Mythological Dictionary
Achillean/Achilles' heel/Achilles' tendon
Achilles was the son of the mortal Peleus and the nymph
Thetis. A warrior of legendary prowess in battle, and the hero of Homer's
Iliad, he was essential to the Greek war effort against
Troy. To describe someone
as Achillean is to mark that person as invincible or invulnerable, or
nearly so. Achilles himself had one vulnerable spot. His mother dipped the
infant Achilles in the magical waters of the river Styx in a vain attempt to
render him immortal; she g.htmled him by the heel in order to submerge him in
the stream, thereby leaving one spot on his body susceptible to injury. Paris
took advantage of this weakness and with Apollo's help delivered the fatal
arrow. An Achilles' heel refers to the one assailable feature or weakness
a person may have, and in Anatomy the Achilles' tendon stretches from the
heel bone to the calf muscle.
Adonis
Adonis was such a handsome youth that Aphrodite herself
found him irresistible. A capable hunter, he disregarded the warnings of the
goddess to retreat in the face of a boar which stood its ground and sustained a
fatal injury from a charging boar's tusk. A grieving Aphrodite sprinkled nectar
on the blood-soaked ground and the anemone blossomed forth. To call a man an
Adonis is to draw attention to his beauty.
aegis
The aegis is the shield of Zeus (originally a
"goat-skin"), which thunders when he shakes it. Athena also bore the aegis,
often tasseled and with the head of Medusa affixed, its petrifying power still
intact. This divine shield afforded safety and security and so to be under the
aegis of an individual or of an institution is to be favored with
protection, sponsorship, or patronage.
Aeolian harp or lyre
Aeolus was put in charge of the winds by Zeus. He kept
watch over his subjects in a cave on the
Island of Aeolia. An Aeolian harp is a
box-shaped musical instrument across which strings are strung, which vibrate
when wind passes across them.
amazon
The Amazons were a warrior-race of women from the North
who joined battle with a terrifying war-cry. They were the equal of men in the
field. They came to be seen as haters of men, women who sought foreign husbands,
only to kill their sons and raise their daughters as Amazons. Later tradition
has it that they cut off their right breast to become better archers. A vigorous
and aggressive woman today might be deemed an amazon, while also
conveying the idea of enormous physical stature. Often it is a derogatory term.
The Amazon ant is a species of red ant that captures the offspring of
other species and turns them into slaves.
ambrosia/ambrosial
The Greek gods on
Olympus took food and drink as mortals do. But
since the gods are of a different order from mortals, so too their sustenance.
Ambrosia, culled from the regions beyond the Wandering Rocks, served variously
as food for the gods, as unguent or perfume, or as fodder for horses. It is
often coupled with nectar, which provided drink for the Olympians. Both words
derive from roots which indicate their power to bestow immortality and stave off
death. Today ambrosia can refer to a dessert of fruit and whipped cream
or, especially when joined with nectar, any gourmet masterpiece. Generally,
ambrosial has come to indicate anything fit for the gods or of divine
provenance, or anything delicious or fragrant. See nectar.
aphrodisiac
According to Hesiod, Aphrodite was born of the foam
around the severed genitals of Uranus, a fitting beginning for a divinity whose
concern is the sexual. From her name comes the noun aphrodisiac, denoting
anything that has the power to excite the sexual passions.
apollonian
Apollo had as his purview the arts, prophecy, and
healing. At his chief shrine at
Delphi the watchword was "know thyself," the
beginning and principal aim of human understanding. He is the god of
rationality, harmony, and balance, known by the epithet Phoebus, "bright" or
"shining," by which he is equated with the sun and more broadly the order of the
cosmos. The adjective apollonian describes that which partakes of the
rational and is marked by a sense of order and harmony. Its opposite is
dionysian, which describes unbridled nature, the frenzied and the
irrational. These polarities, the apollonian and the dionysian
were recognized by the Greeks as twin.htmlects of the human psyche. See
bacchanal.
apple of discord
All the gods and goddesses were invited to the wedding
of Peleus and Thetis, save one, Eris or "Strife." To avenge this slight, this
goddess of discord tossed into the wedding hall a golden apple with the
inscription "For The Fairest." It was immediately claimed by three rival
goddesses: Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. Zeus refused to decide the issue, but
instead gave it to Paris, the son of Priam, king of
Troy, to settle. The
Judgment of Paris, as it has come to be known, bestowed the apple on
Aphrodite, who had promised to Paris, the most beautiful woman in the world,
namely Helen, wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta. The abduction of Helen by Paris
was the cause of the ten-year siege and destruction of Troy under the onslaught
of the Greek forces, pledged to wreak vengeance on the seducer. The apple of
discord describes any action or situation that causes dissension and turmoil
and is more trouble than it is worth.
arachnid
Arachne was a common girl with a remarkable skill in
weaving. She won such fame that Athena, slighted and envious, challenged Arachne
to a contest. Athena wove themes, including the fate of foolish mortals who
dared to vie with the gods. Arachne depicted the gods' compromising
love-affairs. Outraged, Athena struck the girl with her shuttle and, after
Arachne hanged herself, in remorse transformed Arachne into a spider, so that
she and her species might practice her art of weaving, forever. An arachnid
refers to any of the various arthropods of the class Arachnida, including
the spider.
Arcadia/arcadian
Arcadia is the
central mountainous region of the Peloponnese. Often it is described in idyllic
terms: the ideal land of rustic simplicity, especially dear to Hermes, the home
of Callisto (the favorite of Artemis), the usual playground of Pan; for the
bucolic poets, Arcadia is a place where life is easy, where shepherds leisurely
tend their flocks and pursue romantic dalliances. Thus
Arcadia
becomes that imagined primeval
terrain, when human beings lived in contentment and harmony with the natural
world. Arcadian refers to any place or time signifying the simple,
rustic, pastoral life of a golden age lost.
Argus/argus-eyed
One of Zeus' sexual escapades involved the maiden Io. In
an attempt to keep Hera from discovering the truth of his dalliance, Zeus
transformed Io into a cow. Hera, not easily thrown off the scent of her
husband's affairs, prevailed upon Zeus to give her the cow as a present and an
assurance of his good faith, after which Hera enlisted the aid of Argus, a giant
with one hundred eyes, to keep a close watch over the poor girl. In English one
who is ever-vigilant or watchful can be called an Argus or be described
as argus-eyed.
