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.


Devi

Borrowed from Sanskrit देवी (devī́, “goddess, female deity”).

bor+

A title put at the end of any female deity's name within Hinduism (e.g. Lakshmi Devi, Saraswati Devi, Kali Devi).


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.


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.

(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.


Harmonia

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


Heaven

What Heaven has conferred is called the Nature...

1893, James Legge, transl., The Doctrine of the Mean:

...‘Heaven’ as we use it throughout the book is only a convenient but inaccurate translation of the Chinese character tian. Heaven in Chinese religions as well as in the Confucian tradition has multidimensional implications... In its metaphysical and physical connotation, Heaven... refers to... Nature. Applied in the spiritual realm, it signifies an anthropomorphic Lord or a Supreme Being who presides in Heaven, and rules over or governs directly the spiritual and material worlds.

2000, Yao Xinzhong, An Introduction to Confucianism, page 142:

It was not just the sky, but a god with wills and intentions, seen as sovereign of all... In fact, "Tian" was another reverent term to address the supreme god: "Heaven, for the help of the inferior people, made for them rulers, and made for them instructors" ("Great Declaration I" in the Book of History)...

2018, Zhuo Xinping, Religious Faith of the Chinese, page 58:

(Chinese mythology, semantic translation of 天 (tiān)) The supreme God or Nature which controls the universe.


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.


Herne

Unknown. Suggested by R. Lowe Thompson to derive from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer- (“horn”), which would mean it is related to English horn. Others have suggested that it comes from Old English Herian (literally “warrior-leader”), which is a name for Woden. Another theory is that it derives from the surname Horne.

(mythology) Herne the Hunter, an English mythological figure; an antlered ghost associated with Windsor Forest and Great Park in the English county of Berkshire.


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”).


Kali

From Sanskrit काली (kālī) or कालिका (kālikā).

Kālī is Śiva's "other" wife, as it were, provoking him and encouraging him in his mad, antisocial, often disruptive habits. It is never Kālī who tames Śiva but Śiva who must becalm Kālī.

1986, David R. Kinsley, Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Tradition, published 1988, page 122:

To many Hindu Bengalis, Kālī is the most important divinity. Identified with the great Goddess, Devi Bhagavati, she subsumes all other goddesses.

2000, Sanjukta Gupta, “27: The Worship of Kālī According to the Toḑala Tantra”, in David Gordon White, editor, Tantra in Practice, published 2001, page 463:

A popular form of Kali worshiped in Calcutta is Adya Shakti Kali, or Kali as primordial power. Adya Shakti Kali is also present in some tantras, especially the Mahanirvana Tantra. Because she devours Kala or Time, she is Kali, the original form of all things, and because she is the origin and devourer of all things, she is called Adya Kali.

2011, June McDaniel, “2: Kali: Goddess of Life, Death, and Transcendence”, in Patricia Monaghan, editor, Goddesses in World Culture, volume 1, page 26:

(Hinduism) A goddess in Hinduism, one of the most significant figures within that religion, who destroys evil forces and bestows liberation.

A female given name from Sanskrit used especially in India.


Kali

(Hinduism) A male demon, lord of Kali Yuga and the nemesis of Kalki, tenth avatar of Vishnu.


Ki

(religion, mythology, Sumerian religion) In Sumerian mythology, the earth goddess and chief consort of the sky god, Anu.


Kraken

Borrowed from Norwegian kraken (Bokmål entry; Nynorsk entry), definite singular of krake (“wooden drag/grapnel”) (Bokmål entry; Nynorsk entry), both from Old Norse kraki (“wooden drag/grapnel”, literally “crookie: something with crooks/hooks”), from Proto-Germanic *krankaz (“crooked”).

der

(Norse mythology) A colossal sea monster that attacks ships and sailors, often portrayed as a giant octopus or squid.


Lada

an alleged Slavic goddess of love and beauty.


Leto

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

en-proper noun

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.


