Very practical, literally "
this god (descended) by means of a machine
" who often comes in an unlikely way to solve the problem of the writer who has run out of inspiration to finish his play.
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Like what the problems of the authors are perennial since the expression already existed in the ancient theater:
“
Ἀπὸ µηχανῆς θεός/ Apò-mêkhanễs theós
”
Solve a dead end situation
Deus ex machina, on the other hand, comes from the Latin phonetic culmination of a deiuos contracted into deios and machina, “
expedient, artifice, machination
”.
(Source: Alain Rey,
Historical Dictionary of the French Language)
.
“
In ancient tragedies, it often happened that the catastrophe was suddenly resolved, to the complete satisfaction of the spectators, by means of a god whom a machine suddenly brought down from heaven on the stage.
»
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Contrary to what happens in human evolution, where often the machine replaces the man, in this expression the man has replaced the machine and, in the modern theater, the deus ex machina designates a person who intervenes at the end of a piece to resolve a dead-end situation.