Atlas/Atlantic/atlantes/Atlantis
Atlas was a titan who opposed Zeus in the battle between
the Olympians and the earlier generation of Titans. The defeated Titans were
condemned to Tartarus but Atlas was punished with the task of supporting upon
his shoulders the vault of the heavens, thereby keeping the earth and sky
separate. Through a mistaken notion that this vault, sometimes depicted as a
sphere, was actually the earth, Atlas has given his name to that particular kind
of book which contains a collection of geographical maps. It was not until the
Flemish cartographer Gerhardus Mercator (1512-1594) depicted on the frontispiece
of his atlas the titan carrying the earth that the association became fixed. The
plural of atlas has given us the architectural term atlantes, which refer
to support columns formed in the shape of men, corresponding to the maiden
columns known as caryatids. Atlas endured his torment at the western edge of the
world and so has given his name to the ocean beyond the straits of Gibralter,
the
Atlantic,
as well as to the
Atlas
mountains in northwest Africa. The mythical
island of
Atlantis
was located, according to Plato, in
the western ocean.
Augean Stables/Augean
One of Heracles' labors, performed in service to King
Eurystheus, was to clean the stables of King Augeas of
Elis. King Augeas had not
cleaned his stalls for some years and the filth and stench had become
unbearable. Heracles agreed to the task and succeeded in diverting the course of
two rivers to achieve his aim. The term Augean Stables has since become a
byword for squalor. Augean describes anything that is extremely filthy or
squalid.
aurora australis/borealis
Aurora was the
Roman goddess of the dawn (the Greek Eos). The sons of Aurora and the titan
Astraeus were the four winds: Boreas, who blows from the north, Notus, the
southwest, Eurus, the east, and Zephyrus, the west. The spectacular streaks of
light which appear in the sky at night are a result of the effect of the
particles of the sun's rays on the upper atmosphere. Seen especially at the
poles, in the northern hemisphere they are called the northern lights or
the aurora borealis, and in the south, the aurora australis,
Auster being the Roman name of the southwest wind.
bacchanal/baccanalia/bacchanalian/bacchant/bacchante/bacchic
Dionysus, the Roman Bacchus, was the god of wine,
frenzied music and dance, and the irrational. He presided over ecstatic,
sometimes orgiastic rites, which involved initiation and drove the participants
into another plane of perception, as they became possessed by the deity. He is
usually represented in the midst of a retinue of female worshippers, known as
maenads, bacchae, or bacchantes (the feminine singular is
bacchante; a male follower is a bacchant, plural bacchants);
he is also attended by male satyrs, mischievous and lecherous creatures,
half-human and half-animal. Wine proved a powerful conduit to the ineffable,
amidst rituals that included the rending of a sacrificial victim and the eating
of its raw flesh. Dionysiac rites among the Romans became known as
Bacchanalia and the sometime extreme behavior of the initiates provoked the
Roman Senate to outlaw them in 186 B.C. Thus we derive the words bacchanal
and bacchanalia to refer to any debauched party or celebration.
Bacchanal, bacchant, bacchante, and bacchae can be used to
characterize an overzealous party-goer. The adjectives bacchanalian and
bacchic describe any exuberant, drunken revelry. See dionysian and
apollonian.
Beware of Greeks bearing gifts/I fear Greeks even
when they bear gifts
The fall of
Troy was finally accomplished by a ruse of the
Greeks. They constructed an enormous, hollow, wooden horse, into which they hid
some of their best fighters. The horse was left behind as the rest of the Greek
host sailed off to the nearby island of Tenedos and waited. The treacherous
Sinon convinced the Trojans to drag the gift into the city, despite the warnings
of Laocoon, a priest of Poseidon. In Vergil's account, Laocoon implored his
countrymen not to bring the treacherous horse into Troy, crying "I fear
Greeks even when they bear gifts" (Timeo Danaos et dona ferentis).
Two serpents emerged from the sea to strangle Laocoon and his two sons. The
Trojans were convinced that they should accept the horse and thus wrought their
own destruction. Laocoon's utterance has become a warning to beware of treachery
and look for the hidden motives behind even the most fair-seeming generosity.
boreal
Boreas, the north wind, has given us this adjective,
which refers to the region of the world from which his blasts come. See
aurora.
by Jupiter/by Jove/jovian/jovial
Jupiter was the Roman counterpart of Zeus, the supreme
god and father. He was a god of the sky and his name is derived from
Indo-European roots dyaus/pitr, which literally mean god/father. In Latin the
common oath "by Jupiter" would be rendered "pro Jove" (Jove being a different
form of his name). In the Christian tradition there is no religious significance
to this exclamation but English writers, by using it as an expression of
surprise or pleasure, avoided taking God's name in vain; thus "by Jupiter"
or "by Jove" was used to replace the offensive "By God." To describe
someone or something as jovian means that one partakes of that
awe-inspiring majesty that is particular to a supreme god. Many mythological
names also found a new existence in the field of astrology. Since it was felt
that the heavenly bodies influence the life of humans on earth, celestial bodies
were given appellations drawn from mythology, for example Jupiter became the
name not only of a god but a planet. Those who were born under the influence of
the planet Jupiter were said to be of a cheerful disposition, hence the meaning
of the adjective, jovial
Cadmean Victory
Cadmus was informed by the oracle at
Delphi that he would
establish a great city. When he eventually found the site of the future Thebes,
he prepared to sacrifice to the gods in thanksgiving. He soon discovered that
the local spring from which he needed to draw water for a proper sacrifice, was
guarded by a serpent. He sent his men to dispatch the monster and bring back the
ritual water. All of his men failed in the attempt and Cadmus eventually took it
upon himself to kill the serpent. Though Cadmus was ultimately victorious, he
now found himself bereft of his comrades and dispaired of establishing his
realm. A Cadmean Victory has come to mean a victory won at great loss to
the victor.
caduceus
In Latin the herald's staff was known as the caduceum,
derived from the Greek word keryx or herald, and his staff the
kerykeion. Hermes, as divine messenger, was invariably depicted with the
caduceus, which was represented as a staff with white ribbons or intertwined
snakes. The white ribbons may have indicated the inviolability of his office.
The image of intertwined snake may have been drawn from the near eastern use of
copulating snakes as a symbol of fertility, for Hermes was a fertility god. The
staff of Hermes became confused with the staff of Asclepius, the renowned mythic
physician and son of Apollo because some stories about Asclepius involved snakes
and the reptile has the ability to slough its old skin and seemingly be
"reborn," and so had associations with healing.
calliope
Calliope was one of the nine muses, who gives her name
to the musical instrument, the calliope, made up of tuned steam whistles
and played like an organ; it is also the name for the
California hummingbird.
See muse.
