sirenaic means A member of the celebrated Fraternity of Sireniacal Gentlemen, a club that met at the Mermaid Tavern in Elizabethan London. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 100 out of 100.
Why “sirenaic” is a great word
SIRENAIC — [Noun] A member of the Fraternity of Sireniacal Gentlemen, a 17th-century convivial and literary club that met at London's Mermaid Tavern. From a blend of siren (from the mythical creature conflated with the mermaid, from Latin sīrēn, from Greek Σειρήν) and Cyrenaic (from the hedonistic philosophy of Aristippus of Cyrene). First attested in 1616. Unlike "Cyrenaic," which denotes a philosophical adherent of calculated pleasure, or "Mermaid," which names the legendary creature or the tavern's sign, a Sirenaic was a gentleman of flesh and wit, bound by fellowship rather than dogma. It evokes the smoky gleam of candlelight on pewter, the competitive clink of glasses following a deft couplet, and the warm fug of tobacco and debate—a brief, brilliant society conjured from the simple act of gathering, now preserved only in the amber of the word itself.
noun
- A member of the celebrated Fraternity of Sireniacal Gentlemen, a club that met at the Mermaid Tavern in Elizabethan London.“In September 1611 the Sirenaics were among the company of wits who gathered at the Mitre Tavern to celebrate the exploits of another fearless traveller, the scribbler and buffoon Thomas Coryate...”