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.


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.


Morgan

en-prop

Morgan (countable and uncountable, plural Morgans)

(Arthurian legend) Ellipsis of Morgan le Fay.


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.


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).

(mythology) A mythical firebird; especially the sacred one from ancient Egyptian mythology.

(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.


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

(Akkadian, Assyrian and Babylonian mythology) The god of the moon.


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.


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.


Zu

(mythology) A lesser divinity of Akkadian mythology, and the son of the bird goddess Siris.


shuck

(European folklore) A supernatural and generally malevolent black dog in English folklore.


hellish

en-adj

hellish (comparative more hellish, superlative most hellish)

more hellish (comparative)
most hellish (superlative)

Fauſtus is gone, regard his helliſh fall, / Whoſe fiendful fortune may exhort the wiſe, / Onely to wonder at vnlawful things, […]

1589–1592 (date written), Ch[ristopher] Marl[owe], The Tragicall History of D. Faustus. […], London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Thomas Bushell, published 1604, →OCLC, signature [F3], recto:

I woke up from a hellish noise coming from the house next door.

(hyperbolic) causing great pain, discomfort or distress


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.


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.


middle-earth

Alternative form of Middle Earth: (archaic) the Earth; (Norse mythology) Midgard.


fetch

Heldref Publications
University Press of Kentucky

Uncertain; the following possibilities have been suggested:
* From fetch-life (“(obsolete, rare) a deity, spirit, etc., who guides the soul of a dead person to the afterlife; a psychopomp”).
* From the supposed Old English *fæcce (“evil spirit formerly thought to sit on the chest of a sleeping person; a mare”).
* From Old Irish fáith (“seer, soothsayer”).

inh

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

Southern US, African-American Vernacular, obsolete

In these dilapidated articles of dress she had, on principle, arrayed herself, time out of mind, on such occasions as the present; for this at once expressed a decent amount of veneration for the deceased, and invited the next of kin to present her with a fresher set of weeds: an appeal so frequently successful, that the very fetch and ghost of Mrs. Gamp, bonnet and all, might be seen hanging up, at any hour of the day, in at least a dozen of the second-hand clothes shops around Holborn.

1842 December – 1844 July, Charles Dickens, “The Reader is Brought into Communication with Some Professional Persons, and Sheds a Tear over the Filial Piety of Good Mr. Jonas”, in The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1844, →OCLC, page 236:

I think it was a fetch. [...] Folk say a fetch is seen at its departing / From a cold house whence it shall lead a soul; / But this comes like a child-birth closing in, / And so perchance it does but signify / The consciousness of death that breaks in all.

1905, Gordon Bottomley, Midsummer Eve, Harting, Petersfield, Hampshire: Pear Tree Press, →OCLC; republished in King Lear’s Wife, The Crier by Night, The Riding to Lithend, Midsummer Eve, Laodice and Danaë: Plays, London: Constable & Company, 1920, →OCLC, page 159:

Several farm maidservants meet to see their future lovers' spirits on Midsummer Eve, but see only the "fetch" or double of one of them, foretelling her death.

1921, Sterling Andrus Leonard, “Bibliography of Plays for Reading in High Schools”, in Sterling Andrus Leonard, editor, The Atlantic Book of Modern Plays: […], Boston, Mass.: The Atlantic Monthly Press, →OCLC, page 300:

"If you're after some money," said the millionaire, "move that cat out of the way." Catweazle shook his head. "Mayhap 'tis a fetch." Victor was very taken aback. "A fetch?" he gulped. "That's a witch in the shape of a cat, isn't it?" "Ay," said Catweazle calmly.

1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 80:

(originally Ireland, dialectal) The apparition of a living person; a person's double, the sight of which is supposedly a sign that they are fated to die soon, a doppelganger; a wraith (“a person's likeness seen just after their death; a ghost, a spectre”).


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.