Calypso/Calypso music
Calypso ("she who hides or conceals") was the daughter
of Thetis and either Atlas, Nereus, or Oceanus. Odysseus was detained on her
island home of Ogygia for seven years with the promise that she would make him
immortal. Though he enjoyed her bed, each day he would weep and look longingly
over the sea to his homeland
Ithaca. Eventually Zeus sent Hermes to inform
Calypso that she must give up Odysseus. Calypso music, derived from the
name of the nymph, originated on the islands of the West Indies and treats of
topical or amusing themes.
Cassandra
Trojan Cassandra, daughter of Priam and Hecuba, was
amorously pursued by the god Apollo. Having at first agreed to succumb to his
advances, she was awarded the gift of prophecy, but later, when she changed her
mind and refused him, Apollo punished her. She would remain a prophetess, but
would never be believed. Cassandra's predictions were invariably of disaster,
foretelling the murder of Agamemnon by Clytemnestra or the destruction of
Troy through the
ruse of the Wooden Horse. A Cassandra today is anyone who utters dire
warnings of the future, regardless of their truth.
catamite
Zeus was so impressed with the beauty of the Trojan
youth Ganymede that he took the form of an eagle and brought him to
Olympus to become
the cupbearer of the gods. The Latin rendering of Ganymede's name was
Catamitus, and his relationship with Zeus (or Jupiter) was interpreted by
some as overtly homosexual to lend divine authority to ancient pederastic
practices; today a catamite is still the designation for a boy used for
pederastic purposes.
Cerberus
Cerberus, the hound of the underworld, stood guard at
the gates of Hades and prevented those not permitted from entering. He is
usually described as a beast with three heads and the tail of a dragon. When
Aeneas journied to the lower regions under the guidance of the Sibyl, he brought
along a medicated cake to drug the animal and insure their safe passage. To
throw a sop to Cerberus means to give a bribe and thereby ward off an
unpleasant situation.
cereal
Ceres (the Roman counterpart of Demeter) was goddess of
grain and the fertility of the earth. From her name is derived the Latin
adjective Cerealis (having to do with Ceres and the grain), from which comes our
English word, cereal.
chaos/chaotic
Whether Chaos is to be understood as a void or a
primordial, formless, undifferentiated, and seething mass out of which the order
of the universe is created, it is the starting point of creation. This unformed
beginning is contrasted with later creation, a universe called the cosmos, a
desgination meaning, literally, harmony or order. The sky and the stars, the
earth and its creatures, and the laws and cycles which direct and control
creation seem to exhibit the balance, order, and reason which the mind discerns
in the natural world. For us chaos, together with its adjective
chaotic, simply means a state of confusion. See cosmos.
Chimera/chimerical/chimeric
A wild, hybrid creature, the Chimera had the head of a
lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a serpent and it breathed fire. It was
killed by the Corinthian hero Bellerophon on one of his journeys. Today a
chimera is a fantastic delusion, an illusory creation of the mind. It can
also refer to a hybrid organism, usually a plant. Chimerical and
Chimeric refer to something as unreal, imaginary, or fantastic. These
adjectives can also signify that one is given to fantasy.
cornucopia
The Latin cornucopia means "horn of plenty."
There are two stories about this horn, which bestows upon the owner an endless
bounty. Zeus, in his secluded infancy on
Crete, was nursed by a goat named Amalthea, which
was also the name of the goddess of plenty. One of the horns of this goat was
broken off and became the first cornucopia. The horn of plenty is also
associated with Hercules. In order to win Deianira as his bride, he had to
defeat the horned river-god Achelous. In the struggle, Hercules broke off one of
the horns of the river-god but after his victory returned the horn and received
as recompense the horn of Amalthea. Ovid, however, relates that the horn of
Achelous became a second horn of plenty. Today the cornucopia is a sign
of nature's abundance, and the word comes to mean a plenteous bounty.
cosmos/cosmic/cosmology/cosmetic/cosmetician
Cosmos refers to the universe, and all that is
ordered and harmonious. The study of cosmology deals with the origin and
structure of the universe. The adjective, cosmic, may designate the
universe beyond and apart from the earth itself, or it may in a generalized
sense describe something of vast significance or implication. Akin to the word
cosmos are various English words derived from the Greek adjective cosmeticos.
Cosmos not only means order and harmony, but also arrangement and decoration;
thus cosmetic is a substance which adorns or decorates the body, and
cosmetician, the person involved with cosmetics. See chaos.
cupidity
The Latin word cupidus (desirous or greedy) gave
rise to Cupido, Cupid, the Roman equivalent of the Greek god of love,
Eros. In early representations he is a handsome youth, but becomes increasingly
younger and develops his familiar attributes of bow and arrow (with which he
rouses passion both in gods and mortals) and wings, until he finally evolves
into the Italian putti or decorative cherubs frequently seen in Renaissance art.
From the same root is derived cupiditas to denote any intense passion or
desire, from which we derive cupidity (avarice or greed). See erotic.
cyclopean
here were two distinct groups of giants called the
Cyclopes, whose name means circle-eyed and indicates their principle
distinguishing feature, one round eye in the center of their forehead. The
first, offspring of Uranus and Ge, were the smiths who labored with Hephaestus
at his forge to create the thunderbolt for Zeus, among other masterpieces. The
second group of Cyclopes were a tribe of giants, the most important of whom is
Polyphemus, a son of Poseidon, encountered by Odysseus. The word cyclopean
refers to anything that pertains to the Cyclopes or partakes of their
gigantic and powerful nature. Thus the Cyclopes were said to be responsible for
the massive stone walls which surround the palace-fortresses of the Mycenaean
period. And so cyclopean is used generally to describe a primitive
building style, which uses immense, irregular, stone blocks, held together by
their sheer weight without mortar.
cynosure
The constellation Ursa Minor ("little bear") was called
Kunosoura ("the dog's tail") by the astronomer Aratus, who saw in it one of the
nymphs who raised the infant Zeus. Long a guiding star for seafarers, it has
given us the word cynosure which can describe anything that serves
to focus attention or give guidance.
demon/demoniac/demonic/demonology
In Greek daimon was a word of rather fluid
definition. In Homer the Olympians are referred to as either gods (theoi)
or daimones ("divine powers"). In later literature the daimones became
intermediate beings between gods and men or often the spirits of the dead came
to be called daimones, especially among the Romans. Daimon could also denote
that particular spirit granted to each mortal at his birth to watch over its
charge. This corresponds to the Roman Genius, a vital force behind each
individual, originally associated with male fertility and particularly with the
male head of a household. Later it became a tutelary spirit assigned to guide
and shape each person's life. With the triumph of Christianity, all pagan
deities were suspect, and daimon, viewed solely as a power sprung from the
devil, became our demon (any evil or satanic spirit). As an adjective
demoniac or demonic suggests possession by an evil spirit and can
mean simply fiendish. As a noun demoniac refers to one who is or seems
possessed by a demon. Demonology is the study of evil spirits. As for
genius, it has come to denote a remarkable, innate, intellectual or creative
ability, or a person possessed of such ability. Through French we have the word
genie, which had served as a translation of Jinni, spirits (as in
the Arabian Nights) which have the power to assume human or animal form and
supernaturally influence human life.
