Trojan War

For the greater part of three thousand years since the date of the Trojan War, the imagination of poets and dramatists has been busy with its story.

1952, Olivia E. Coolidge, The Trojan War, Houghton Mifflin, published 1980, page ix:

The poems of the Epic Cycle are now lost. But what we know about them from ancient evidence is extremely important for our understanding about myth of the Trojan War. The poems of the Epic Cycle share the same mythological tradition with the famous Homeric poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, and in fact the Epic Cycle is even more representative of the Trojan War tradition than the Homeric poems.

2001, Jonathan S. Burgess, “The Tradition of the Trojan War in Homer and the Epic Cycle”, in Paperback, Johns Hopkins University Press, published 2004, page 1:

The Greeks and Romans believed that the Trojan War was both a real event and a pivotal point in world history; Herodotus and Thucydides discussed the Trojan War briefly in the opening pages of their respective books, written in the fifth century BCE.

2013, Eric H. Cline, The Trojan War: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, page 1:

(Greek mythology) A mythological decade-long war and siege, ending in the destruction of Troy, which, as described in Homer's Iliad, was waged by a coalition of Achaeans (Greeks) led by King Agamemnon against the Trojans to avenge the abduction of Helen, wife of the Spartan King Menelaus, by Paris, son of the Trojan King Priam.


anagnorisis

en-noun

anagnorisis (countable and uncountable, plural anagnorises)

/ˌænəɡˈnɒrɪsɪs/

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ἀναγνώρισις (anagnṓrisis), from ἀναγνωρίζειν (anagnōrízein, “to recognise, discover”).

lbor

His heroines never have a true anagnorisis because the moral fault is never in themselves, only in outside conspirators.

The moment in the plot of a drama in which the hero makes a discovery that explains previously unexplained events or situations; a denouement.

anagnorisis

moment in the plot when a character makes a critical discovery


pedagogue

From Middle English pedagoge, from Middle French pedagogue, from Latin paedagōgus, from Ancient Greek παιδαγωγός (paidagōgós), from παῖς (paîs, “child”) + ἀγωγός (agōgós, “guide”) (from ἄγω (ágō, “lead”)). By surface analysis, ped- (“child”) + -agogue.

surf

(historical, Ancient Greece) A slave who led the master's children to school, and had the charge of them generally.


Quirinus

(Roman mythology) An early Roman deity of possibly Sabine origin.


Caca

(Roman mythology) goddess of the hearth.


agnomen

An additional cognomen given, as an honour, to a Roman citizen.


faun

From Middle English fawn, from Latin faunus.

(Roman mythology) A woodland creature with pointed ears, legs, and short horns of a goat and a fondness for unrestrained revelry.


Ajax

From Latin Aiāx, from Ancient Greek Αἴας (Aías).

In the legend of the Trojan War, Ajax was king of Salamis and son of Telamon. After Achilles, he was the bravest Greek warrior at Troy. In Homer's epic poem the Iliad, Ajax engages in many combats for...

1995, David Sacks, Oswyn Murray, A Dictionary of the Ancient Greek World, Oxford University Press, USA, →ISBN, page 11:

(Greek mythology) Either of two heroes of the Trojan War.


Hebe

From Ancient Greek Ἥβη (Hḗbē, literally “Youth, Prime of Life”).

uder

(Greek mythology) The goddess of youth, and a daughter of Zeus and Hera. Her Roman counterpart is Juventas.


Aba

(Greek mythology) a Thracian naiad nymph


Acropolis

/əˈkɹɒpəlɪs/

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Ἀκρόπολις (Akrópolis, “Acropolis”), from ἄκρος (ákros, “highest”) + πόλις (pólis, “city”).

bor

The Athenian Acropolis. (Compare acropolis.)


Akkad

From Biblical Hebrew אַכַּד (ʾakkáḏ), from Akkadian 𒌵𒆠 (Akkade).

The capital city of the kingdom of Akkad of uncertain location.


Althea

From Althaia or Althaea of Greek mythology, from Ancient Greek Ἀλθαία (Althaía).

(Greek mythology) an obscure goddess who was the personification of truth


Ancient Greece

The Greek-speaking world in ancient times, geographically referring not only to modern Greece and southern Balkan peninsula but also to areas of Hellenic culture that were settled during ancient times by Greeks: Cyprus, the Aegean coast of Ionia, southern Italian peninsula and Sicily (known as Magna Graecia) and the scattered Greek settlements on the coasts of what are now Albania, Bulgaria, Egypt, Libya, southern France, southern Spain, Catalonia, Georgia, Romania, and Ukraine.


Apollo

From Latin Apollō, from Ancient Greek Ἀπόλλων (Apóllōn).

‘Blue are the hills that are far away,’ is an owercome in the countryside, and while at first on his side it may have been but a young man’s fancy, to her he was like the god Apollo descending from the skies.

1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) The son of Zeus and Leto (or Jupiter and Latona), and the twin brother of Artemis (or Diana). He was the god of light, music, medicine, and poetry; and prophecy, dance, manly beauty, and more.


Argo

From Latin Argo, from Ancient Greek Ἀργώ (Argṓ), the mythical ship of the Argonauts.

(Greek mythology) The ship in which Jason and the Argonauts sailed on their quest for the Golden Fleece.


Argonaut

/ˈɑːrɡənɔːt/

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Ἀργοναύτης (Argonaútēs).

(Greek mythology) One of the members of the Argo who sailed with Jason in search of the Golden Fleece.


Ash

en-proper noun

Ash (countable and uncountable, plural Ashes)

Ash (deity)
Ash (disambiguation)#Places
Ash (name)

(Egyptian mythology) The Egyptian god of oases.


Atem

(Egyptian mythology) Alternative form of Atum


Atlas

Atlas (countable and uncountable, plural Atlases)

From Latin Ā̆tlās, from Ancient Greek Ἄτλας (Átlas), either from ἁ- (ha-, copulative prefix) + Proto-Indo-European *telh₂- (“bear, undergo, endure”) or of Pre-Greek origin.

der

(Greek mythology) The son of Iapetus and Clymene, war leader of the Titans ordered by the god Zeus to support the sky on his shoulders; father to the Hesperides, the Hyades, and the Pleiades; king of the legendary Atlantis.


Aura

en-proper noun

Aura (countable and uncountable, plural Auras)

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) A minor female deity.


Aurora

/ʔaʊ̯ˈɾo.ɾɐ/

Aurora (disambiguation)
Gérard de Lairesse
Manuel Quezon

Ultimately from Latin Aurōra. The Philippine placenames were named after First Lady Aurora Quezon, the wife of Pres. Manuel Quezon, the 2nd president of the Philippines.

As faire Aurora in her purple pall, / Out of the East the dawning day doth call […]

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 16:

(Roman mythology) Roman goddess of the dawn; equivalent of the Greek Eos. Sister of Luna and Sol.


Barca

From Latin Barca, from Punic 𐤁𐤓𐤒 (Baraq), from Phoenician 𐤁𐤓𐤒 (baraq, “lightning”), ultimately from Proto-Semitic *baraḳ-.

Hamilcar Barca; Hannibal Barca

A surname from Punic, particularly (historical) a dynasty of Carthaginian leaders.


Barca

From Latin Barca, from Ancient Greek Βάρκη (Bárkē), from the local tribe of the Barraci.

(historical) Former name of Marj, a city in Libya.


Barca

2000 April 19, BBC Online, "Football News":

There's only one Barca

Chelsea and Barca clash once again

Giovani committed to Barca

association football
association football

(informal, soccer) FC Barcelona, a prominent Spanish association football club.


Bast

(Egyptian mythology) Alternative spelling of Bastet


Blues

In reference to the ancient Roman and medieval Byzantine racing faction, a calque of Latin venetī (“Sea-Blues”) or factio veneta (“the sea-blue faction”) and Byzantine Greek Βένετοι (Bénetoi, “Blues”).

bor

(informal) Any of several sports teams whose uniform is predominantly blue, such as:


Calliope

From Latin Calliope, from Ancient Greek Καλλιόπη (Kalliópē), from κᾰλλῐ- (kăllĭ-, “beautiful”) + ὄψ (óps, “voice”).

(Greek mythology) The Muse of eloquence and epic or heroic poetry; the mother of Orpheus with Apollo.


Calypso

(Greek mythology) A sea nymph who entertained Odysseus on her island, Ogygia, for seven years.


Capitol

From Middle English Capitolie, in historical sense, from Latin Capitōlium. Other meanings from specific instances of capitol, q.v. As a French town hall, a calque of French Capitole.

Constantine the Great
Museum of Roman Civilization
Washington Mall

(historical) The citadel and temples on the Capitoline Hill in Ancient Rome.


Chaos

From Latin chaos (“chaos”), from Ancient Greek χάος (kháos).

19521 Chaos
Chaos (Warhammer)
Chaos (cosmogony)

(Greek mythology) In Greek mythology, the primordial state of disorder that exists before the creation of the world, or the first being or deity to exist.


Chronus

(Greek mythology) Alternative form of Chronos.


Cygnus

Borrowed from Latin cygnus (“swan”), from Ancient Greek κύκνος (kúknos, “swan”).

(Greek mythology) A king of the Ligurians and relative of Phaeton who was transformed into a swan and placed in the sky as a constellation.


Dari

Borrowed from Classical Persian دری (darī), of disputed origin, probably from دربار (darbār, “royal court”). The term was adopted by the government of Afghanistan in 1964 as the official name of the varieties of Persian spoken in the country, which has become the most common usage of the term since.

bor+

A language primarily spoken in the Yazd and Kerman areas of Iran.


Dike

From Ancient Greek Δίκη (Díkē, literally “Justice, Order, Judgement”).

bor

(Greek mythology) The goddess/personification of justice, order and judgement and one of the Horae. She is a daughter of Zeus and Themis, and her sisters are Eirene and Eunomia. Her Roman counterpart is Justitia.


Draco

Borrowed from Latin Dracō, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek Δρᾰ́κων (Drắkōn). Doublet of dracone, dragon, and dragoon.

Draco
Draco (constellation)
Draco (lawgiver)
Draco Dwarf

(Greek mythology) One of Actaeon's hounds.


Echidna

From Ancient Greek Ἔχιδνα (Ékhidna, “Echidna”), from ἔχιδνα (ékhidna, “viper”).

der

Horrible, hideous, and of hellish race, / Borne of the brooding of Echidna base, / Or other like infernall furies kinde […].

1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

(Greek mythology) A female monster who, along with Typhon, mothered the vast majority of the famous monsters and creatures of Greek mythology.


Echo

60 Echo
Alexandre Cabanel
Echo (mythology)

(Greek mythology) An oread, punished by Hera by losing her own voice and only being able to mimic that of others.


Egyptology

en-noun

Egyptology (countable and uncountable, plural Egyptologies)

/ˌid͡ʒɪpˈtɑləd͡ʒi/

/ˌiːd͡ʒɪpˈtɒləd͡ʒi/

(countable) A work concerning ancient Egypt.


Eros

I'm not just talking about sexually transmitted diseases, though Eros-knows there's precious little information about them available to gay men.

1981 August 1, Ron Vachon, “To Your Health”, in Gay Community News, page 13:

(Greek mythology) The god of love and sexual desire; son of either Erebus and Nyx or Aphrodite and Ares. His Roman counterpart is Cupid.


Ether

From Old French ether, from Latin aether (“the upper pure, bright air”), from Ancient Greek αἰθήρ (aithḗr, “upper air”), from αἴθω (aíthō, “I burn, shine”). Doublet of Aether.

der

(Roman mythology) The god-personification of the bright, glowing upper air of heaven. He is the Roman counterpart of Aether.


Fauna

Feminine form of Faunus.
Some refer it to Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₂w-, whence Ancient Greek θαῦνον (thaûnon, “beast”), Illyrian-related Daunus. Some refer it to faveō.

(Roman mythology) The goddess of animals, nature, spring and fertility; she is also the consort of Faunus.


Flora

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Flora.wav

From Latin Flōra (Roman goddess of flowers).

(Roman mythology) the goddess of flowers, nature and spring; she is also the wife of Favonius and the mother of Karpos. She is the Roman counterpart of Chloris.