Arthurian

en-adj

Arthurian (comparative more Arthurian, superlative most Arthurian)

more Arthurian (comparative)
most Arthurian (superlative)

A reminder of the Arthurian legends comes with the next station, Camelford, where passengers alight for Boscastle and Tintagel with their fine coast scenery, and near to which is Slaughter Bridge, where King Arthur is supposed to have fought his last.

1949 September and October, B. G. Wilson, “The North Cornwall Line of the Southern Region”, in Railway Magazine, page 328:

Of or pertaining to the legend of Arthur, king of the Britons, and his court at Camelot.


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.


King Arthur

A legendary king of Britain, said to have led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century.


doomsday

en-noun

doomsday (countable and uncountable, plural doomsdays)

From Middle English domes + dai, from Old English dom (“judgment”) + dæg (“day”). Equivalent to doom + -s- + day. Possibly influenced by Latin domus dei (“house of God”).

Any day of great death and destruction; end of the world; an apocalypse.


judgement day

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If God's a-coming, he ought to make it by then / Maybe he'll look around himself and say / “Guess it's time for the judgement day!”

1968, Zager and Evans (lyrics and music), “In the Year 2525”:

But when I woke up this morning / I could have sworn it was judgement day

1982, Prince (lyrics and music), “1999 [title]”, in 1999:

(Christianity, Islam, Judaism) The final trial of all humankind, both the living and the dead, by God expected to take place at the end of the world, when each is rewarded or punished according to their merits.

يَوْم الْحِسَاب

final trial of all humankind at the end of the world


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.


mogwai

From Cantonese 魔怪 (mo1 gwaai3), 魔鬼 (mo1 gwai2).

(Chinese mythology) A kind of demon held to be harmful to humans.


zombify

en-verb

zombify (third-person singular simple present zombifies, present participle zombifying, simple past and past participle zombified)

zombifies (present singular third-person)
zombifying (participle present)
zombified (participle past)
zombified (past)

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She managed to flee the sorcerer who had attempted to zombify her and enjoyed relative prosperity in Jamaica.

1994, A History of Literature in the Caribbean: Hispanic and Francophone Regions, Arnold, et al:

(transitive, fiction) To turn into a zombie (a member of the living dead or undead).


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.


nat

They greatly dread evil "Nats" or spirits, to whom they attribute every possible misfortune or illness.

1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 175:

A spirit in Burmese mythology, whose cult is followed alongside Buddhism.


Asgard

Learned borrowing from Old Norse Ásgarðr.

lbor

The gods built themselves castles in Asgard, and halls that shone with gold. It is recorded that there were twelve such heavenly palaces, but the poems differ from each other in describing them.

1884, M. W. Macdowall, Asgard and the gods, […] , page 48:

So, for instance, when the giant Hrungnir became tediously drunk and boastful, it was Freyja who, of all the Æsir in Asgard, was bold enough to keep serving him drink, but equally it was she whom he threatened to take away with him.

2007, Heather O'Donoghue, From Asgard to Valhalla: The Remarkable History of the Norse Myths, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 48:

(Norse mythology) The realm of the Æsir gods.


Álfheimr

(Norse mythology) home of the Ljósálfar (Light Elves) and one of the nine realms, also called Ljosalfheim.


Vishnu

Transliteration of Sanskrit विष्णु (viṣṇu).

translit

(Hinduism) One of the Trimurti (trinity) in Hindu mythology, and the most venerated god in Hinduism.


tooth fairy

/ˈtuːθ ˌfɛə̯ɹi/

/ˈtuθ ˌfɛə̯ɹi/

Anna was concerned that telling her child about the tooth fairy, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny would cause him to believe his mother was a liar later in life.

A figure of modern myth said to give children a small amount of money (or sometimes a present) in exchange for a milk tooth when it falls out of a child's mouth.

tandemuis

figure of modern myth said to give children a small amount of money in exchange for a milk tooth


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


necromantic

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

Of or relating to necromancy: the resurrection of or communication with the dead, especially through the use of black magic.