dionysian
The dionysiac or dionysian experience is
the antithesis of the apollonian, characterized by moderation, symmetry,
and reason. See apollonian and bacchanal.
echo
There are two major myths which tell how the acoustic
phenomenon of the echo arose. According to one, Echo was originally a
nymph who rejected the lusty advances of the god Pan. In her flight she was torn
apart by shepherds, who have been driven into a panic by the spurned god,
Pan. The second version involves the mortal Narcissus. Echo had been condemned
by Hera to repeat the last utterance she heard and no more. It was in this state
that Echo caught sight of the handsome Narcissus. Narcissus, a youth cold to all
love, rejected the amorous advances of Echo, who could now only mimic Narcissus'
words. Stung deeply by this rebuff, she hid herself in woods and caves and pined
for her love, until all that remained of the nymph was her voice. As for
Narcissus, too proud in his beauty, he inevitably called down upon himself the
curse of a spurned lover. Narcissus was doomed to be so captivated by his own
reflection in a pool that he could not turn away his gaze, even to take food and
drink. He wasted away and died. From the spot where he died sprang the
narcissus flower. Narcissism has come to mean an obsessive love of
oneself. As used in psychoanalysis it is an arrested development at an infantile
stage characterized by erotic attachment to oneself. One so afflicted with such
narcissistic characteristics is a narcissist. See panic and
narcissism.
Electra complex
Comparable in the development of the female is the
electra complex, a psychotic attachment to the father and hostility toward
the mother, a designation also drawn from myth. Electra was the daughter of
Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, a young woman obsessed by her grief over the murder
of her beloved father and tormented by unrelenting hatred for her mother who
killed him. See oedipus.
Elysian Fields/Elysian/Elysium
In Vergil's conception of the Underworld there is a
place in the realm of Hades reserved for mortals who, through their surpassing
deeds and virtuous life, have won a blessed afterlife. It is named the
Elysian Fields or Elysium, and the the souls who inhabit this
paradise live a purer, more carefree and pleasant existence. The adjective
Elysian has come to mean blissful.
enthusiasm
In cultic ritual, particularly Dionysiac, the initiate
was often thought to become possessed by the god and transported to a state of
ecstatic union with the divine. The Greeks decribed a person so exalted as being
entheos, "filled with the god," which gave rise to the verb
enthousiazein. Thus the English word enthusiasm, meaning an excited
interest, passion, or zeal. See Bacchanal.
eristic
Eris was the goddess of "strife" or "discord,"
responsible for all the dissension arising from the Apple of Discord, which she
threw among the guests at the wedding banquet of Peleus and Thetis. Thus is
derived the term eristic, which as an adjective means pertaining to
argument or dispute, as a noun it refers to rhetoric or the art of debate. See
Apple of Discord.
erotic/erotica/eratomania
To the Greeks Eros was one of the first generation of
divinities born from Chaos; he was also said to be the son of Aphrodite and
Ares. From the Greek adjective eroticos, we derive erotic, which
describes anyone or anything characterized by the amatory or sexual passions.
Erotica is a branch of literature or art whose main function is the arousal
of sexual desire. Erotomania is an obsessive desire for sex. See
cupidity.
Europe
Europa was the daughter of Agenor, king of
Tyre in Phoenicia.
Zeus, disguised as a white bull, enticed the girl to sit on his back and then
rushed into the sea and made his way toward Greece. When they reached Crete,
Zeus seduced Europa, who bore a son named Minos and gave her name to a foreign
continent. The word
Europe
itself may be of semitic origin,
meaning the land of the setting sun.
Faunus/faun/fauna/flora
Faunus, whose name means one who shows favor, was
a Roman woodland deity. He was thought to bring prosperity to farmers and
shepherds and was often depicted with horns, ears, tail, and sometimes legs of
goat; therefore he was associated with the Greek god Pan and also Dionysiac
satyrs. A faun comes to be another name for a satyr. Faunus' consort was
Fauna, a female deity like hiim in nature. Flora was another,
though minor, agricultural deity, a goddess of flowers, grain, and the grape
vine. When we talk of flora and fauna, we refer respectively to flowers
and animals collectively.
Furies/furious/furioso
The Erinyes (Furies) were avenging spirits. They
sprang from the severed genitals of Uranus, when drops of his blood fell to the
earth. They pursued those who had unlawfully shed blood, particularly within a
family. They were said to rise up to avenge the blood of the slain and pursue
the murderer, driving the guilty to madness. As chthonic deities they are
associated with the underworld and are charged with punishing sinners; they are
usually depicted as winged goddesses with snaky locks. In English fury
can refer to a fit of violent rage or a person in the grip of such a passion,
especially a woman. The Latin adjective furiosus has given us our
adjective furious as well as the musical term furioso, which is a
direction to play a piece in a turbulent, rushing manner.
Gaia Hypothesis
Gaia (or Ge), sprung from Chaos, is the personification
of the earth. Her name has been employed in a recent coinage called the Gaia
Hypothesis, a theory that views the earth as a complete living organism, all
of its parts working in concert for its own continued existence.
genius
The Latin word Genius designated the creative
power of an individual which was worshipped as a mythological and religious
concept. See demon.
gorgon/gorgoneion/gorgonian/gorgonize
The Gorgons were three sisters who had snakes for hair
and a gaze so terrifying that a mortal who looked into their eyes was turned to
stone. Medusa, the most famous of the three, was beheaded by Perseus, aided by
Athena and Hermes. Perseus gave the head to Athena, who affixed it to her shield
(see aegis). The head of the gorgon was often depicted in Greek art in a highly
stylized manner; this formalized depiction is called a gorgoneion. Today
a gorgon can mean a terrifying or ugly woman. There is also a species of
coral known as gorgonian with an intricate network of branching parts.
The verb to gorgonize means to paralyze by fear.
halcyon/halcyon days
The mythical bird, the halcyon, is identified
with the kingfisher. Ceyx and Alcyone were lovers. Ceyx, the king of Trachis,
was drowned at sea. Hera sent word to Alcyone in her sleep through Morpheus, the
god of dreams, that her husband was dead. Alcyone in her grief was transformed
into the kingfisher; as she tried to drag the lifeless body of Ceyx to shore, he
too was changed into a bird. The lovers still traverse the waves, and in winter
she broods her young in a nest which floats upon the surface of the water.