Fury

Friom Middle English Furie, from Latin Furiae, a name used for the three Erinyes, being the plural of furia ("rage").

“I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera,[…]the speed-mad fugitives from the furies of ennui, the neurotic victims of mental cirrhosis,[…]!”

1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VI, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

(Greek mythology) A female personification of vengeance.


Gemini

/ˈd͡ʒɛmɪnaɪ/

/ˈd͡ʒɛmɪniː/

Borrowed from Latin geminī, plural of geminus (“twin”), calque of Ancient Greek Δίδυμοι (Dídumoi).

calque

(Greek mythology) The twin brothers Castor and Pollux together.


God

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰew-
Proto-Indo-European *-tós
Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰutós?
Proto-Germanic *gudą
Proto-West Germanic *god
Old English god
Middle English god
Middle English God
English God
Derived from Middle English God. See god.

etymon

God, is this because of the "I don't love you anymore" T-shirt I bought? It was a joke!

Admiral Anderson: God... feels like years since I just sat down.

2012, BioWare, Mass Effect 3 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citadel (Priority: Earth):

Short for oh God: expressing annoyance or frustration.


Greens

In reference to the ancient Roman and medieval Byzantine racing faction, a calque of Latin prasinī (“Leek-Greens”) or factio prasina (“the leek-green faction”) and Byzantine Greek Πράσινοι (Prásinoi, “Leek-Greens”).

bor

(informal) Synonym of Green Party in various other contexts.


Harmonia

(Greek mythology) The goddess of harmony and concord, and the daughter of Ares and Aphrodite. Her Roman counterpart is Concordia.


Hector

From Latin Hectōr or Ancient Greek Ἕκτωρ (Héktōr), from ἕκτωρ (héktōr, “holding fast”), from ἔχω (ékhō, “to have, hold”), from Proto-Indo-European *seǵʰ- (“to hold; to overpower”).

der

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) A Trojan hero in Homer's Iliad.


Hydra

[ˈhaɪ̯d͡ʒɹə]

From Latin Hydra, the mythical serpent, originally from Ancient Greek ὕδρα (húdra), from Proto-Indo-European *údreh₂ (“aquatic”). Doublet of otter.

(Greek mythology) A mythological serpent with many heads, slain by Hercules as one of his twelve labours.


Hymen

From Latin Hymēn, from Ancient Greek Ῡ̔μήν (Hūmḗn).

"By the saffron robe of Hymen," cried Lord Norbourne, "but that would be a blessing! I own that I am no great friend to marriage in general; […] If a young man has his way to make in the world, a wife is a dead weight upon his hands.[…]"

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A Proposal of Marriage”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 131:

(Greek mythology) The god of marriage and marriage ceremonies.


Io

(Greek mythology) The daughter of Inachus river god, and a lover of Zeus, turned by the latter into a heifer.


Ion

(Greek mythology) Son of Creusa and Xuthus, and the ancestor of Ionian people.


Iris

From Ancient Greek Ἶρις (Îris, “rainbow”).

What's the matter,
 That this distemper'd messenger of wet,
 The many-colour'd Iris, rounds thine eye?

c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

(Greek mythology) A messenger of the gods, and goddess of rainbows.


Kale

From Ancient Greek Καλή (Kalḗ, literally “beauty”), see καλός (kalós, “beautiful”).


Latin

Jamaican Creole: Latn

From Middle English Latyn, Latyne, Latin, from Old French latin, latyn, from Latin latīnus, from Latium (“the region around Rome”) + -īnus (adjective suffix). Displaced or merged with Old English Lǣden. Doublet of Ladino.

Africa was the natural leader because there the number of Christians who were of Roman origin and Latin speech was probably far greater than in so cosmopolitan a city as Rome.

1948, L. E. Elliott-Binns, The Beginnings of Western Christendom, page 257:

Of or relating to Latin: the language spoken in ancient Rome and other cities of Latium.

The Serbo-Croatian incunabula printed in Latin letters are indubitably the products of a very modest establishment.

1968, Mladen Bošnjak, A Study of Slavic Incunabula, page 62:

Of or relating to the script of the language spoken in ancient Rome and many modern alphabets.

The earliest Latin culture of Ireland was heavily indebted to that of Britain[…]

2000, T. M. Charles-Edwards, Early Christian Ireland, page 176:

Of or relating to ancient Rome or its Empire.

The Latin bishop now took the Greek bishop by the hand and conducted him to his throne[…]

1901, John Hackett, A History of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus, page 117:

(Christianity) Roman Catholic; of or pertaining to the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church.


Latin

en-proper noun

Latin (countable and uncountable, plural Latins)

From Middle English Latin, Latyn, from Old English Lǣden, from Vulgar Latin *ladinum (“Latin”) and Old French latin (“Latin”); all from Latin Latinus (“belonging to Latium”). Later influenced in form by the Latin word. Compare Dutch Latijn (“Latin”), German Latein (“Latin”), Swedish Latin (“Latin”).

Supper being over, the lawyer took his leave, and the doctor began to ſound the learned clerk reſpecting his proficiency in the dead languages. "As to dead languages," replied the ſchoolmafter, "I was once a vaſt pretty ſcholar indeed, but want of exercise has made me main ſlack—I can't get over my ground as I uſed to do. Then as to the t'other dead fellow, I could never greek it at all, that's flat. And, Lord bleſs you! my Latin is of no more uſe to me here than—than—" Here he ſtuck for want of a ſimile; when Mr. Le Dupe helped him out by ſaying, "that it is to a young man at college, where it is conſidered a pedantic inſult, and an unpardonable bore, to utter a Latin ſentence."

1799, Edward Dubois, A Piece of Family Biography, volume II, page 20:

To Hall [Robert A. Hall, Jr.], the development would be something as follows: Latin > Proto-Romance (dated late Republic and Early Empire) > Proto-Continental Romance > Proto-Italo-Western Romance (to which Hall would limit the term "Vulgar Latin") > Proto-Western Romance > Proto-Gallo Romance, etc. Each of these main divisions splits off into further languages: Latin > Classical Latin; Proto-Romance > Proto-Southern Romance > Sardinian, Lucianian, Sicilian; Proto-Continental Romance > Proto-Eastern Romance > Proto-Balkan Romance, etc.

1999, Karl Strecker, transl. by Robert B. Palmer, Introduction to Medieval Latin: English Tranlation and Revision, 2nd ed. (2nd reprint of the ed. Dublin/Zürich 1971 (Berlin 1957)), Weidmann: Zürich & Hildesheim, p. 29

When the Christian Church rose in stature in the Dark Ages, its adoption of Latin as the official language assured its eternal life.

2003, Natalie Harwood, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning Latin, 2nd edition, page 13:

Like Copernicus and Galileo, Johannes Kepler was a renowned astronomer who wrote in Latin.

2010, Elizabeth Heimbach, A Roman Map Workbook, page 134:

(uncountable) The language of the ancient Romans, other Latins and of the Roman Catholic church, especially Classical Latin.

ܠܸܫܵܢܵܐ ܠܵܛܝܼܢܵܝܵܐ

liššānā lāṭīnāyā

Anglo-Latin

(varieties of Latin) Latin; Biblical Latin, Classical Latin, Church Latin / Ecclesiastical Latin, Late Latin, Low Latin, Medieval Latin / Middle Latin, New Latin / Neo-Latin, Old Latin, Recent Latin / Contemporary Latin, Renaissance Latin, Vulgar Latin


Latin

رُّومِيَّة

person whose native tongue is one descended from Latin

This appears incontestably from the manner in which the Latins wrote Greek words and names[…]

1833, Philipp Buttmann, translated by Edward Robinson, A Greek grammar for the use of high schools and universities, page 23:

(historical) A person native to ancient Rome or its Empire.


Leto

en:68 Leto
en:Leto
en:Leto (disambiguation)
en:Leto (surname)

Leto (countable and uncountable, plural Letos)

(uncountable, Greek mythology) Leto, in Greek mythology, the mother of Apollo and Artemis.


Limos

From Ancient Greek Λῑμός (Līmós), from Ancient Greek λῑμός (līmós, “hunger, famine, starvation”).

uder

(Greek mythology) A child of Eris, Limos is the deity/personification of famine and starvation. The Roman counterpart is Fames.


Luna

From Middle English lune, luna (“the moon”), from Latin lūna/Lūna, from Proto-Indo-European *lówksneh₂. Doublet of Roxane.

(Roman mythology) The sister of Aurora and Sol; the goddess of the moon; equivalent to the Greek Selene.


Marathon

/ˈmæɹə(ˌ)θɔn/

/ˈmɛɹə(ˌ)θɔn/

From Ancient Greek Μαραθών (Marathṓn). Doublet of marathon.

Buena Vista County
Buena Vista County#English

A number of places in the United States:

A minor city in Buena Vista County, Iowa.

A town and village therein, in Cortland County, New York.

An unincorporated community in Jackson Township, Clermont County, Ohio.

census-designated place
census-designated place

A census-designated place in Brewster County, Texas.


Mars

From Middle English Mars, from Latin Mārs (“god of war”), from older Latin (older than 75 BCE) Māvors.

Mars was the lover of Venus, and together they had a daughter called Harmonia.


Media

From Latin Mēdia, from Ancient Greek Μηδία (Mēdía), from Μῆδος (Mêdos), from *Mada (vocalization uncertain), the Old Median language self-designator signifying speakers of the Median language. Compare Old Persian 𐎶𐎠𐎭 (Māda). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“middle”) i.e. central kingdom, cognate with Sanskrit मध्य (mádhya).

Henderson County
Henderson County#English

A township and village therein, in Henderson County, Illinois.

A place in the United States:
A ghost town in Douglas County, Kansas.

A borough, the county seat of Delaware County, Pennsylvania.


Melissa

From Ancient Greek μέλισσα (mélissa, “bee, honey, or honeybee”). In Ireland it is sometimes used as a feminine form of the Gaelic male name Maol Íosa (literally “servant of Jesus”).

der

(Greek mythology) Bee-nymph in Greek mythology.


Mercury

Inherited from Middle English Mercurie, from Latin Mercurius.

(Roman mythology) The Roman god associated with speed, sometimes used as a messenger, wearing winged sandals; the Roman counterpart of the Greek god Hermes.


Minotaur

/ˈmɪnəˌtɔː(ɹ)/

/ˈmaɪnəˌtɑɹ/

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Μινώταυρος (Minṓtauros), from Μίνως (Mínōs, “king of Crete”) + ταῦρος (taûros, “bull”).

bor+

(Greek mythology) A monster, half man and half bull, who dwelled in the labyrinth in Crete and who was killed by Theseus.


Mors

(Roman mythology) The god and personification of death; the Roman counterpart of Thanatos.


Myrmidon

From Latin Myrmidones, from Ancient Greek Μυρμιδόνες (Murmidónes), a tribe of warriors led by Achilles to the Trojan War. Folk etymology in Ovid's time derived the tribe's name from μυρμηδών (murmēdṓn, “ant-nest”), from μύρμηξ (múrmēx, “ant”)).

The Myrmidons were the soldiers of Achilles, in the Trojan war. From them all zealous and unscrupulous followers of a political chief are called by that name, down to this day. But the origin of the Myrmidons would not give one the idea of a fierce and bloody race, but rather of a laborious and peaceful one.

1855, Thomas Bulfinch, chapter XII, in The Age of Fable:

(Greek mythology) One of a fierce tribe or troop who accompanied Achilles, their king, in the Trojan War.

Myrmidone

member of a tribe who accompanied Achilles


Myrmidon

(Greek mythology) The ancestral hero of the Myrmidon tribe, son of Zeus and Eurymedusa.


Narcissus

From Latin Narcissus, from Ancient Greek Νάρκισσος (Nárkissos, “Narcissus”).

der

At the beginning of his narrative, Ishmael mentions Narcissus, the legendary character who plunged into the water and was drowned in the attempt to grasp his own essence (p. 14). Narcissus was unwilling to understand the relationship between himself and “the ungraspable phantom of life” in gradualistic terms and sought to bring that relationship to immediate closure, thus annihilating himself.

