excursus
/ɪkˈskəːsəs
/ /ɛkˈskəːsəs/noun (plural same or excursuses)
1A detailed discussion of a particular point in a book, usually in an appendix.This reversal is the subject of Herodotus' detailed account in the long excursus he consecrates in Book 3 to the theme of the hostility between Corinth and her colony Corcyra....
- In lieu of that volume, he has presented excursuses on reflexivity in most of the half-dozen books he has published.
- Book 2 takes the form of a massive excursus on the geography, customs, and history of Egypt, which was the next target of Persian expansionism, under Cyrus' son and successor, Cambyses.
1.1A digression in a written text.If this is so, far from sidelining the importance of the moral environment, the excursus through determinism will catapult it to the head of the agenda....
- A number of excursuses also reduce the need for repetition by producing informative essays to which cross-reference can be made.
- The book is divided into three parts, with seven chapters in all; the work includes also four small excursuses.
Origin
Early 19th century: from Latin, 'excursion', from excurrere 'run out'.