During this time, Alcyone's father, Aeolus, king of the winds, keeps them from
disturbing the serene and tranquil sea. Today, the halcyon days are a
period of calm weather during the winter solstice, especially the seven days
preceding and following it. Halcyon days can also describe any time of
tranquillity.
harpy
The Harpies ("snatchers"), daughters of Thaumas and
Electra, were originally conceived of as winds, but eventually came to be
depicted as bird-like women who tormented mortals. The Argonauts rescued Phineus,
the blind king and prophet of Salmydessus, whose food was "snatched" away by
these ravenous monsters. Today when we call someone a harpy we evoke
images of these vile, foul-smelling, predatory creatures; or harpy simply
means a shrew.
hector
Hector was the greatest warrior of the Trojans, who was
defeated by his counterpart on the Greek side, Achilles. To hector means
to bluster and bully. The noun hector denotes a bully. The connection
between the noble Hector and this later conception originated in the Middle
Ages, when Hector was portrayed as a braggart and bully.
heliotrope/heliotropism, etc.
Helius was god of the sun. The Greek root trop-
refers to a turning in a certain direction. Heliotropism is a biological
term which refers to the growth or movement of an organism towards or away from
sunlight. A heliotrope is a genus of plant that behaves in that manner.
Several scientific or technical words derive for the name of the sun-god, for
example: a heliostat is an instrument that uses a mirror to reflect
sunlight; heliotherapy, treatment by means of the sun's rays;
heliotype, a photomechanical process of printing a plate, or the printing
plate itself produced in this fashion; heliograph is an instrument used
to photograph the sun; and heliocentric refers to anything that has the
sun as a center or is relative to the sun.
Hercules/herculean/Hercules' club
Hercules, in Greek Heracles, was the greatest hero in
the ancient world, who wore a lion skin and brandished a club. He achieved
countless remarkable exploits, and is most famous for twelve canonical labors.
To describe someone as herculean is to liken him to Hercules in strength
and stature. Any effort that is herculean requires a tremendous exertion
or spirit of heroic endurance. The Hercules is a constellation in the
northern hemisphere near Lyra and Corona Borealis. A shrub, indigenous to the
Southeastern United States and characterized by prickly leaves and large
clusters of white blossoms, is known as Hercules' club.
hermetic/hermeneutic/hermeneutics/hermaphrodite
The god Hermes became associated with the Egyptian god
Thoth and received the appellation Trismegistus ("thrice-greatest"). A number of
works on occult matters, known as the Hermetic Corpus, were attributed to Hermes
Trismegistus; today hermetic refers to occult knowledge, particularly
alchemy, astrology, and magic. From this notion of secret or sealed knowledge
hermetic comes to mean completely sealed; a hermetic jar is one closed
against outside contamination. From Hermes' primary function as a bearer of
messages came the Greek hermeneus ("interpreter") and the phrase
hermeneutike techne ("the art of interpretation"). Hermeneutics is
the science of interpretation and hermeneutic, as adjective or noun,
connotes an interpretive or explanatory function. Hermaphroditus, the beautiful
son of Hermes and Aphrodite, was bathing in a pool, when the nymph Salmacis
caught sight of him and was filled with desire. She plunged into the water and
entwined her limbs around him. He fought her efforts to seduce him but her
prayer to the gods that they might become united into one being was granted. A
hermaphrodite has the genitalia and secondary sexual characteristics of
both male and female.
hydra
Heracles' second labor was to encounter the Hydra, a
nine-headed serpent, which would grow back two heads for every one that was
severed. Every time he clubbed off one of the heads he cauterized the stump so
that another could not grow. A hydra is a polyp with a cylindrical body
and tentacles surrounding an oral cavity and it has the ability to regrow itself
from cut off parts. A hydra can also be a destructive force that does not
succumb to a single effort. The Hydra is a constellation in the
equatorial region of the southern sky near the constellation Cancer.
hymen/hymenea
Hymen was the god of marriage and invoked during the
wedding ceremony with the chant "O Hymen, Hymenaeus"; thus he was the overseer
of hymeneal or marriage rites. Originally the Greek word hymen
referred to any membrane, but today the hymen is a membranous fold of
tissue which covers the outer orifice of the vagina.
hyperborean
The Hyperboreans were a mythical race that inhabited a
paradise in the far north, at the edge of the world, "beyond" (hyper) the reach
of the north wind (Boreas) and his arctic blasts. In English hyperborean
merely means arctic or frigid.
hypnosis/hypnotic, etc.
Hypnos, son of Nyx (Night) and brother of Thanatos
(death), was the god of sleep and father of Morpheus, the god of dreams.
Hypnosis is a sleep-like condition in which the person becomes susceptible
to suggestion. Hypnotic, as an adjective, means to pertain to or induce
hypnosis. As a noun it refers to the person hypnotized, something that promotes
hypnotism, or means simply a soporific, that which induces sleep. Hypnogogic
refers to a drug that produces sleep or describes the state immediately
preceding sleep, while hypnopompic refers to the state immediately
preceding awakening; both states may be marked by visual or auditory
hallucination as well as sleep-induced paralysis. Hypnophobia is a
pathological fear of sleep.
Icarian/Icarian Sea
Daedalus had crafted out of wax and feathers two pairs
of wings to escape from the imprisonment imposed by King Minos of
Crete, one pair for
himself, and one for his young son, Icarus. Heedless of his father's advice, the
young Icarus flew too close to the sun. The wax of the wings melted and the boy
fell into the sea. That part of the Mediterranean along the coast of Asia Minor
into which he fell ever after carried his name and would be known as the
Icarian
Sea. Icarian denotes acts which are
reckless and impetuous and lead to one's ruin.
ichor
Gods, although immortal, can suffer wounds. Human blood
does not flow from those wounds but instead a clear, rarefied liquid -- divine
ichor. In English ichor can refer to a fluid, like blood, or, in
pathological terms, a watery substance discharged from wounds or ulcers.
iris/iridescent
Iris was the goddess of the rainbow (the meaning of her
name). The adjective iridescent describes anything which gleams with the
colors of the rainbow. The iris is the colored portion of the eye which
contracts when exposed to light. It is also a genus of plant which has narrow
leaves and multi-colored blossoms.
junoesque
Juno was the mighty and majestic queen of the Roman
Pantheon, wife and sister of Jupiter, identified with the Greek Hera. To
describe someone as junoesque is to liken her to the goddess in stature
and stately bearing.
labyrinth/labyrinthine
In Crete, King Minos had Daedalus construct a maze in
which to imprison the monstrous Minotaur. Theseus' greatest achievement was to
kill the Minotaur and, with the help of Ariadne's thread, find his way out of
the maze, which was known as the labyrinth. Excavations of the complex
and vast
palace of Cnossus in Crete with its network of rooms seem to substantiate
elements of this legend. A labyrinth is a maze and the adjective
labyrinthine describes something winding, complicated, and intricate.
