Lilliputian

   Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) was a great English satirist. His most celebrated work, and the one for which he is best known, is Gulliver's Travels. It includes an account of the travels of one Captain Lemuel Gulliver to Lilliput, a country whose inhabitants were no more than six inches tall. Ultimately, Gulliver traveled to the country of Brobdingnag, inhabited by giants. They were "like steeple spires, and they covered ten yards with every step." To those people, Gulliver looked lilliputian, "not so big as a round little worm plucked from the lazy finger of a maid." Although lilliputian for "tiny" and brobdingnagian for "gigantic" have been admitted into the English language, the latter word has had little acceptance, perhaps because it's so difficult to pronounce. Today lilliputian, from Swift's fiercely brilliant political satire, is an adjective applied to any diminutive person or object.

   Jonathan Swift was born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of wealthy English parents. His father died before he was born, and he was raised by a miserly uncle. Swift was so bright that at the age of five he could read almost any chapter in the Bible. After attending Trinity College in Dublin, Swift left for England and obtained a position as secretary to Sir William Temple, which enabled him to study and write. It was at Temple's home that he met Esther Johnson, whom he called Hester and whom he encouraged to live nearby. Swift immortalized Hester in his famous Journal to Stella, one of the greatest diaries in the records of English literature. Swift was involved with another woman, Ester Vanhomrigh, whom he called Vanessa. Vanessa followed Swift to Ireland, learned about Hester, and sent her a biting, denunciatory letter. Shortly thereafter Vanessa died. In 1742, Swift became mentally ill and died three years later.