1982, Carl G. Vaught, The Quest for Wholeness, page 25:

We may now affirm that Plato's cave is inhabited by Narcissus. He already knows, but the knowledge he possesses is still a bit confused, obscure (this knowledge is situated in the caves of the memory, a dark space much like Narcissus’s place).

1994, Ronald Bogue, Mihai Spariosu, The Play of the Self, page 34:

Narcissus, as the myth has it, died because, unlike Lacan's child, he did not recognize himself; nor did he perceive the mirror for what it was: a boundary between reality and fiction.¹⁵

1999, Mieke Bal, Quoting Caravaggio: Contemporary Art, Preposterous History, page 237:

(Greek mythology) A youth who spurned the love of Echo and fell in love with his own reflection in a pool: in some versions of the myth, he drowned trying to reach it, while in others he sat fixated until a god took pity and transformed him into a flower.


Nemesis

From Ancient Greek Νέμεσις (Némesis, “Nemesis, goddess of retribution”).

bor

Coordinate term: Invidia

(Greek mythology) The goddess of divine retribution.

(astronomy) A hypothetical star postulated to be orbiting the Sun to explain a perceived cycle of mass extinctions in the geological record.


Nix

Named after the mother of Charon, goddess of darkness and night.

(astronomy) One of the moons of Pluto (named 21 June 2006.)


Noman

(Greek mythology) An alias of Odysseus Laërtiadês


Not

(Egyptian mythology) Alternative spelling of Nut.


Nox

(Roman mythology) The Roman goddess of night.


Nu

Borrowed from Egyptian nnw (“Nu, the primeval waters”).

(Egyptian mythology) The god who serves as the personification of the primeval waters that existed before the world.


Pan

From Middle English Pan, from Latin Pān, form Ancient Greek Πάν (Pán).

(Greek mythology) Greek god of nature, often visualized as half goat and half man playing pipes. His Roman counterpart is Faunus.


Panacea

From Ancient Greek Πανακεια (Panakeia, literally “all-curing”).

(Greek mythology) The goddess/personification of healing, remedies, cures and panaceas (medicines, salves, ointments and other curatives). She is a daughter of Asclepius and Epione.


Perse

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Περση (Persē, literally “Persian woman”).

bor+

(Greek mythology) An Oceanid, (one of the three thousand daughters of the Titans' Oceanus and Tethys), and the wife of the sun god, Helios, by whom she is the mother of Aeetes, Perses, Pasiphae, and Circe. One of her many sisters is Amphitrite, (the wife of Poseidon). Perse is also closely identified with Hecate.


Petra

From Ancient Greek πέτρα (pétra, “rock”).

An unincorporated community in Bracken County, Kentucky, United States.


Phaëthon

Borrowed from Latin Phaëthōn, from the Ancient Greek Φᾰέθων (Phăéthōn).

(Greek mythology) The son of the sun god Helios who was killed by Zeus while driving his father's chariot uncontrolledly across the sky.


Phoebe

Borrowed from Latin Phoebē, from Ancient Greek Φοίβη (Phoíbē), feminine form of Φοῖβος (Phoîbos, “bright”).

(Greek mythology) A Titan, goddess of the moon, sister-wife of Coeus, and daughter of Uranus and Gaia.

(Greek mythology) An epithet and synonym for Selene; Phoebe Selene, after her maternal aunt, Phoebe (see above).

(Greek mythology) An epithet and synonym for Artemis; Phoebe Artemis, after her maternal grandmother, Phoebe (see above).


Phoenix

From Latin phoenīx, from Ancient Greek φοῖνῐξ (phoînĭx), Φοῖνῐξ (Phoînĭx).

(Greek mythology) A character in the Iliad and father of Adonis in Greek mythology or a different character in Greek mythology, brother of Europa and Cadmus.


Priapus

From Latin Priāpus, from Ancient Greek Πρίαπος (Príapos).

(Greek mythology) The son of Aphrodite and Dionysus, god of procreation, and guardian of gardens and vineyards; personification of the phallus.


Psyche

From Ancient Greek ψυχή (psukhḗ, literally “Soul, Spirit”).

uder

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) The personification of the soul. Originally a mortal princess who later married Eros/Cupid, (the god of love), was deified, and bore him a daughter, Hedone/Voluptas.


Ra

Transcription of Egyptian r:a-ra (rꜥ, “the sun; Ra”).

(Egyptian mythology) The Egyptian god of the Sun.


Re

Meaning borrowed from Egyptian r:a-ra (rꜥ, “sun, Ra”), with the form of the word borrowed from Coptic ⲣⲏ (rē, “sun”).

bor

<i class="Latn mention" lang="egy">rꜥ</i>

(Egyptian mythology) Alternative form of Ra


Rhea

(Greek mythology) A Titan, the daughter of Uranus and Gaia, the mother of Demeter, Hades, Hera, Hestia, Poseidon, and Zeus.


Roman

en-adj

Roman (comparative more Roman, superlative most Roman)

more Roman (comparative)
most Roman (superlative)

From Old French Romain, from Latin Rōmānus. In reference to the Byzantine Empire, via the Byzantine Greek endonym Ῥωμαῖος (Rhōmaîos). By surface analysis, Rome + -an. Doublet of Romano.

(historical) Of or from the Roman Empire.


Set

Borrowed from Coptic ⲥⲏⲧ (sēt), from Egyptian s-t:X (stẖ).

(Egyptian mythology) An ancient Egyptian god, variously described as the god of chaos, the god of thunder and storms, or the god of destruction.


Sia

(Egyptian mythology) An ancient Egyptian god, the personification of perception.


Sin

And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 16:1:

A desert mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, situated between Elim and Mount Sinai.


Sol

(Roman mythology) The sun god; equivalent of the Greek Helios. Brother of Luna and Aurora.


Sphinx

From Middle English Spynx, from Ancient Greek Σφίγξ (Sphínx), perhaps from σφίγγω (sphíngō, “bind tightly, to strangle”). The appurtenance of Egyptian Szp:p-A53 (šzp, “image, statue, sphinx”) or Szp:p-A53-anx-n:x (šzp-ꜥnḫ, “living image”) remains unclear.

cog

<i class="Latn mention" lang="egy">šzp</i>

(Greek mythology) One of the many offspring of Typhon and Echidna, a winged lion-like creature with a woman's face, who committed suicide out of frustration after Oedipus managed to solve her riddles.


Te

From Coptic ⲧⲏ (tē), from Egyptian d-wA-t:dwAt (“dwꜣt”). Doublet of Duat.

der

<i class="Latn mention" lang="egy">dwꜣt</i>

(Egyptology, Egyptian mythology) The realm of the dead in Egyptian mythology.


Tellus

Borrowed from Latin tellus (“Earth, globe, world”), from Proto-Italic *telnos, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *telnos ~ *telnes-, from *telh₂- (“flat ground”), but reshaped after rūs. Otherwise, could derive from Etruscan 𐌕𐌖𐌋𐌀𐌓 (tular, “earth”).

bor+

Perhaps the Custome of the Beggars, throwing the remainder of drinke out of the Dish on the Ground, may be derived from an Ethnick sacrifice to Tellus.

1687, John Aubrey, Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, page 37:

Now they could see what the guide was telling them: that the pillars supporting the frontage were of red granite, mined in Sweden, flanked at either end by golden statues of Atlas and Tellus, bearing on their shoulders spheres depicting the heavens and the earth.

1992, Robert Harris, Fatherland, London: Hutchinson, →ISBN, page 27:

(Roman mythology) The goddess of the Earth in Roman mythology.


Terminus

Learned borrowing from Latin terminus (“a boundary or border, a limit or point”). Doublet of terminus and term.

lbor

(Roman mythology) The god of boundaries and landmarks, focus of the important Roman festival of Terminalia.


Terra

From Latin Terra (“goddess of the earth; the land itself”).

uder

interpretatio graeca
interpretatio graeca

(Roman mythology) The Roman earth goddess, equivalent in the interpretatio graeca to Gaea.


Titan

(Greek mythology) Any of the race of giant gods in Greek mythology that preceded and was overthrown by the Olympian gods.


Titan

(Greek mythology) Another name for Helios, a personification of the Sun.


Trivia

(Roman mythology) An aspect of the Roman goddess Diana, pertaining to her role as guardian of trivia (crossroads or forks where three roads meet); used as an epithet.


Tyre

From Latin Tyrus, from Ancient Greek Τύρος (Túros), from Phoenician 𐤑𐤓 (ṣr /Ṣur/, “rock”) (), after the rocky formation on which the town was originally built. Compare Aramaic טוּרָא / ܛܘܪܐ (ṭūrā, “mountain, high territory”), Akkadian 𒋗𒊒 (Ṣurru), Tarifit aẓru (“rock”), Central Atlas Tamazight ⴰⵥⵔⵓ (aẓru, “stone”), Proto-Semitic *ṯ̣Vrr- (“flint”). Cognate to Arabic صُور (ṣūr), Hebrew צוֹר (Tzor), Tiberian Hebrew צר (Ṣōr), Turkish Sur.

cog

A city in Lebanon, a major port on the Levantine Sea that was a city-state in Phoenicia in antiquity and the capital of the Kingdom of Jerusalem during the Middle Ages.

ጢሮስ

an ancient sea port and city state of Phoenicia


Zephyr

For a Tempeſt. Take Eurus, Zephyr, Auſter and Boreas, and caſt them together in one Verſe. Add to theſe of Rain, Lightning, and of Thunder (the loudeſt you can) quantum ſufficit. Mix your Clouds and Billows well together till they foam, and thicken your Deſcription here and there with a Quickſand. Brew your Tempeſt well in your Head, before you ſet it a blowing.

1714 June 10, [Alexander Pope], The Guardian, volume I, number 78, London: Printed for J[acob] Tonson, at Shakespear's-Head over-against Catherine-street in the Strand, page 332:

(Greek mythology) The god of the West Wind.


uncia

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-uncia.wav

From Latin uncia (“various Roman units”). Doublet of ounce, inch, onça, onza, oka, ouguiya, and awqiyyah.

doublet

(historical) A bronze coin minted by the Roman Republic, 1/12 of an as.


cuneiform

From French cunéiforme or New Latin cuneifōrmis, from Classical Latin cuneus (“wedge”) + fōrma.

About midway across the larger log a cuneiform notch or cut about six inches deep was made.

1889, John Napoleon Brinton Hewitt, “New Fire Among the Iroquois”, in American Anthropologist, volume 2, page 319:

The cuneiform tendon is always sharply defined when the hock is flexed by the action of the muscle.

1936, W. Frank Calderon, Animal Painting and Anatomy, page 297:

The cuneiform leaf is not the characteristic heart-shaped early form (O. and P., p. 241).

1952, Aileen Fox, Roman Exeter (Isca Dumnoniorum): Excavations in the War-damaged Areas, 1945-1947, page 69:

Having the form of a wedge; wedge-shaped, especially with a tapered end.

There, too, it was originally the vulgar script in contrast with the official cuneiform script employed for all official documents, compacts, etc.

1911, Alvin Sylvester Zerbe, The Antiquity of Hebrew Writing and Literature, page 182:

The text is inscribed on a clay tablet of a very unusual format. The only other known mathematical cuneiform text on a clay tablet of a similar format is also the only previously known Kassite (and therefore post-Old-Babylonian) mathematical cuneiform text.

2000, Jöran Friberg, A Remarkable Collection of Babylonian Mathematical Texts, page ix:

Written in the cuneiform writing system.


cuneiform

An ancient Mesopotamian writing system, adapted within several language families, originating as pictograms in Sumer around the 30th century BC, evolving into more abstract and characteristic wedge shapes formed by a blunt reed stylus on clayen tablets.

釘頭文字 /钉头文字

ding¹ tau⁴ man⁴ zi⁶, deng¹ tau⁴ man⁴ zi⁶

(anatomy) A wedge-shaped bone, especially a cuneiform bone.


Hyperion

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Hyperion.wav

(Greek mythology) A Titan, the son of Gaia and Uranus and the father of Helios, Selene and Eos.

(Greek mythology) Helios himself, the incarnation of light and beauty.


Theia

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Θεία (Theía).

(Greek mythology) A Titan, the sister-wife of Hyperion.