Labyrinth can also denote anatomical features marked by connecting passages,
in particular the structures of the internal ear.
Lethe/lethargy/lethargic/Lethean
Lethe was the river of "forgetfulness" in the
underworld. From it souls would drink and forget their experiences upon being
reincarnated. Lethe refers today to a state of oblivion or forgetfulness;
lethargy and lethargic denote a state of persistent drowsiness or
sluggishness; Lethean characterizes anything that causes forgetfulness of
the past.
lotus/lotus-eater
Odysseus was driven to
North Africa and the land
of the Lotus Eaters, who consumed the fruit of the lotus and lived in a
continual state of dreamy forgetfullness and happy irresponsibility. Today a
lotus eater is anyone who succumbs to indolent pleasure. The lotus, a
small tree of the Mediterranean, produces the fruit supposedly consumed by the
Lotus Eaters; it is also an aquatic plant indigenous to southern
Asia.
maenad
A meanad is a female worshipper of Dionysus. See
bacchanal.
March/martial/martial law
Mars was the Roman god of war, equated with the Greek
Ares. He personified the conflict of battle in all its brutality and bloodshed.
The adjective martial means of or pertaining to battle; when the military
authority usurps the power of civil authority, the population is said to be
under martial law. Also the name of the month March is derived
from Mars.
matinee/matins
Matuta was a minor Roman deity, the goddess of the dawn
(in Latin dawn is tempus matutinum). Through French, we have matinee,
a theatrical or cinematic performance given in the daytime, and matins
(also called Morning Prayer), the first division of the day in the system of
canonical hours of the monastic tradition.
mentor
In Book One of Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus' palace
is ravaged by suitors for the hand of his wife, Penelope. His son Telemachus,
day dreaming of his father's return, is incapable of action. Athena, in the
guise of Odysseus' trusted counselor,
Mentor, comes to Ithaca to rouse Telemachus and
give him advice and hope. Thus mentor means a trusted guardian and
teacher.
mercury/mercurial
Mercury was the Roman equivalent of the Greek Hermes
(see Herm). This fleet-footed messenger of the gods has given us the word
mercury, a silver metallic element, which at room temperature is in
liquid form, also called "quicksilver" because of the nature of its movement. In
astrology, Mercury is the name given to the planet closest to the sun,
around which it completes one revolution in 88 days. In botany, it refers to a
genus of weedy plant. To describe someone as mercurial is to impart to
the individual craftiness, eloquence, cunning, and swiftness, all attributes of
the god. It can also simply mean quick or changeable in temperament, either from
the nature of the god or the influence of the planet.
Midas' ass's ears/Midas touch/the golden touch
Apollo and Pan entered into a musical contest. When
Apollo was judged victorious by the mountain-god Tmolus, Midas, the king of
Phrygia,
disagreed. For his lack of perception Apollo transformed Midas' offending ears
into those of an ass. To have ass's ears means that one lacks true
musical judgment and taste. On another occasion, the god Dionysus granted Midas'
wish that whatever he might touch be turned into gold. To his despair, Midas
found that even as he put food and drink to his mouth it was transmuted into
gold. Dionysus granted him relief by telling him to bathe in the river Pactolus,
whose bed become golden. To have the golden touch or Midas' touch
means to be successful in any endeavor.
money/monetary
In the Temple of Juno Moneta ("money," "mint") was
housed the Roman mint. The epithet Moneta means "the warner" and refers
to an important legend regarding her temple. When
Rome was threatened in
390 B.C. by an invasian of Gauls, the sacred geese in Juno's temple began to
squawk, rousing the Romans to battle. Moneta, through the Old French
moneie, has given us the word money; the adjective monetary,
"pertaining to money," comes from the stem monet-.
morphine
Morpheus was the god of dreams, or more particularly the
shapes (morphai) that come to one in dreams. Later he became confused
with the god of sleep and it is from this confusion that the meaning of
morphine comes. Morphine, an addictive compound of the opium plant,
is used as an anaesthetic or sedative. The compounds which include the stem
morph-, such as metamorphosis (a transformation into another shape or
state of being), are drawn from the Greek word morphe ("shape" or "form")
and not the god Morpheus.
muse/music/museum/mosaic
The nine muses were the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne
("memory"), whose province was inspiration in the arts, particularly poetry and
music; from muse we derive the word music. The Greek word mouseion
("place of the Muses"), in Latin museum, has given us museum, a
place for the displaying works of artistic, historical, or scientific interest.
From the adjective mousaicos ("pertaining to the Muses") comes mosaic,
a picture or design made up of small colored tiles or stones.
narcissism/narcissist/narcissistic/narcissus
Narcissism refers to a psychological state in
which the person has a pathalogical attachment to oneself. See Echo
nectar
Nectar is the special drink of the gods, usually paired
with their food, ambrosia. Nectar has come to mean any refreshing drink,
the pure juice of a fruit, or the liquid gathered by bees from the blossoms of
flowers, used in making honey.
nemesis
Nemesis is the goddess of vengeance who brings
retribution on those who have sinned, especially through hubris ("over-weaning
pride"). A nemesis denotes the following: the abstract idea of
retributive vengeance; the agent of retribution; an invincible rival in a
contest or battle; or a necessary or inevitable consequence.
nestor
Nestor, the oldest and wisest of the Greek kings at
Troy, lived
to see three generations of heroes. A brave and strong warrior when young, in
old age he was prized for his good counsel and his oratory. Homer tells us that
his speech flowed more sweetly than honey. When a politician or statesman today
is called a nestor, it is these qualities of wisdom, good counsel, and
oratory that are emphasized.
nymph/nymphomania/nympholepsy
Nymphs are beautiful, idyllic goddesses of wood and
stream and nature, often the objects of love and desire. A nymph today
may simply mean a remarkably attractive young woman, but if she were to suffer
from nymphomania ("nymph-madness"), she would be suffering from sexual
promiscuousness. Nympholepsy (from lepsis, "a seizing"), on the
other hand, refers to the madness which assails one who has glimpsed a nymph. It
can also denote a strong desire for what is unattainable. (Cf.
