Byzantinize

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To give something the ornate, elaborate character of Byzantine art or architecture ; to make a system or process convoluted and full of intrigue as the Byzantine court was
2. To render a thing in the lavish, gilded manner associated with Byzantine style ; to complicate an institution with the tangled bureaucracy and scheming of the Byzantine empire
3. To shape something after the opulent look of Byzantine design ; to turn an affair into a labyrinth of procedure and political maneuvering reminiscent of Byzantium

Etymology: The adjective "Byzantine" comes from Byzantium, the ancient Greek city on the Bosporus that became Constantinople and later the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. Its name was applied to the court's intricate ceremonies and convoluted politics, which Western writers came to see as the epitome of elaborate, tortuous administration. That reputation, rather than anything the empire's own people called themselves, is what the adjective carries. Byzantine was then extended with the suffix "-ize," which turns a noun or adjective into a verb meaning "to make, become, or treat in a certain way." Adding it gives a verb meaning to make something as tangled and needlessly complicated as the Byzantine court was imagined to be.