(Greek mythology) An Oceanid nymph (daughter of Oceanus and Tethys), the mother of the Cercopes by Oceanus.


Coeus

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Κοῖος (Koîos, “Coeus”).

(Greek mythology) The Titan of intelligence; the father of Leto and Asteria.


Mnemosyne

From Ancient Greek Μνημοσύνη (Mnēmosúnē).

(Greek mythology) A Titaness and the personification of thought, intellect and memory. She is the daughter of Gaia and Uranus, and the mother of the Muses by Zeus.


Themis

(Greek mythology) A Titan, the embodiment of divine order, law and custom. She was the daughter of Gaia and Uranus.


Crius

(Greek mythology) A Titan, the son of Uranus and Gaia.


Iapetus

From Ancient Greek Ἰαπετός (Iapetós).
* (moon): Named after the titan.
* (ocean): The Iapetus Ocean was the predecessor to the Atlantic Ocean, so this name was chosen because Iapetus is the father of Atlas (see Atlantic).

Alternative forms: Japetus, Iapetos

(Greek mythology) A Titan, the son of Uranus and Gaia, and father of Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Menoetius.


Titaness

(Greek mythology) A female Titan, any of the daughters of Uranus and Gaia.


papyrology

en-noun

papyrology (usually uncountable, plural papyrologies)

The study of papyrus, particularly the branch of archeology concerning ancient texts written on papyrus.

علم البرديات

the study of ancient texts written on papyrus


papyrologist

From papyro- + -ologist, after the model of earlier papyrology.

A student of or expert in papyrology, the study of papyrus and ancient writings on papyrus.


Arran

Derived from Scottish Gaelic Arainn, but the name is ultimately probably of non-Indo-European (substrate) or Pictish origin, along with other uncertain names in Scotland such as Skye, Lewis, and Islay.
Possibly from a Brythonic/Pictish term ancestral or cognate to Middle Welsh aran (“"high place"”).

A male given name transferred from the place name, of modern Scottish usage.


Arran

Derived from Middle Persian *ʾldʾn (/arrān/). Cognate with Parthian 𐭀𐭓𐭃𐭀𐭍 (ʾrdʾn /ardān/). Ultimately from an unknown source, underlying also Old Armenian Աղուանք (Ałuankʻ) and Ancient Greek Ἀλβανία (Albanía).

der+

Republic of Azerbaijan
Republic of Azerbaijan

(historical) In post-Islamic times, a region of eastern Transcaucasia, lying between the Rivers Kura and Araxes, in what is now the Republic of Azerbaijan and the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh, corresponding to the territory of Caucasian Albania on the right bank of the River Kura which was disattached from Greater Armenia in 387 AD. In pre-Islamic times, the term was used for the whole of Caucasian Albania.

أَرَّان

region of eastern Transcaucasia — see also Caucasian Albania


palatine

From late Middle English palatyne, from Old French palatin, from Medieval Latin palātīnus (“relating to the palace”), from palātium (“palace”) + -īnus (“-ine”, adjectival suffix). Doublet of paladin.

af

Of or relating to a palace especially of a Roman or Holy Roman Emperor.


palatine

A feudal lord (ellipsis of count palatine.) or a bishop possessing palatine powers.

A palace official, especially in an imperial palace.

(historical) Ellipsis of county palatine.


palatine

Borrowing from French palatin, from New Latin palātīnus, from palātum (“the palate”) + -īnus (“-ine”, adjectival suffix); equivalent to palate + -ine.


Samaritan

/səˈmæɹɪtən/

/səˈmɛɹɪtən/

From Latin Samarītānus, from Ancient Greek Σαμαρείτης (Samareítēs), from Σαμαρεία (Samareía, “Samaria”), derived from Biblical Hebrew שֹׁמְרוֹנִים (Šōmərôním) and שֹׁמְרוֹן (Šōmərôn) respectively. Attested in Old English.

Many of these despised people built a rival temple on Mount Gerizim in the central Palestinian territory known as Samaria, and hence they were called Samaritans (a word of contempt to Jews); in very reduced numbers, they still live round their sacred mountain now.

2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 62:

A native, or inhabitant of Samaria; especially one practising certain ethnoreligious traditions indigenous to that region.

A charitable person, one who helps others (from the Bible story in Luke 10:30–37).

(UK) A person who works for the Samaritans telephone helpline, taking calls from suicidal members of the public.


Samaritan

/səˈmæɹɪtən/

/səˈmɛɹɪtən/

Of, or relating to Samaria or Samaritans.

samarità

of or relating to Samaria or the Samaritans


Samaritan

/səˈmæɹɪtən/

/səˈmɛɹɪtən/

The ancient language of Samaria: a dialect of Hebrew.


Samaria

/səˈmæː.ɹɪ.ə/

/səˈmɛə.ɹɪ.ə/

From Latin Samaria, from Ancient Greek Σαμάρεια (Samáreia), partial calque of Biblical Hebrew שֹׁמְרוֹן (Šōmərôn). Attested in Akkadian as 𒆳𒊓𒈨𒊑𒈾 (Sāmerīna).

(historical) Former name of Sebastia, a city in the West Bank, Palestine, the ancient capital of the Kingdom of Israel.


lamia

From Latin lamia, from Ancient Greek Λάμια (Lámia).

Apollonius […] by some probable conjectures, found her out to be a serpent, a lamia, and that all her furniture was like Tantalus' gold described by Homer, no substance, but mere illusions.

1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition III, section 2, member 1, subsection i:

(Greek mythology) A monster preying upon human beings, who sucked the blood of children, often described as having the head and breasts of a woman and the lower half of a serpent.


lustre

en-noun

lustre (countable and uncountable, plural lustres)

From Middle French lustre. See luster (etymology 1).

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-lustre.wav

Various kinds of minerals differ in their lustre; iron pyrites are described as having a metallic lustre, glassy materials a vitreous lustre; others, such as opal, look resinous, and the lustres of yet others are described as being either pearly, or silky, or dull, like earth.

(geology) The way in which the surface of any particular type of mineral reflects light differently from other minerals, which is helpful in telling minerals apart.


Ixion

From Latin Ixīōn, from Ancient Greek Ἰξίων (Ixíōn, literally “strong native”).

der

As to fitfulness, I have never learnt the art of binding myself to any of the wheels on which the Ixions of these days are turning round and round.

1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:

The complicated conjunction and adverb “ut” also looms. Mr. Butterfield said that it is “the sort of infernal business that would make Sisyphus and Ixion smile kindly on the job satisfaction they got from their daily toil,” referring to figures from classical mythology forced to labor in pain for eternity.

2019 November 30, Annalisa Quinn, “Latin Dictionary’s Journey: A to Zythum in 125 Years (and Counting)”, in New York Times:

(Greek mythology) King of Lapiths, who was punished by Zeus for trying to seduce Hera by being bound to a winged fiery wheel that was always spinning.


quincunx

en-noun

quincunx (plural quincunxes or quincunces)

(historical, numismatics) A bronze coin minted during the Roman Republic, valued at five-twelfths of an as.


Styx

A bold bad man, that dar'd to call by name / Great Gorgon, prince of darknes and dead night, / At which Cocytus quakes and Styx is put to flight.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 13:

For two-and-twenty years he [Doctor Guillotin], unguillotined, shall hear nothing but guillotine, see nothing but guillotine; then dying, shall through long centuries wander, as it were, a disconsolate ghost, on the wrong side of Styx and Lethe; his name like to outlive Cæsar’s.

1837, Thomas Carlyle, chapter IV, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume I (The Bastille), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book IV (States-General):

Bornless one / As darkness bright / Found not in tongues / Found not in light / Bring down the rain / Drain waters of Styx / Faustian luminary / Redeem blaspheme / Like a day without the dawn / Like a ray void of the sun / Like a storm that brings no calm / I'm most complete yet so undone

2014, “O Father O Satan O Sun!”, performed by Behemoth:

(Greek mythology) The river, in Hades, over which the souls of the dead are ferried by Charon.


Neptunian

From Latin Neptūnius (“of or pertaining to the Roman god Neptune”), from Neptūnus (“the Roman god Neptune”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nebʰ- (“to become damp, cloudy”)) + -ius (suffix forming adjectives from nouns); analysable as Neptune + -ian. The English word is cognate with French neptunien (“pertaining to the Roman god Neptune, pertaining to the sea, pertaining to Neptunism, Neptunian; proponent of Neptunism, Neptunist”), German Neptunier (“proponent of Neptunism, Neptunist”).

cog

Near-synonym: Poseidonian

The Tomb disburd'ning, whence the Ghoſt aroſe / Of great Achilles; Such when Thracian Foes / (The Prelude of thy Fates, Troy!) he o'rethrew, / And the white hair'd Neptunian Cycnus [i.e., Neptune's son] ſlew.

1679, Lucius Annaeus Seneca [i.e., Seneca the Younger], translated by Edward Sherburne, Troades: Or The Royal Captives. A Tragedy, Written Originally in Latin, […], London: Printed by Anne Godbid, and John Playford, for Samuel Carr, […], →OCLC, act II, scene i, page 21:

(Roman mythology) Of or pertaining to Neptune, the Roman god of fresh water and the sea, the counterpart of the Greek god Poseidon.


PT

(Egyptology) Initialism of Pyramid Texts.


meretrix

Nomus Marcellus has pointed out the difference between this class of prostitutes and the prostibula. "This is the difference between a meretrix (harlot) and a prostibula (common strumpet): a meretrix is of a more honorable station and calling; for meretrices are so named a merendo (from earning wages) because they plied their calling only by night; prostibulu because they stand before the stabulum (stall) for gain both by day and night."

a. 100 CE, Petronius, translated by W. C. Firebaugh, Satyricon, published 1922:

Hands grasped me like a doll, and as I dandled thus between the meretrices of Abaia, I was lifted from my broad-armed chair in the inn of Saltus; yet still, for perhaps a hundred heartbeats more, I could not rid my mind of the sea and its green-haired women.

1981, Gene Wolfe, chapter VIII, in The Claw of the Conciliator (The Book of the New Sun; 2), New York: Timescape, →ISBN, page 72:

Of the two ritually important female categories, matrona and meretrix, it was the matrona that was held at a strict ritual distance. […] The domain of the meretrix was not held at a ritual distance. The boundary between male and female was not quite so stark when the female belonged to the category of prostitute.

2013, Ariadne Staples, From Good Goddess to Vestal Virgins, Routledge, →ISBN:


Epicureanism

en-noun

Epicureanism (usually uncountable, plural Epicureanisms)

From Epicurean + -ism. As a pejorative synonym of atheism, both from the philosophy's rejection of deontological morality and from Epicurus's specific belief that the Greek gods—if they did exist—did not concern themselves at all with mankind, its actions, or any system of reward or punishment for them. Doublet of epicurism.

(ethics) The philosophical belief that pleasure is the highest good, particularly as advocated by Epicurus with a focus on mental pleasures and on avoidance of pain (ataraxia) through moderation and common virtue.

epicureisme

system of philosophy based upon the teachings of Epicurus


comitia

(historical) A popular legislative assembly in ancient Rome.

comicis

a popular legislative assembly in ancient Rome


Jovian

en-adj

Jovian (comparative more Jovian, superlative most Jovian)

more Jovian (comparative)
most Jovian (superlative)

From Latin Iovis, genitive of Iuppiter, analysable as Jove + -ian.

Near-synonym: Zeusian

He did not admit of equals. But as a patron he was superb. With his Jovian air, his colossal condescension, his amused smile, his general suggestion of the god descending to the mortal, he could be quite overpowering in his amiability.

1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

(Roman mythology) Pertaining to the Roman god Jove or Jupiter (the counterpart of the Greek god Zeus); Jove-like; befitting Jupiter.


Aristotle

/ˈæɹɪˌstɒtəl/

[ˈæɹɪˌstɒtᵊɫ̩]

/ˈæɹɪˌstɑtəl/

[ˈæɹɪˌstɑɾɫ̩]

/ˈɛɹɪˌstɑtəl/

[ˈɛɹɪˌstɑɾɫ̩]

From Ancient Greek Ἀριστοτέλης (Aristotélēs).

An ancient Greek philosopher, logician, and scientist (382–322 BCE), student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great.