satyr/satyriasis)
ocean
In mythology the world is a disc circled by a stream of
water, the god Oceanus, who is the father of the Oceanids, i.e. all the lesser
rivers, streams, brooks, and rills that flow over the earth. Today ocean
can refer to the entire body of salt water or any of its major divisions
covering the globe.
odyssey
Homer's Odyssey recounts the return of Odysseus
to Ithaca,
his wife, Penelope, and his son, Telemachus. After ten years of war at Troy,
Odysseus found the day of his return postponed for another ten years by the god
Poseidon. On his extended travels he overcame many challenges before winnning
his homecoming. An odyssey has come to mean a long, tortuous period of
wandering, travel, and adventure, often in search of a quest, both literally and
spiritually.
oedipus/oedipal complex
King Laius of
Thebes was given a prophecy that his wife,
Jocasta, would bear a son who would kill his father and marry his mother. They
did have a son whose name was Oedipus and when he grew up he killed his father
and married his mother, despite all that was done to avert the prophecy and
destiny. Sophocles' masterpiece, Oedipus the King, inspired Sigmund Freud
to crystallize one of his major, defining ideas on the nature of the human
psyche (q.v.) and infantile sexual development; the Oedipus Complex is
the term he used to describe the natural progression of psycho-sexual
development in which the child has libidinal feelings for a parent of the
opposite sex and hostility for the parent of the same sex. The term oedipus
complex refers to the male child. See Electra complex.
Olympic Games/olympian
The Greek gods had their homes on the heights of
Mt. Olympus in
northern Greece, and so were called the Olympians. The term olympian
carries with it notions of the new order ushered in by Zeus and his family and
also distinguishes these gods in their sunlit heights from the chthonic
("of the earth") deities, who have associations with the gloom of the
underworld. Therefore olympian means towering, awesome, and majestic,
akin to the gods of Olympus. The adjective can also refer to one who competes in
or has won a contest in the Olympic Games, but this designation is
derived from the ancient Olympic games, celebrated at
Olympia,
which was a major sanctuary of Zeus in the Peloponnese.
paean
Paean was an epithet of the god Apollo, invoked in a cry
for victory in battle or for deliverance from sickness. A paean thus
became a song of thanksgiving. Today it refers to a song of joy or praise,
whether to a god or a human being.
palladium
As a child Athena had a special girl friend named
Pallas, with whom she used to play at war. During one of their skirmishes Athena
inadvertently killed Pallas and to her memory she built a wooden statue of the
girl. This statue was thrown down to earth by Zeus, where it became known as the
Palladium, and became for the Trojans a talisman for their city; so long as they
had possession of it, the city would stand. Thus the English palladium
means a protection from harm for a people or state, a lucky charm.
pandora's box
Pandora was the first woman, given to men as punishment
for Prometheus' theft of fire. Sent with her was a jar, which, when opened,
released all the ills that now plague human beings. Later this jar became a box
and now pandora's box refers to something that should be left unexamined,
lest it breed disaster.
panic
Panic describes a state of great fear and anxiety
with an attendent desire for flight, which was considered inspired by the god
Pan. See Echo
phaėton
Helius, the sun-god, assured Phaethon that he was truly
his father and swore an oath that his son could have anthing he desired.
Phaethon asked that he be allowed to drive his father's chariot across the sky.
Helius could not dissuade the boy, and Phaethon could not control the horses and
drove to his death. A phaeton has come into English as a four-wheeled
chariot drawn by two horses or an earlier type of convertible automobile.
priapism/priapic
Priapus was the ithyphallic son of Aphrodite. He is most
often depicted with an enormous and fully erect penis. Priapic is an
adjective referring to priapian characteristics. Priapism is a
pathological condition in which the penis is persistently erect.
procrustean/procrustean bed
Procrustes (the "one who stretches") was encountered by
Theseus. He would make unwitting travelers lie down on a bed. If they did not
fit it exactly, he would either cut them down or stretch them out to size. The
adjective procrustean refers to someone or something that aims at conformity
through extreme methods. A procrustean bed decribes a terrible, arbitrary
standard against which things are measured.
Prometheus/promethean
The god Prometheus ("forethought"), son of the titan
Iapetus, was the creator of humanity and its benefactor. He bestowed upon
mortals many gifts that lifted them from savagery to civilization. One of his
most potent benefactions was fire, which he stole from heaven in a fennel stalk
to give to mankind a boon expressly forbidden by Zeus. As a punishment for his
championship of human beings in opposition to Zeus, Prometheus was bound to a
rocky crag and a vulture ate at his liver, which would grow back again for each
day's repast. Thus the name Prometheus becomes synonymous for the
archetypal champion, with fire his symbol of defiance and progress. The
adjective Promethean means courageous, creative, original, and
life-sustaining. Beethoven's music may be called Promethean and Mary Shelley
subtitled her gothic horror novel Frankenstein, A Modern Prometheus.
protean
Proteus was a sea god who could change shape and who
possessed knowledge of the future. To obtain information, one had to grapple
with him until his metamorphoses ceased. Protean means of changeable or
variable form, or having the ability to change form.
psyche/psychology, etc.
The Greek word for the soul was psyche. The myth
of Cupid and Psyche can be interpreted as the soul's longing for an eventual
reunification with the divine through love. For Freud psyche means mind
and psychic refers to mental activity; many English derivatives describe the
study of the mind and the healing of its disorders: psychology, psychiatry,
etc. In psychoanalytic terms, the soul is the mind, the seat of thoughts
and feelings, our true self, which seeks to orient our lives to our
surroundings.
python
Apollo established the major sanctuary for his worship
and his oracle at
Delphi, but to do so he had to kill the serpent
which guarded the site. He named his new sanctuary Pytho, from the
rotting of the serpent after it had been killed (the Greek verb pythein
means to rot); or the serpent's name was Python. A python today belongs
to a particular family of non-venomous old world snakes.
