisons)

1. A prayer.
   • 1917, Wilfred Owen, Anthem for Doomed Youth

       Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle

     Can patter out their hasty orisons.

2. Mystical contemplation or communion.
   • 1902, William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, Lecture 3:

     We shall see later that the absence of definite sensible images is positively insisted on by the mystical authorities in all religions as the sine qua non of a successful orison, or contemplation of the higher divine truths.

   • 1911, Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism: A Study of the Nature and Development of Man's Spiritual Consciousness, Part I, Chapter 3

     Only in certain occult and mystics states: in orison, contemplation, ecstasy and their allied conditions, does the self contrive to turn out the usual tenants, shut the "gateways of the flash," and let those submerged powers which are capable of picking up messages from another plane of being have their turn.

Related terms

• orate
• oration

Translations

Anagrams

• Nooris