أَرِسْطُوطَالِيس

ʔarisṭūṭālīs


amphora

en-noun

amphora (plural amphoras or amphorae or amphorai)

amphoras (plural)
amphorae (plural)
amphorai (plural)

/æmˈfɔ(ː)ɹə/

From Latin amphora (“large wine vessel, Roman unit of liquid measure”), from Ancient Greek ἀμφορεύς (amphoreús, “two-handled pitcher, Greek units of liquid measure”), ultimately from Mycenaean Greek 𐀀𐀠𐀡𐀩𐀸 (a-pi-po-re-we, “carried on both sides”).

der

By concurrent use of panel decoration and concentric-circle ornament, and by free employment of red paint, the fully developed style of the Geometric Period attains a wide range of rich and elaborate effects. These are best displayed on the necks and shoulders of the very large amphorai which are characteristic of this period.

1914, John L[inton] Myres, Handbook of the Cesnola Collection of Antiquities from Cyprus, New York, N.Y., page 76:

A complete set for a ten-man symposion (an ordinary size) with ten deep cups, ten shallow cups, two mixing-bowls, two wine-jugs, two hydriai, two amphorai would cost in the neighbourhood of forty drachmai, and that would not be an unreasonable price for a rich man for a special occasion.

1973, T[homas] B[ertram] L[onsdale] Webster, Athenian Culture and Society, London: Batsford, →ISBN, page 137:

Traditionally, the style of an artefact has been separated from its function. Thus, the function of a Greek pot – defined in terms of whether it was intended for transportation (hydriai or large amphorai), storage (pithoi and some kraters), distribution (oinokhoai) or consumption (cups, skyphoi and plates) – tends to be treated separately from any painted decoration on its surface.

1997, Jonathan M[ark] Hall, Ethnic Identity in Greek Antiquity, Cambridge University Press, published 2004, →ISBN, page 133:

(chiefly historical) A large vessel, especially a thin-necked clay vat used in ancient Greece and Rome for storing and transporting wine and oil.

ܐܘܦܪܐ

large clay vessel used in ancient Greece and Rome for storing wine and oil

(historical) A Roman unit of liquid measure reckoned as the volume of 80 Roman pounds of wine and equivalent to about 26 L although differing slightly over time.

(historical) A Roman unit of ship capacity, similar to tonnage.

(botany) A lower valve of a fruit that opens transversely.


proletariat

/ˌpɹəʊ.lɪˈtɛə.ɹɪ.ət/

From French prolétariat (“proletariats as a class; state of being a proletariat”), from Latin prōlētārius (“belonging to the lowest class of citizens, whose only contribution to the state was their offspring; member of this class”) + French -at (suffix denoting actions or the results of actions). Prōlētārius is derived from prōlēs (“offspring, posterity”) + -ārius (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, or forming nouns denoting agents of use from other nouns); prōlēs is from pro- (prefix meaning ‘bringing forth or into being; bringing into the open’) + *olēs (a variant of *oleō (“to grow”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“to grow, nourish”)).

proletaro

lowest class of citizens in Ancient Rome and elsewhere

(chiefly Ancient Rome, historical) The lowest class of citizens, who had no property and few rights, and were regarded as contributing only their offspring to the state.


Phoenician

Attested as a noun in Middle English as phenicienes (only plural); from Ancient Greek Φοῖνιξ (Phoînix, “Phoenician”).

The ancient civilisation of Phoenicia, and its empire

(historical) An inhabitant of Phoenicia (a country located on the shores of North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean Sea around the year 1000 BCE).


Helen

en-proper noun

Helen (countable and uncountable, plural Helens)

→ Danish: Helen

→ Estonian: Helen

→ Hawaiian: Helena

→ Norwegian: Helen

→ Swedish: Helen

From French Hélène, from Latin Helena, from Ancient Greek Ἑλένη (Helénē). Doublet of Elaine.

Evelyn De Morgan
Helen of Troy (painting)

Fools on both sides! Helen must needs be fair,
When with your blood you daily paint her thus.

c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

(Greek mythology) The daughter of Zeus and Leda, considered to be the most beautiful woman in the world; her abduction by Paris brought about the Trojan War.

Հեղինե

(Greek mythology) the daughter of Zeus and Leda


Caesar

From Latin Caesar. Displaced Old English cāsere, which would have yielded *caser, *coser, and Middle English keiser, kaiser, from Old Norse and continental Germanic languages. All ultimately from the same Latin root. (See also Kaiser and tsar.)

The Caesars were an ancient and aristocratic family, which for eight generations had been prominent in the commonwealth.

1891, William Rainey Harper, Herbert Cushing Tolman, Eight Books of Caesar’s Gallic War, New York, N.Y., Cincinnati, Oh., Chicago, Ill.: American Book Company, page 2:

Habel, 63 ff., believes that up to 51 the emperors bestowed priesthoods on the Caesares, using their special power of commendation; but that these Caesares were forced to wait until a place in a college was vacant; that after 51 the Caesares were elected by the senate.

1955, Papers and Monographs of the American Academy in Rome, volume 16, page 100:

To the powerful, the Caesares were flattering, deferential, sincerely devoted, self-sacrificing, loyal, eagerly serving.

1965, Taylor Caldwell, A Pillar of Iron, Doubleday, →ISBN, page 128:

Five of the Caesares were killed during the years 90-85 (D. G., 3, 114).

1975, Collection Latomus, volume 142, page 39:

[…] Off. 1.133 and Att. 13.19.4 do not establish the uterine relationship of Catulus and the Caesares, merely the fact that Catulus and the Caesares were regarded as fratres.

1996, Antichthon, volumes 34–36, page 56:

Of the two plebeian candidates Silanus obviously counted on the assistance of Manlius, who was in office and to whom he was related from the grandfather, but his rival, a Minucius who had become a Marcius, counted on the patrician rival Caesar and on the other consul, L. Aurelius Cotta, because the Caesares were related by marriage both with the Marcii and the Cottae; in fact, Silanus was defeated by their coalition.

1999, Friedrich Münzer, translated by Thérèse Ridley, Roman Aristocratic Parties and Families, Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN, page 319:

The Pulchri were a branch of the Clodius family, just as the Caesares were of the Julii.

2000, Richard W[alter] Hooper, Representative Chapters in Ancient History: From Romulus to Justinian, University Press of America, →ISBN, page 542:

He was joined on this commission by C. Caesar Strabo (RE Iulius no. 135), of another branch of the Caesares, who had stressed his heritage by adding the old Julian praenomen Vopiscus (see the cos. 473, MRR 1.29) to his name as a cognomen.

2009, Ernst Badian, “From the Iulii to Caesar”, in Miriam Griffin, editor, A Companion to Julius Caesar, Wiley Blackwell, →ISBN, page 15:

By about the middle of the 2nd cent., the Caesares were claiming descent from *Ascanius and, through him, from his grandmother Venus (see the coins Crawford, RRC 258, 129 bc, and 320, 103 bc, the latter with a symbolic reference to Apollo, the ancient god of the gens).

2012, Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth, Esther Eidinow, editors, The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 4th edition, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 755:

An ancient Roman family name, notably that of Julius Caesar.


Ceres

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Learned borrowing from Latin Cerēs, goddess of the bounty, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer- (“to grow, to nourish”). More at create.

der

(Roman mythology) The Roman goddess of agriculture; equivalent to the Greek goddess Demeter.


Triton

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(Greek mythology) A god of the sea, son of Poseidon.


centenary

From Latin centēnārius (“containing 100; local official overseeing a hundred”) either directly or via French centenaire, from centēnī (“100 each”) + -ārius (“-ary”), from centum (“hundred”). Doublet of centenarian, centenarize, kantar, and quintal.

doublet

Of or related to the number one hundred, particularly

Lasting or aged 100 years, 100-year-old.

(historical, obsolete) Of or relating to hundreds, the administrative unit.


centenary

(historical) Synonym of hundredman: a position in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms overseeing local administration.


Zoroastrianism

/ˌzɒɹəʊˈæstɹɪəˌnɪzəm/

From Zoroastrian + -ism, influenced by Greek, Latin, Arabic and Syriac reports of Zoroaster (“Zarathustra”) as the “lawgiver” of the Iranian peoples, as reviewed in Thomas Hyde's Veterum Persarum et Parthorum et Medorum Religionis Historia, 1700.

Zarathustrianism

coined by Hermann Lommel (and popularized by Ilya Gershevitch) to denote the prophet's own doctrine as distinguished from later accretions; from Zarathustra

Zarathustricism

the teachings of Younger Avestan texts, as distinct from Zarathustrianism and also from later accretions

Mazdaism

the religion in which Ahura Mazda is the supreme divinity

Parseeism

archaic: the religion of the Parsees of the Indian subcontinent, long believed to be the only surviving community of Zoroastrians

(common) Mazdaism, the surviving form of the indigenous (pre-Islamic) Iranian ethnic religion.

Zoroastrisme

religion and philosophy ascribed to Zoroaster


Zoroastrian

/ˌzɒɹəʊˈæstɹɪən/


nenia

Nam vinci in amore turpissimum putant, not only living, but when their friends are dead, with tombs and monuments, nenias, epitaphs elegies, inscriptions, pyramids, obelisks, statues, images, pictures, histories, poems, annals, feasts, anniversaries, many ages after (as Plato's scholars did) they will parentare still, omit no good office that may tend to the preservation of their names, honours, and eternal memory.

1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Honest Objects of Love”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy, […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:

The corpse of L’Escuyer, stretched on a bier, the ghastly head girt with laurel, is borne through the streets; with many-voiced unmelodious Nenia; funeral-wail still deeper than it is loud!

1837, Thomas Carlyle, “Avignon”, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume II (The Constitution), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book V (Parliament First):

And as I nodded, with forehead propped on my left hand, and the packet of pemmican cakes in my right, there was in my head, somehow, an old street-song of my childhood: and I groaned it sleepily, like coronachs and drear funereal nenias, dirging; and the packet beat time in my right hand, falling and raising, falling heavily and rising, in time.

(Ancient Rome) A funeral song; an elegy.


Uranian

en-adj

Uranian (comparative more Uranian, superlative most Uranian)

more Uranian (comparative)
most Uranian (superlative)

Aphrodite Pandemos
Aphrodite Urania
Karl Heinrich Ulrichs
Louvre
Plato

From Latin Ūrania (“muse of astronomy in Greek mythology”) + -an (suffix forming agent nouns). Ūrania is derived from Ancient Greek Οὐρᾰνῐ́ᾱ (Ourănĭ́ā, “muse of astronomy”), from οὐράνιος (ouránios, “of or relating to the sky, celestial, heavenly”) (from οὐρανός (ouranós, “the sky; heaven, home of the gods; the universe”), probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁wers- (“rain”)) + -ιος (-ios, suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘pertaining to’).
The alternative form Ouranian is derived from Ancient Greek οὐράνιος (ouránios).
Adjective sense 2 (“homosexual”) and the noun sense (“a homosexual”) refer to Plato’s work Symposium (c. 385–370 B.C.E.), where the goddess Aphrodite, in her heavenly aspect Aphrodite Urania (see adjective sense 3) is described as inspiring a noble form of affection between older and younger men. Compare German Urning (“a homosexual, Uranian”), Urnigtum (“homosexuality”), also referring to Aphrodite Urania, coined by the German writer Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (1825–1895) in 1864. By the 1900s, the use of the word in this sense had largely been supplanted by homosexual (see further at that entry). The term is no longer mainstream and is almost never used in modern contexts, though it has enjoyed a slight revival as a term for "gay man" as an analogue to lesbian.

der

/jʊˈɹeɪnɪən/

For assuredly are there two Venuses; one, the eldest, the daughter of Uranus, born without a mother, whom we call the Uranian; the other younger, the daughter of Jupiter and Dione, whom we call the Pandemian;—of necessity must there also be two Loves, the Uranian and Pandemian companions of these goddesses. [...] [T]he attendant on the other, the Uranian, whose nature is entirely masculine, is the Love who inspires us with affection, and exempts us from all wantonness and libertinism.

a. 1822, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Banquet. Translated from Plato.”, in Mrs. Shelley [i.e., Mary Shelley], editor, Essays, Letters from Abroad, Translations and Fragments, … In Two Volumes, volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: Lea and Blanchard, published 1840, →OCLC, page 86:

That this is indeed the general tendency of his [Pausanias of Athens'] speech is made clear by two remarks that follow immediately upon his differentiating the Pandemian from the Uranian gods. [...] But what is true for Aphrodite seems to be a contradiction in terms: she is both one and two and all gods must be praised—both Uranian and Pandemian—and yet only the Uranian ought to be praised [...].

