WORD OF THE DAY: TANTALEAN

TANTALEAN
also TANTALIAN 

ADJ.
pertaining to Tantalus; only apparently reachable; tantalizing, elusive ...1605

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin tantaleus (belonging to Tantalus), (from Tantalus n. the name of a mythical king of Phrygia, son of Zeus and the nymph Pluto, condemned, for revealing the secrets of the gods, to stand in Tartarus up to his chin in water, which constantly receded as he stooped to drink, and with branches of fruit hanging above him which ever fled his grasp; a rock is also said to have hung over him threatening to fall) + - an 

FIRST DOCUMENTED USE
1605 - see EXAMPLE below
 
EXAMPLE
"...Men ouertoild in Common-Wealth affaires
Gett much Tantalian wealth by wealthie paines:
Which they enioy not through vncessant Cares:
So, all their Comfort is in Care, and Gaines
Good reason then, that they should care to gett,
Who gett great Cares, by getting great Comands..."
From: Wittes Pilgrimage, (by Poeticall Essaies) Through a World of amorous Sonnets, Soule-passions, and other Passages, Diuine, Philosophicall, Morall, Poeticall, and Politicall
- John Davies