Ceres

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

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.


spooky

en-adj

spooky (comparative spookier, superlative spookiest)

spookier (comparative)
spookiest (superlative)

(informal) Eerie, or suggestive of ghosts or the supernatural.


alicorn

Term already associated with unicorns and reinterpreted as a blend of Latin āla (“wing”) with unicorn, popularized by Bearing an Hourglass (1984) and other fantasy novels by Piers Anthony.

The Alicorn. He be a winged unicorn, the finest equine flesh extant, the adoration of every fair and innocent maiden. For that steed I would give anything.

1984 August, Piers Anthony, Bearing an Hourglass, Del Rey Books, published 1992, →ISBN, →OL, page 171:

A silver portal opens in the sky and a^([sic]) ebony alicorn stallion gallops from it the silver tips on his black wings shine in the sun's light.

1999 May 15, Twyligtsky <twyligtsky@aol.comSKYMAGE>, “Re: RP: First appearence!^([sic])”, in alt.mythology.mythic-animals (Usenet), message-ID <19990515145319.05236.00000939@ng-fs1.aol.com>:

Rarity: Why, you've become an alicorn! I didn't even know that was possible.
Pinkie Pie: [wearing a costume horn and wings] Alicorn party!

2013 February 16, M.A. Larson, “Magical Mystery Cure” (16:32), in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, season 3, episode 13, spoken by Rarity and Pinkie Pie (Tabitha St. Germain and Andrea Libman):

(nonstandard) A mythological creature, a mixture of pegasus and unicorn: a winged horse with a single horn on its head.


ghostly

ghostly (comparative ghostlier, superlative ghostliest)

ghostlier (comparative)
ghostliest (superlative)

From Middle English gostly, gastlich, from Old English gāstlīċ (“spiritual, holy, clerical (not lay), ghastly, ghostly, spectral”), from Proto-West Germanic *gaistalīk (“spiritual”), equivalent to ghost + -ly. Cognate with Scots ghaistly, gaistly (“spiritual, ghastly, terrifying”), West Frisian geastlik (“spiritual, clerical, religious”), Dutch geestelijk (“spiritual, clerical, ecclesiastical”), German geistlich (“spiritual, sacred, religious”), Danish geistlig (“ecclesiastical, clerical”).

cog

A ghostly hush fell.

Scores of coconut-shell fires blazed with their characteristic glaring white flame, throwing grotesque shadows on the brown thatched huts, dancing in fairylike shimmerings among the domes of coconut fronds, casting ghostly reaches of light through the adjacent graveyards, and silhouetting the forms of pareu-clad natives at work cleaning their fish or laying them on the live coals to broil.

1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka, Eland, published 2019, page 35:

His lips were chapped and lined with a ghostly purple fringe.

2019, Dave Eggers, The Parade, N.Y.: Vintage Books, page 134:


Tailtiu

(Irish mythology) A presumed goddess who was the survivor of the invasion of Tuatha Dé Danann and was the foster mother of Lugh.


Lugh

Borrowed from Irish Lugh, from Old Irish Lug, from Primitive Irish ᚂᚒᚌ (lug), from Proto-Celtic *Lugus.

(Irish mythology) A pre-Christian Irish deity represented in mythological texts as a hero and High King of the distant past: the son of Cian and Ethniu.

Samh-ildánach ()

Summer-multi-talented; skilled in many arts


Midir

(Irish mythology) The son of the Dagda of the Tuatha Dé Danann who fell in love with Étaín, receiving Aengus's help to make her his new bride.


Étaín

(Irish mythology) The lover of Midir whose rejected first wife Fuamnach became jealous and cast three spells on her, turning her into a pool of water, then into a worm, and then into a fly.