2010, Steven Berg, “Pausanias: Noble Lies and the Fulfillment of Greekness”, in Eros and the Intoxications of Enlightenment: On Plato’s Symposium (SUNY Series in Ancient Greek Philosophy), Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, →ISBN, part 1 (Athens and Enlightenment), page 27:

(not comparable, Greek mythology, Roman mythology) Of Aphrodite Urania, the heavenly aspect of the Greek goddess of beauty and love Aphrodite and her Roman counterpart Venus, as contrasted with the earthly aspect known as Aphrodite Pandemos: heavenly, spiritual.

Graced by nurses (art's nurse highly grac'd him) / Who fed him with pure marrow of the Muses; / And when he list, with moisture to refresh him, / He drunke cleare Helicon: cleare from abuses, / He bent his mind to pure Vranian vses, / Vranianie him did to heau'n vpreare: / And made to man, him demi-god appeare.

1600, Cyril Tourneur, The Transformed Metamorphosis, [London]: Printed by Valentine Sims, […], →OCLC; republished in John Churton Collins, editor, The Plays and Poems of Cyril Tourneur: […] In Two Volumes, volume II, London: Chatto and Windus, […], 1878, →OCLC, page 213:

Actually, this little girl-child should have been as happy as a lark. But, she wasn't. This is because her Bengali genes had her continually wish to be a Sarasvati, or Uranian Muse, to all the males who came within her ambit – incessantly inspiring them to great works of Art or Scientific discoveries.

2007, Vivek Iyer, chapter 8, in Samlee’s Daughter: A Novel, Great Britain: Polyglot Publications, →ISBN, section I:

(not comparable, Greek mythology, dated) Relating to Urania, the Muse of astronomy.


luster

en-verb

luster (third-person singular simple present lusters, present participle lustering, simple past and past participle lustered)

lusters (present singular third-person)
lustering (participle present)
lustered (participle past)
lustered (past)

From Middle French lustre, from Old Italian lustro, from Old Italian lustrare (“brighten”), from Latin lūstrō (“to purify, to brighten”), from Latin lūstrum (“purification ritual”).

(transitive, obsolete) To shed light on, to illustrate, to show.


testudo

en-noun

testudo (plural testudos or testudoes or testudines)

testudos (plural)
testudoes (plural)
testudines (plural)

Unadapted borrowing from Latin testūdō (“tortoise, turtle, lyre, type of military shelter”).

ubor

(Ancient Rome, military, historical) A shelter formed by a body of troops holding their shields or targets close together over their heads.


Gordian knot

/ˈɡɔːdɪən ˈnɒt/

/ˈɡoʊɹdɪən ˈnɑt/

From the name of a legendary knot tied to a pole near the temple of Zeus in Gordium. It was prophesied that whoever loosed the knot would become ruler of all Asia. Alexander the Great solved the puzzle by slicing through the knot and took it as a sign of Zeus' favor. He then proceeded to conquer much of the known world.

(Greek mythology) The legendary knot tied to a pole near the temple of Zeus in Gordium.


Trojan horse

(Greek mythology) The hollow wooden horse by which the Greeks allegedly gained access to Ilium/Troy during the Trojan War.


Trojan horse

(business) A seemingly favorable offer designed to trick customers into making exorbitant payments.

sisäänheittotarjous

business: seemingly favorable offer made to trick customers

Russia thinks of an atomic authority as a Trojan horse to get behind the iron curtain and impair her defense, and there is some reason historically for this view.

1946 October, John Foster Dulles, quotee, American Bar Association Journal, volume 32, number 10, page 681:

Seen like this, huge western companies function like a Trojan horse when they are invited inside the boundaries of LDCs.

1995, Peter Saunders, Capitalism, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, →ISBN, page 38:

Had the Israelis and the Americans realized that the Oslo accords were merely a “Trojan horse” designed to promote the higher goal of Palestine’s complete liberation, he argued, “they would never have opened their fortified gates and let it inside their walls.”

2003, Efraim Karsh, Arafat's War, New York: Grove Press, →ISBN, page 64:

Indeed, it may turn out to be a Trojan horse that finally allows conservative ideologues, who have unsuccessfully laid siege to Medicare since the days of Barry Goldwater, to breach its political defenses.

2003, Krugman, Paul R., The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century, W. W. Norton & Company, published 2004, →ISBN, page 449:

(politics) A person, organization, social movement, piece of legislation, or ideology with a negative agenda or evil intentions under the guise of positive values or good intentions.

Troijan hevonen

politics: movement etc. with evil intentions


Trojan horse

en-verb

Trojan horse (third-person singular simple present Trojan horses, present participle Trojan horsing, simple past and past participle Trojan horsed)

Trojan horses (present singular third-person)
Trojan horsing (participle present)
Trojan horsed (participle past)
Trojan horsed (past)

You will disarm a group or person that holds simplistic attitudes—about relationships, education, financial success, morality, business ethics, religion, raising children—by giving that group or person Trojan Horsed instructions seemingly about how to do something mundane and unrelated.

1999, Gary Hoffman, Glynis Hoffman, Adios, Strunk and White, 2nd edition, Huntington Beach, Calif.: Verve Press, →ISBN, page 180:

But still, despite my initial shock at being expected to do a grownup job for my new grown-up salary, I was determined to keep the dream alive to some extent, by ticking a few of the sensible boxes while Trojan Horsing (yes, as a verb) some dot com fun in the back […]

2008, Paul Carr, Bringing Nothing to the Party: True Confessions of a New Media Whore, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, →ISBN, page 88:

In its place arose a bilateral treaty that spelled out in basic terms that advances made in freedom of movement would be kept, under safeguards; free trade would be advanced bilaterally; goods imported from third countries would not be Trojan horsed; and countries would cooperate in areas of common interest.

2009, Lee Rotherham, Ten Years On: Britain without the European Union, →ISBN, page 88:


trophy

→ Japanese: トロフィー (torofī)

→ Korean: 트로피 (teuropi)

→ Malayalam: ട്രോഫി (ṭrōphi)

From Middle French trophée, from Latin trophaeum (“a sign of victory, a monument”), tropaeum, from Ancient Greek τρόπαιον (trópaion, “monument of an enemy's defeat”), from neuter of τροπαῖος (tropaîos, “of defeat”), from τροπή (tropḗ, “a rout, a turning of an enemy”).

трафе́й

object taken by a hunter or conqueror of their success

An animal killed by a trophy hunter that usually has its parts sold on the black market.


Gilgamesh

/ˈɡɪl.ɡə.mɛʃ/

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Learned borrowing from Akkadian 𒄑𒂆𒈦 (Gilgameš), from Sumerian 𒀭𒄑𒉋𒂵𒎌 (ᵈgilgameš₂ /Gilgameš/)

lbor

A semi-legendary king of Uruk, who is the hero of the Babylonian poem Epic of Gilgamesh.


Amata

From Latin amāta (“loved, beloved”); feminine perfect passive participle of amāre (“love”). It can also be interpreted as the feminine form of the saint's name Amātus.

(Roman mythology) The wife of Latinus and the mother of Lavinia.


ankh

From Egyptian anx-Z1 (ꜥnḫ, “life, to live, symbol for life”).


Pericles

From Latin Periclēs, from Ancient Greek Περικλῆς (Periklês, “far-famed”), from περί (perí, “around”) + κλέος (kléos, “glory”).

der

A male given name from Ancient Greek, of mostly historical usage


neoteric

From Late Latin neotericus, from Hellenistic Greek νεωτερικός (neōterikós), from comparative of Ancient Greek νέος (néos, “new”).

Among our neoteric verbs, those in -ize are exceedingly numerous.

1873, Fitzedward Hall, Modern English, page 294:

Should it all come crashing in on us . . . will there be enough luddites, whose hands remember, to free us from the chains of neoteric technology?

A few words on the two neoteric terms, cybertext and ergodic, are in order.


neoteric

(historical) any poet who belonged to the neoterics, a series of avant-garde Latin poets who wrote in the 1st century BC such as Catullus, Helvius Cinna, Publius Valerius Cato, Marcus Furius Bibaculus and Quintus Cornificius.


Xerxes

From Ancient Greek Ξέρξης (Xérxēs), from Old Persian 𐎧𐏁𐎹𐎠𐎼𐏁𐎠 (x-š-y-a-r-š-a /Xšayāršā/, “ruler among kings”). Doublet of Ahasuerus.

A male given name from Old Persian mainly applied to historical and fictional characters.


chariot

From Middle English chariot, from Old French chariot, from char (“cart”), from Latin carrus (“wagon”). Displaced native Old English hrædwæġn (literally “fast wagon”).

ncog

A two-wheeled horse-drawn cart, used in Bronze Age and Early Iron Age warfare.


apple of discord

en-noun

apple of discord (plural apples of discord)

A reference to the μῆλον τῆς Ἔριδος (mêlon tês Éridos, “apple of Eris”) in Greek mythology, a golden apple inscribed ‘for the fairest female’ which Eris (known as Discordia to the Romans), the goddess of discord and strife, tossed in the midst of the feast of the gods at the wedding of Thetis and Peleus. This provoked a dispute among Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera as to who was the most beautiful, and eventually led to the Trojan War.

He has determined to enter the cabinet surrounded with creatures only, and, as to the Parliament, to trust to his dexterity and strength in throwing the apple of discord, occasions for doing which will, he imagines, soon and frequently occur.

1804 May 19, “Summary of Politics”, in William Cobbett, editor, Cobbett’s Weekly Political Register, volume V, number 20, London: Printed by Cox and Baylis, Great Queen Street; published by Richard Bagshaw, Bow Street, Covent Garden; …, →OCLC, column 768:

He [Pope Pius VII] had hardly regained Rome when a domestic incident in the Bonaparte family became the immediate cause of that struggle between Pope and Emperor which only ended with the downfall of Napoleon's power. This apple of discord was the outraged honour of a Protestant girl, which the Holy Father maintained in the face of her angered Imperial brother-in-law.

1875, Mary H[elen Agnes] Allies, “The Apple of Discord”, in The Life of Pope Pius the Seventh, London: Burns and Oates, Portman Street and Paternoster Row, →OCLC, page 91:

The apportionment of U.S. military assistance to Turkey and Greece has become an apple of discord almost as bitterly disputed by the recipients as the one Aphrodite received from Paris, which touched off the Trojan Wars.

1992, Monteagle Stearns, “The 70 Percent Solution to Our Military Aid Dilemma”, in Entangled Allies: U.S. Policy toward Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus, New York, N.Y.: Council on Foreign Relations Press, →ISBN, page 40:

As in the old days when the tribes were fighting each other over hunting grounds, territories and agricultural land, today DRC [the Democratic Republic of the Congo] is prone to many internal conflicts. Especially in the eastern part of the country today's apples of discord appear to be the much-coveted minerals such as gold, diamonds, coltan, and uranium.

2008, Anthonie Th. Polet, “Between Expectations and Reality in the DRC: Opportunities for Cimic”, in Sebastiaan J. H. Rietjens, Myriame T. I. B. Bollen, editors, Managing Civil-Military Cooperation: A 24/7 Joint Effort for Stability (Military Strategy and Operational Art), Aldershot, Hampshire, Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate Publishing, →ISBN, page 123:

An object or topic which sows anger and dissension; something which causes argument, rivalry, or strife.

