In an earlier post, I complained that Microsoft Word’s spell-checker suggested that “Volokh” be changed to “Moloch.” I wasn’t wild about the connection to a spiny-scaled lizard (“Moloch horridus”) and especially not to a god to whom the Phoenicians and Canaanites supposedly sacrificed children.
But Seth Goldman points out the deep truth underlying Word’s suggestion! A second definition of “Moloch” is:
Something possessing the power to exact severe sacrifice.
Around exam time, my students may well find this to be highly apt.
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