Fuamnach

(Irish mythology) Midir's rejected first wife, who became jealous of Midir's lover Étaín, casting three spells on Étain, turning her into a pool of water, then into a worm, and then into a fly.


Urd

From Old Norse Urðr, from Proto-Germanic *wurdiz (“fate, destiny”), Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn, wind”). Cognate with English weird.

der

One of the three Norns; the Norn of those who were.


Triton

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


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.


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.


Eochaid Feidlech

(Irish mythology) The High King of Ireland in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, who deposed the former High King Fachtna Fáthach at the battle of Battle of Leitir Ruadh.


Fachtna Fáthach

(Irish mythology) The High King of Ireland in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology who was deposed by Eochaid Feidlech at the Battle of Leitir Ruadh.


Fráech

From Middle Irish Fráech, from Old Irish Fróech, from fróech (“heather”), from Proto-Celtic *wroikos.

(Irish mythology) The Connacht hero in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology who wooed Findabair and Treblann, but was drowned in a river in a duel with Cúchulainn.


Nera

(Irish mythology) A warrior of Connacht in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology.


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:


cockatrice

First attested 1382 as Middle English cocatrice (“basilisk”), from Old French cocatriz, from Late Latin calcātrīx (“she who treads upon something”), from Latin calcō (“tread”), from calx (“heel, hoof”).

der

“Peace reigns in happy Luxor. The lion lies down with the lamb, and the child, if it will, may harmlessly put its hand into the cockatrice’s den.”

c. 1910, Joseph Walker McSpadden, The Spell of Egypt:

(mythology) A legendary creature about the size and shape of a dragon or wyvern, but in appearance resembling a giant rooster, with some lizard-like characteristics.

For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the Lord.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 8:17:

(fantasy, folklore) A snake or serpent that appears to be hatched from a rooster, or cock's, egg.

this little cockatrice of a king

1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC:

(obsolete, figurative) Any venomous or deadly thing.


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.


drow

en-noun

drow (countable and uncountable, plural drow)

A Shetlandic and Orcadian alteration of trow, most likely influenced by an unattested Norn *drog (“malevolent [undead] being”). Trow is derived from Norn troll, or otherwise from Old Norse trǫll. L-vocalisation occurred in the early 15th century in Middle Scots, so "trolly knolls" probably became *trowie knowes around this time. The supposed Norn *drog would have been derived from Old Norse draugr.

der

(fantasy roleplaying games, countable) A member of a fictional race of dark elves in various fantasy settings, such as Dungeons & Dragons.

constructed language
constructed language

(fantasy roleplaying games, uncountable) A fictional constructed language spoken by the Drow.

(rare, mythology, countable) A trow; a member of a race of folkloric beings from Orkney and Shetland; cognate to the Scandinavian troll.


hereafter

en-noun

hereafter (countable and uncountable, plural hereafters)

/hɪəˈɹɑːftə/

From Old English hēræfter (“in the aftertime; later on”). By surface analysis, here + after.

inh

'Tis the Divinity that stirs within us; / 'Tis Heaven itself that points out an hereafter, / and intimates eternity to man.

1712, Joseph Addison, Cato, a Tragedy, act 5, scene 1:

see also Thesaurus:life after death or Thesaurus:afterlife

(poetic, uncommon) Existence after death.


Mephistopheles

Apparently a corrupted Greek compound. The Greek particle of negation (μη (mi)) and the Greek word for love or loving (φίλος (fílos)) are the first and last terms of the compound but the middle term is more doubtful. For the middle term, three meanings have been noticed and three different etymologies have been proposed: 1) not loving light (φως (fos); the old form of the word being Mephostopheles), 2) not loving Faust, 3) akin to mephitic, a term which refers to the poisonous vapors arising from the earth in certain places destructive to human life.

I let him run on, this papier-maché Mephistopheles, and it seemed to me that if I tried I could poke my forefinger through him, and find nothing inside but a little loose dirt, maybe.