Greek mythology
Jacob Jordaens
Museo del Prado


demos

From Ancient Greek δῆμος (dêmos, “ordinary citizens, common people from a district, in a city-state”).

uder

(originally Ancient Greece) An ancient subdivision of Attica (δῆμος); (now also) a Greek municipality, an administrative area covering a city or several villages together.


ichor

en-noun

ichor (countable and uncountable, plural ichors)

Sense 1 (“liquid said to flow in place of blood in the veins of the gods”) is borrowed from Medieval Latin ichor, from Ancient Greek ῑ̓χώρ (īkhṓr, “fluid running through the veins of gods, ichor; watery part of blood, lymph, serum; watery part of milk, whey; gravy; pus; naphtha”); further etymology unknown, probably from Pre-Greek.
Sense 2.4 (“fetid, watery discharge from a sore”) is from Middle English icor, icore [and other forms], from Medieval Latin ichor; see further above.

der

This ſaid, ſhe wip’d from Venus’ wounded Palm / The ſacred Ichor, and infus’d the Balm.

1716, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, “Book V”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume II, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 40, lines 505–506:

With his protruded ſpear her gentle hand / He wounded, piercing through her thin attire / Ambroſial, by themſelves the Graces wrought, / Her inſide wriſt, faſt by her roſy palm. / Blood follow'd, but immortal; ichor pure, / Such as the bleſt inhabitants of heav'n / May bleed, nectareous; […]

1791, Homer, “[The Iliad.] Book V.”, in W[illiam] Cowper, transl., The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volume I, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 121, lines 387–393:

He [Saint Peter] potter'd with his keys at a great rate, / And sweated through his apostolic skin: / Of course his perspiration was but ichor, / Or some such other spiritual liquor.

1822 October 15, Quevedo Redivivus [pseudonym; Lord Byron], “The Vision of Judgment”, in The Liberal. Verse and Prose from the South, 2nd edition, volume I, number I, London: […] John Hunt, […], published 1823, →OCLC, stanza XXV, page 11:

(Greek mythology) The liquid said to flow in place of blood in the veins of the gods.


Graces

From Latin Gratiae, from gratia (“grace”), from Ancient Greek χᾰ́ρῐς (khắrĭs, “grace, charity”).

<i class="Latn mention" lang="en">grace</i>, charity

(Greek mythology) Three sister goddesses in Greek mythology (Euphrosyne, Aglaia, and Thalia), in whom beauty was deified.


quinquennial

Borrowed from Latin quīnquenniālis, from quīnquennium (“5-year period”) + -ālis, from quīnquennis (“5-year”) + -ium (“-ium: forming abstract nouns”), from quīnque (“five”) + annus (“year”) + -is (suffix forming compound adjectives).

(historical) Synonym of quinquennalia, the festival and religious ritual held in the 5th year of a Roman emperor's reign.


naiad

From Latin Naias, from Ancient Greek Νᾱϊάς (Nāïás, “naiad”), from νάω (náō, “to flow”).

(Greek mythology) A female deity (nymph) associated with water, especially a spring, stream, or other fresh water.

Any of various aquatic plants of the genus Najas.


Phoebus

From Middle English Phebus, from Latin Phoebus, from Ancient Greek Φοῖβος (Phoîbos).

Mor. Miſlike me not for my complexion,
The ſhadowed liuerie of the burniſht ſunne,
To whom I am a neighbour, and neere bred.
Bring me the faireſt creature North-ward borne,
Where Phœbus fire ſcarce thawes the yſicles,
And let vs make inciſion for your loue,
To proue whoſe blood is reddeſt, his or mine.

c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 167:

(Greek mythology) An epithet and synonym for Helios; Phoebus Helios, after his maternal aunt, Phoebe.

By Phœbus, here's a moſt neate fine ſtreete; is't not? I proteſt to thee, I am enamord of this ſtreete now, more then of halfe the ſtreetes of Rome, againe; tis ſo polite, and terſe; […]

1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act III:

The heaven doth not contain so many stars,
So many leaves not prostrate lie in woods,
When autumn’s old and Boreas sounds his wars,
So many waves have not the ocean floods,
As my rent mind hath torments all the night,

17th century, William Drummond, Sextain I, in English Poetry, published 1907, page 162

And heart spends sighs, when Phœbus brings the light.

For she recalled the edict which decreed
If in one day she did not take or kill
The challenger (to this King Charles agreed),
She was his captive and must do his will.
Phoebus was soon to plunge his golden head
Into the western sea when of her skill
And strength the Maid at last began doubt,
While her fatigue was putting hope to rout.[…]

1991 August 29, Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso: Part Two (Orlando Furioso), Penguin UK, →ISBN, →OCLC:

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) An epithet and synonym for Apollo; Phoebus Apollo.


Virgil

From Middle English Vyrgyle, from Latin Virgilius, from the Roman clan name Vergilius, from Etruscan and of unknown meaning.

A small town in Beadle County, South Dakota.


agon

en-noun

agon (countable and uncountable, plural agons or agones)

From Latin agōn, from Ancient Greek ἀγών (agṓn, “contest”).

(uncountable) A two-player board game played on a hexagonally-tiled board, popular in Victorian times.


gorgon

From Middle English gorgon, from Latin Gorgō, from Ancient Greek Γοργώ (Gorgṓ), from γοργός (gorgós, “terrible”). Possibly from the same root as the Sanskrit word "garğ" (गर्जन), which is defined as a guttural sound, similar to the growling of a beast, thus possibly originating as an onomatopoeia.

(Greek mythology) A vicious female monster from Greek mythology with sharp fangs and hair of living, venomous snakes. One of the three sisters: Medusa, Stheno and Euryale


Darius

Borrowed from Latin Dārīus, from Ancient Greek Δᾱρεῖος (Dāreîos), from Old Persian 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎢𐏁 (Dārayauš), shortened form of 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 (Dārayavaʰuš), see it for more.


genii

On the 11th Century glass bowl above, the painted figures—winged genii, nude athletes and brawny soldiers—resemble mythological characters but may be only lighthearted mimicry of ancient Greek or Roman subjects.

1980, Colin Thubron, Seafarers: The Venetians, page 40:

plural of genius
(Roman mythology) Guardian spirits.


Apophis

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Apophis.wav

From Ancient Greek Ἄποφις (Ápophis), a borrowing from Egyptian ꜥꜣpp altered after ὄφις (óphis, “snake”).

(Egyptian mythology) An evil snake-god who tries to devour the sun every night.

أبوفيس

an evil snake-god who tries to devour the sun every night

The spacecraft’s navigators have worked out a trajectory that would take it to the asteroid Apophis in April 2029, just after that object, a bit smaller than Bennu, zips within an uncomfortably close but still safe 20,000 miles from Earth.

2021 May 10, Kenneth Chang, “Bye-Bye, Bennu: NASA Heads Back to Earth With Asteroid Stash in Tow”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(astronomy) An asteroid that formerly had a high risk of collision with Earth.


Late Latin

As with English, Latin also has historical periods. These are broken into Early Latin (240–70BC); the Golden Age (70BC–AD14); the Silver Age (AD14–130); Late Latin (2nd–6th century); and then Medieval Latin or Low Latin (6th–15th centuries). ]

[ 2007, elizabeth solopova, stuart d. lee, Key Concepts in Medieval Literature, section 2 Old English, sub-section (b) Anglo-Latin Writing

The form of the Latin language used between the 2nd/3rd and 6th centuries.


BD

Book of the Dead
Book of the Dead#English

(Egyptology) Initialism of Book of the Dead.


Pleiad

(Greek mythology) Any one of the Pleiades.


oread

From Latin Orēas, Orēadis, from Ancient Greek Ὀρειάς (Oreiás), from ὄρος (óros, “mountain”).

The imprisoned ringlets are emancipated; 'fresh as the oread from the forest fountain,' you descend—you breathe the incense of the chocolate—not more I hope—and grow conversational and confidential over the green tea, which, with a fragrance beyond all the violets of April, rises to your lip, 'giving and taking odours.'

1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XI, in Romance and Reality. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 92:

(Greek mythology) A mountain nymph; an anthropomorphic appearance of the spirit of a mountain.


triumvirate

From Latin triumvīrātus, from triumvirī (“triumvirs”) + -ātus (“-ate”).

An official group of three people, especially a ruling council of three men and particularly (historical) two such councils in Roman history.


Sisyphus

Indeed, I have looked upon the fable of Sisyphus as an allegory, and that his wife was the stone which so perpetually rolled back upon his hands, effectually retarding his weary progress up-hill.

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A Proposal of Marriage”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 132:

(Greek mythology) Son of Aeolus and Enarete, and king of Ephyra, as tragic figure doomed eternally to roll a boulder up a hill in Tartarus, a part of Hades.


nebris

From Latin nebris, from Ancient Greek νεβρίς (nebrís), earlier νεβρός (nebrós, “fawn”).

(Greek mythology) The skin of a fawn, as worn by Dionysus, and as worn in his honor by his male followers and female followers (maenads) and other votaries in Ancient Greece. It has also been shown as a panther or fox skin in different contexts.


Classical Latin

The Latin language as spoken and written in formal speeches, literature, the arts, etc., by the ancient Romans.

لَاتِينِيَّة كْلَاسِيكِيَّة

Latin language as spoken and written formally


aedile

From Latin aedīlis (“commissioner or magistrate”).

bor

Some of these encroachments may have received permission from the town council or the local aediles. A handful of painted notices found on the outside of the Amphitheatre suggest that it was the aediles who authorised the street vendors plying their trade underneath the monument’s arches, and assigned their pitches: ‘By permission of the aediles. Licensed to Caius Aninius Fortunatus’ etc., as the faint and fragmentary Latin seems to say.

2010, Mary Beard, chapter 2, in Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town:

(historical, Ancient Rome) An elected official who was responsible for the maintenance of public buildings, regulation of festivals, supervision of markets and the supply of grain and water.


calends

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Mélange a trois-calends.wav

From Middle English calendes, calendas, calendis, kalandes, kalendas, kalendes, kalendez, kalendis, kalendus (also in the singular forms calende, kalend, kalende), from Latin kalendās, accusative plural of kalendae (“first day of a Roman month”), an archaic variant of calandae, from calandus (“which is to be called or announced solemnly”), the future passive participle of calō (“to call, announce solemnly”) (referring to the Roman practice of proclaiming the first days of the lunar month upon seeing the first signs of a new crescent moon), from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- (“to call, cry, summon”). Although the singular form calend (now obsolete, rare) appeared in English (and compare Old English calend, kalendus (“calends; a month”)), no singular form was used in Latin as recurring days of the calendar were always referred to in the plural.
Sense 2 (“a day for settling debts and other accounts”) refers to the Roman practice of fixing the calends as the day for debts to be paid.

nb...

Containing an Account of Their Manners, Customs, Diversions, Religious Rites, Philosophy, Festivals, Oracles, Laws, Arts, Engines of War, Weights, Measures, Money, Medals, Computation and Division of Time, Chronological Terms, Heresies in the Primitive Church, &c. &c.

Often with initial capital: the first day of a month.

(historical, Ancient Rome) The first day of a month of the Roman calendar.


Sylvia

Feminine form of a Medieval form of Silvius, from Latin silva (“forest”). In myths, Rhea Silvia was the mother of famous twins Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome. 6th-century saint Silvia was the mother of the pope Gregory the Great.

(Roman mythology) Short for Princess Rhea Silvia, the mother of Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome.


Silvius

From Latin Silvius, from silva (“forest”).

(Roman mythology) The son of Ascanius and his wife.


helot

From Latin Hīlōta, from Ancient Greek Εἵλωτες (Heílōtes), possibly from ἁλίσκομαι (halískomai, “to be captured, to be made prisoner”) or from Ἕλος (Hélos, “Elos”), a Laconian town.

[…] when one of their kings dies, not only the Spartans, but a certain number of the country people from every part of Laconia are forced, whether they will or no, to attend the funeral. So these persons and the helots, and likewise the Spartans themselves, flock together to the number of several thousands, men and women intermingled; and all of them smite their foreheads violently, and weep and wall without stint, saying always that their last king was the best.

1942, “Erato”, in George Rawlinson, transl., The Persian Wars, translation of original by Herodotus:

(historical, Ancient Greece) A member of the ancient Spartan class of serfs.


Mithraic

From Mithras + -ic. First attested in English circa 1678. More at Mithras.

[T]hat the Druids deliberately adopted Mithraic, Serapic or other exotic rituals is, to me, unthinkable.