Rhadamanthus/Rhadamanthine or Rhadamantine
Rhadmanthus, along with Minos and Aeacus, is one of the
judges in the Underworld. Rhadamanthus and Rhadamanthine describe
anyone who is rigidly just and strict.
rich as Croesus
Croesus was the king of
Lydia who possessed great
wealth that became legendary. Thus to emphasize their possession of extreme
riches we describe a person as "rich as Croesus."
saturnalia/saturnian/saturnine/saturnism
The titan Saturn (equated with the Greek Cronus)
castrated his father, hated his children, devoured them, and was castrated and
overthrown by his son Zeus. After his defeat, Saturn ruled over the Golden Age
of the world; according to Roman mythology, he fled to the west and brought a
new golden time to
Italy. Originally Saturn was an old Italic diety
of the harvest; the Roman's built a temple to Saturn on the Capitoline hill and
each December celebrated the winter planting with the Saturnalia, a time
of revelry and the giving of presents. Saturnalia today denotes a period
of unrestrained or orgiastic revelry. Saturn gives his name to the sixth
planet from the sun, the second largest planet in the solar system after
Jupiter. Anyone born under the influence of Saturn may have a saturnine
temperament, which is to say gloomy or melancholy, characteristics of the god
who castrated his father and was overthrown. Saturnian simply means
pertaining to the god or the planet Saturn. The planet Saturn was also
associated with the element lead, and so the term for lead poisoning is
saturnism.
satyr/satyriasis
Satyrs were male woodland deities with the ears and legs
of a goat, who worshipped Dionysus (Bacchus) god of wine, often in a state of
sexual excitement. A satyr today is nothing more than a lecher. A man who
has an excessive and uncontrollable sexual drive suffers from satyriasis..
See nymph/nymphomania/nympholepsy.
Scylla and Charybdis
Scylla was once a beautiful maiden, who was transformed
into a hideous creature, with the heads of yapping dogs protruding from her
midriff. Charybdis was a terrible whirlpool. Both these dangers were said to
lurk in the
Strait of Messina between Southern Italy and
Sicily, a terror to sailors who endeavored to navigate these waters. The phrase
between Scylla and Charybdis is much like the English between a rock and
a hard place; it denotes a precarious position between two equally
destructive dangers.
siren/siren song
The Sirens were nymphs (encountered by Odysseus) often
depicted with bird-like bodies, who sang such enticing songs that seafarers were
lured to their death. A siren has come to mean a seductive woman. It can
also denote a device which uses compressed steam or air to produce a high,
piercing sound as a warning. A siren song refers to something bewitching
or alluring that also may be treacherous.
sisyphean
Sisyphus was a famous resident of Hades who was
condemned to roll an enormous rock up a hill only to have it fall back down, a
punishment for revealing the secret of one of Zeus' love affairs. A sisyphean
task has become a term for work that is difficult, laborious, almost
impossible of completion. See tartarean and tantalize..
sphinx
The sphinx terrorized
Thebes before the arrival
of Oedipus (see Oedipal Complex). She was a hybrid creature with the head
of a woman, body of a lion, wings of an eagle, and the tail of a serpent. She
punished those who failed to answer her riddle with strangulation (the Greek
verb sphingein means to strangle). At some point the Greek sphinx became
associated with Egyptian iconography, in which the sphinx had a lion's body and
a hawk's or man's head. When we liken someone to a sphinx, we have in
mind the great riddler of the Greeks and not the Egyptian conception. A
sphinx is an inscrutable person, given to enigmatic utterances (the Greek
word ainigma means a riddle).
stentorian
Stentor was the herald of the Greek army at
Troy, who could
speak with the power of fifty men. Today we may liken a powerful orator to
Stentor and designate the effect of his voice as stentorian.
stygian
Across the river
Styx, the "hateful" river that circles the realm
of the underworld, the ferryman Charon transports human souls to Hades. The gods
swear their most dread and unbreakable oaths by invoking the name of the river
Styx. Stygian describes something to be linked with the infernal regions
of hell, something gloomy, or inviolable.
syringe
Syrinx ("pan-pipes") rejected the god Pan and was turned
into a bed of reeds from which he fashioned his pan-pipes. A syringe is a
device made up of a pipe or tube, used for injecting and ejecting liquids.
Syringa is a genus of plants used for making pipes or pipestems.
tantalize
Tantalus, who through hybris tried to feed the gods
human flesh, is punished by being in a state of perpetual thirst and hunger,
food and drink always just beyond his reach. To tantalize is therefore to
tease and tempt without satisfaction. See sisyphean and tartarean.
tartarean
Tartarus is the region in the realm of Hades reserved
for the punishment of sinners, among whom are those who have committed the most
heinous crimes and suffer the most terrible punishments. The adjective
tartarean refers to those infernal regions. See sisyphean and
tantalize.
terpsichorean
From Terpsichore, one of the nine muses comes the
adjective, terpsichorean, which refers to her special area of expertise,
dancing. See Muse.
titan/titanic
The twelve Titans, the second generation of gods, born
of Ge and Uranus, were of gigantic stature, most of them conceived of as natural
forces, and although defeated and punished by Zeus, virtually invincible. Their
massive strength is preserved in the adjective titanic, which was also
the name given to an ocean vessel thought to be unsinkable. To call someone a
titan is to emphasize one's enormous mastery and ability in any field or
endeavor.
typhoon
Zeus' struggle with the dragon Typhon (also named
Typhaon or Typhoeus) was the most serious battle that he had before finally
consolidating his rule. Typhon had one hundred heads and tongues, fire shot out
of his eyes, and terrible cries bellowed from his throats. The word typhoon,
meaning a severe tropical hurricane which arises in the
China sea or the western
Pacific ocean, comes from the Chinese ta ("great") and feng
("wind"), but the form of the word is influenced by the name Typhon.
venereal/venery/veneration
Venus was the powerful Roman goddess of love, equated
with the Greek Aphrodite, who was born from the foam around Uranus' castrated
genitals. Her dominant sexual.htmlect is made clear by the nature of her origin.
The adjective venereal denotes a sexually transmitted disease, and the
noun venery is indulgence in sexual license. Veneration, however,
is the act of showing respectful love, adoration, or reverence.
volcanic/volcano/volcanism/volcanize/volcanology,
etc.
(each of these words may also be spelled with vul-):
The Roman god Vulcan, identified with the Greek Hephaestus, was the supreme
craftsman of the gods. His helpers were three Cyclopes and his forge was located
in various places, but most often under
Mt. Etna in Sicily, or similar volcanic
regions, which betray its presence. A volcano is a vent in the earth's
crust, which spews forth molten material and thereby forms a mountain.
Volcanism or Vulcanism refers to any volcanic force or activity. To
volcanize is to subject a substance, especially rubber, to such extremes
of heat that it undergoes a change and thereby becomes strengthened.
Volcanology is the scientific study of volcanic phenomena.
Wheel of Fortune
Fors or Fortuna was an Italic fertility goddess who
controlled the cycles of the seasons and became associated with the Greek
conception of good or bad fortune (tyche). She is often represented
holding the cornucopia in one hand and a wheel in the other, to signify the
rising and falling of an individual's prospects. From that iconography comes
wheel of fortune, a device used in a game of chance. See cornucopia.
zephyr
Zephyrus is the west wind (see Aurora Borealis),
which signals the return of spring. Today a zephyr is a pleasant, gentle
breeze, as well as a reference to any insignificant or passing thing.