1928, Lewis Spence, Mysteries of Britain, page xii. 249:


Phoenicia

Borrowed from Latin Phoenicia, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek Φοινίκη (Phoiníkē).
The word is already found in the Mycenaean Greek ethnonym 𐀡𐀛𐀑𐀍 (po-ni-ki-jo). Ultimately from Egyptian fnḫw, f:n:x-w-V12:Z2 ‘Canaanites, Syrians’.

The land of city states of the Phoenicians which around 1000 BC was situated on the coast of present day Syria and Lebanon, and included the cities of Tyre and Sidon.


Sidon

From Latin Sidon and Ancient Greek Σιδών (Sidṓn), from Phoenician 𐤑𐤉𐤃𐤅𐤍 (ṣydwn).

(chiefly historical) Former name of Saïda, a city in Lebanon, a former city-state in Phoenicia.

صَيْدَا

city state of Phoenicia — see also Saïda


Clymene

(Greek mythology) A nymph married to Iapetus, mother of Prometheus, Epimetheus, Menoetius and Atlas.


Nazareth

Via Latin Nāzareth and Koine Greek Νᾱζᾰρέθ (Nāzăréth) from Hebrew נָצְרַת (nāṣraṯ), of uncertain origin.


Hyperborea

From Ancient Greek ὑπερβόρεος (huperbóreos), i.e. ὑπέρ (hupér, “over”) + βόρειος (bóreios, “northern”).

(Greek mythology) the land of sunshine and plenty, beyond the northern wind, home to the hyperboreans, a race of giants

Hyperborea

The mythical land of sunshine and plenty


yazata

Transliteration from Avestan substantivized adjective 𐬫𐬀𐬰𐬀𐬙𐬀 (yazata, “(an entity that is) worthy of worship”). Doublet of Yazd.


Cassandra

From Ancient Greek Κασσάνδρα (Kassándra).

And so when Cassandra foretold the evils that were to come upon Troy, even her own people would not credit her words.

1897, Michael Clarke, The Story of Troy, page 30:

(Greek mythology) A prophetess who was daughter of King Priam of Troy and his queen Hecuba. She captured the eye of Apollo and was granted the ability to see the future; however, she was destined never to be believed.


bakchoi

From Ancient Greek βάκχοι (bákkhoi), from Βάκχος (Bákkhos).

(Ancient Greece) In the Eleusinian Mysteries, the branches that initiates swung along the ground along the Sacred Way, the 22-kilometer pilgrimage from Athens to Eleusis.


Caesarian

From Caesar + -ian, but see also Caesarean section § Etymology.

(British) Alternative spelling of Caesarean.


Auster

For a Tempeſt. Take Eurus, Zephyr, Auſter and Boreas, and caſt them together in one Verſe. Add to theſe of Rain, Lightning, and of Thunder (the loudeſt you can) quantum ſufficit. Mix your Clouds and Billows well together till they foam, and thicken your Deſcription here and there with a Quickſand. Brew your Tempeſt well in your Head, before you ſet it a blowing.

1714 June 10, [Alexander Pope], The Guardian, volume I, number 78, London: Printed for J[acob] Tonson, at Shakespear's-Head over-against Catherine-street in the Strand, page 332:

(Roman mythology) The god of the south wind.


Cimmerian

/sɪˈmɪəɹ.ɪ.ən/

From the Latin Cimmerius, from Ancient Greek Κιμμέριος (Kimmérios, “pertaining to the Cimmerii”) + -an.

der

The city, there, of the Cimmerians stands
With clouds and darkness veil’d, on whom the sun
Deigns not to look with his beam-darting eye,

1791, Homer, translated by William Cowper, The Odyssey of Homer:

On their mysterious shores were the improbable homes of impossible peoples. The Great Sea, the Broad Sea, the Boundless Sea; the Ethiopians, "dwelling far away, the most distant of men," and the Cimmerians, "covered with darkness and cloud," where "baleful night is spread over timid mortals."

1900, Jack London, The Shrinkage of the Planet:

(Greek mythology) Any of the mythical people supposed to inhabit a land of perpetual darkness.

Κιμμέριος

any of the mythical people supposed to inhabit a land of perpetual darkness


Cimmerian

/sɪˈmɪəɹ.ɪ.ən/

the language of the Cimmerians, possibly belonging to the Iranian branch


maat

From Afrikaans maat (“mate, buddy”). Doublet of mate.

A lot of my maats went west.

2007, William Higham, The Hammarskjold Killing, page 226:


epithalamium

en-noun

epithalamium (plural epithalamiums or epithalamia)

epithalamiums (plural)
epithalamia (plural)

/ɛpɪθəˈleɪmɪəm/

Learned borrowing from Latin epithalamium, itself borrowed from Ancient Greek ἐπιθαλάμιον (epithalámion, “bridal song”), neuter form of ἐπιθαλάμιος (epithalámios), from ἐπί (epí, “upon”) + θάλαμος (thálamos, “inner chamber, wedding chamber”).

der

Softly she laughed and sighed, and swift her glances flew. She shook her heavy tresses, and their perfume filled the place; she struck her little sandalled foot upon the floor, and hummed a snatch of some old Greek epithalamium.

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

He has wittily redone a tardy epithalamium and some nursery rhymes ("Three blind eunuchs"), and deftly catches the cozy lawnfuls of plastic dwarfs and flamingos, outside the kenneled people.

1976, Choice - Volume 13, Issues 8-12, page 1300:

(Ancient Greece) A song in praise of the bride or bridegroom


Horus

From Late Latin Hōrus, from Ancient Greek Ὧρος (Hôros), from Egyptian ḥr.

(Egyptian mythology) The ancient Egyptian falcon-headed god of the sun, sky, war, and kingship.


Isis

Learned borrowing from Latin Īsis from Ancient Greek Ἶσις (Îsis), from Egyptian st-t:H8-B1 (ꜣst).

Grant me profane kiss / Oh Isis, mother ov all / Thy lips like morphine / Teasing my slumbering heart

2009, Behemoth, Defiling Morality ov Black God:

(Egyptian mythology) An ancient Egyptian goddess, the wife of Osiris and mother of Horus, worshiped as the ideal mother and wife and as the matron of nature and magic.


hamadryad

en-noun

hamadryad (plural hamadryads or hamadryades)

hamadryads (plural)
hamadryades (plural)

From Latin Hamadryas, from Ancient Greek Ἁμαδρυάς (Hamadruás), from ἅμα (háma, “together”) + δρῦς (drûs, “tree”).

af

The hamadryades have gone, like the golden fancies of which they were engendered—morning dreams of a young world scarce awake, but full of freshness and beauty. Yet often will the thought, or rather the fancy, come across me, that this wailing but most musical noise—heard in the dim evening, when every tree has a separate sound like a separate instrument, and every leaf a differing tone like the differing notes—is the piteous lament of some nymph pent within the gray and mossy trunk whence she may never more emerge in visible loveliness.

1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVIII, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 301:

The various supports, rafters, braces and plates are of pandanus logs of a rich oily brown, and make one think of a sylvan cathedral where hamadryads might very well dance, where Syrinx might be chased by Pan, Daphne by Apollo, and various other heathen rites take place in the dark hours before the dawn.

1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka, Eland, published 2019, page 106:

(Greek mythology) A wood-nymph who was physically a part of her tree; she would die if her tree were felled.


hetaera

From Ancient Greek ἑταῖρα (hetaîra), feminine of ἑταῖρος (hetaîros, “companion”).

Coordinate term: courtesan

But of course our friend is only a shallow twentieth-century reproduction of the great hetairae of the past, the type to which she belongs without knowing it, Lais, Charis and the rest...

(historical, Ancient Greece) A highly cultivated hired female companion who would entertain upper-class male clients and might perform sex acts for them.


hyperborean

/hʌɪ.pəˈbɔː.ɹɪən/

From Late Latin hyperboreanus, cognate with Classical Latin hyperboreus, from Ancient Greek ὑπερβόρεος (huperbóreos), composed of ὑπέρ (hupér, “over”) + βόρειος (bóreios, “northern”). See also Ὑπερβόρεοι (Huperbóreoi).

The Hyperboreans venerated Apollo over the other gods.

(Greek mythology, usually capitalised) One of a race of people living in the extreme north, beyond the north wind.

Hyperboréen

(Greek mythology), one a race of people living in the extreme north


legate

From late Old English, from Old French legat, from Latin legatus (nominal use of perfect passive participle of lego (“bequeath, send as envoy”)).

Legate, I had the news last night—my cohort ordered home
By ships to Portus Itius and thence by road to Rome.

1911, Rudyard Kipling, “The Roman Centurion’s Song”, in The History of England:

The deputy of a provincial governor or general in ancient Rome.


lustrum

refn

From the collection of the Louvre in Paris, France.

We puſh Time from us, and we wiſh Him back; / Laviſh of Luſtrums, and yet fond of Life; / Life we think long, and ſhort; Death ſeek, and ſhun; […]

1742–1745, [Edward Young], “Night the Second. On Time, Death, Friendship. Humbly Inscrib’d to the Right Honourable the Earl of Wilmington.”, in The Complaint: Or, Night-thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality, London: Printed for A[ndrew] Millar […], and R[obert] Dodsley […], published 1750, →OCLC, page 29, lines 172–174:

Thus passed away two lustra of her life, and, as yet, my daughter remained nameless upon the earth. "My child," and "my love," were the designations usually prompted by a father's affection, and the rigid seclusion of her days precluded all other intercourse. Morella's name died with her at her death. Of the mother I had never spoken to the daughter;—it was impossible to speak.

1835 April, Edgar Allan Poe, “Morella”, in The Southern Literary Messenger: Devoted to Every Department of Literature, and the Fine Arts, Richmond, Va.: T. W. White, →OCLC; republished in The Works of Edgar Allan Poe: In Four Volumes, volume I, New York, N.Y.: W. J. Widdleton, publisher, 1849, →OCLC, page 473:

I am hardly, if I do not deceive myself, twenty years old, and already, dearest Rosamunda, there weigh upon my existence twenty lustrums, and of these twenty lustrums I have drunk the bitterness of intranquility even to the dregs, without having done more than touched with my lips the joy of the first days of my childhood beside you.

1852, Adadus Calpe [pseudonym; Antonio Diodoro de Pascual], chapter XIV, in Henry Edgar, transl., The Two Fathers. An Unpublished Original Spanish Work. … Translated into the English Language by the Author, and Henry Edgar. Part Second: Hector Alone, New York, N.Y.: Stringer & Townsend, publishers, […]; George P[almer] Putnam, […], →OCLC, page 189:

Q. Now, sir, if you would be so kind as to guess upon his age. / A. Forty five years are certain. I would guess a lustrum more.

1985, John Fowles, A Maggot, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN:

(by extension, literary) Synonym of quinquennium: Any 5-year period.


cognomen

en-noun

cognomen (plural cognomens or cognomina)

From Latin cognōmen, from con- (“with”) + nōmen (“name; family name”).

af

Julius Caesar's actual name was Gaius Iulius Caesar. Gaius was his praenomen or forename, Iulius his nomen or surname, and Caesar his cognomen, denoting which part of the Iulius family he belonged to.

Roman tradition suggests that he might also have had the cognomen Octavian to indicate his biological family.

2007, David Potter, chapter 1, in The Emperors of Rome, page 36:

"Five hundred years or more afterwards, the family migrated to Rome under circumstances of which no trace remains, and here, probably with the idea of preserving the idea of vengeance which we find set out in the name of Tisisthenes, they appear to have pretty regularly assumed the cognomen of Vindex, or Avenger."

(historical) A personal epithet or clan name added to the given name and family name of Ancient Romans.

Cognomen

the third part of the name of a citizen of ancient Rome


Hellenic

From Ancient Greek Ἑλληνικός (Hellēnikós, “of or relating to Greece or Greeks”), from Ancient Greek Ἑλλάς (Hellás, “Greece”), equivalent to Hellen + -ic.
The English term is a learned borrowing from Ancient Greek formed in the 17th-century, attested from ca. 1640.

der

The Greek language and its dialects from the earliest records (Linear B inscriptions, about 1600-1300 B.C.E.) to the present Modern Greek.