1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 215:

When I'm at the pearly gates / This'll be on my videotape, my videotape / When Mephistopheles is just beneath / And he's reaching up to grab me

2007, “Videotape”, in In Rainbows, performed by Radiohead:

The Devil to whom Faust sold his soul in the legend.


god-king

devaraja

Southeast Asian, Hindu-Buddhist divine monarch

(mythology, literally) A king who is of divine descent.


Ganesha

(Hinduism) A Hindu god of intellect, wisdom, gates, and beginnings, son of Parvati and Shiva.


monkfish

en-noun

monkfish (countable and uncountable, plural monkfish or monkfishes)

[The] monkfish is preceded by the “monstre Leonin” and followed by the “monstre marinen habit d'Evesque” (de Monstro Leonino and de pisce Episcopi habitu respectively). The creature represented in these works is a hybrid: his round and tonsured ...

2017, Itineraries in French Renaissance Literature: Essays (Jeff Persels, Kendall Tarte, George Hoffmann), page 382


apple of discord

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


shape-shifter

(fantasy, mythology, science fiction) Alternative form of shapeshifter


changeling

/ˈt͡ʃeɪnd͡ʒlɪŋ/

The noun is derived from change + -ling (suffix with the sense ‘immature; small’). Sense 6 (“idiot, simpleton”) is from the idea that foolish children had been left by magical creatures (sense 1).
The adjective is derived from the noun.

suffix

[S]he, as her attendant, hath / A louely boy ſtollen, from an Indian king: / She neuer had ſo ſweete a changeling.

[c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame. […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

Every Lover admires his miſtris, though ſhee be very deformed of her ſelfe, [...] her feet ſtinke, ſhee breed lice, a meere changeling, a very monſter, [...]: if he loue her once, he admires her for all this, he takes no notice of any ſuch errors, or imperfections of body or minde.

1638, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Symptomes or Signes of Love Melancholy, in Body, Minde, Good, Bad, &c.”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy. […], 5th edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [Robert Young, Miles Flesher, and Leonard Lichfield and William Turner] for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 3, section 2, member 3, subsection 1, page 515:

Juſt as a Changeling ſeems below the reſt / Of Men, or rather is a two-legg’d Beaſt, / So theſe Gigantick Souls amaz'd we find / As much above the reſt of human kind.

1709, Earl of Murlgrave [i.e., John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, formerly Earl of Mulgrave], An Essay on Poetry, London: […] H. Hills, […], →OCLC, page 15:

Nothing will induce parents to show any attention to a child that they suspect of being a changeling.

1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 263:

It was easy enough to see that the child was a changeling, for it wasn't like other children at all it screamed and cried, as if a knife stuck in it, and it wheezed and hit about with its arms like a huldre-cat, and was as ugly as sin.

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 298:

His nurse had told him all about changelings, and how the little people would always try to steal a beautiful human child out of its cradle and put in its stead one of their own ailing, puking brats [...]

1961, Muriel Saint Clare Byrne, Elizabethan Life in Town and Country, 8th edition, London: Methuen & Co., →OCLC, page 285:

(European folklore, also figurative) In pre-modern European folklore: an infant of a magical creature that was secretly exchanged for a human infant. In British, Irish and Scandinavian mythology the exchanged infants were thought to be those of fairies, sprites or trolls; in other places, they were ascribed to demons, devils, or witches.

خائن

infant of a magical creature secretly exchanged for a human infant

(by extension, informal, rare) An infant secretly exchanged with another infant deliberately or by mistake; a swapling.

(fantasy, science fiction) An organism which can change shape to mimic others; a shape-shifter.

To face the garment of rebellion / With ſome fine colour that may pleaſe the eye / Of fickle changlings and poore diſcontents, / Which gape and rub the elbow at the newes / Of hurly-burly innouation, [...]

c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

Fal[staff]. [...] If you will lodge with me in Eaſtcheap, you ſhall ſee the thouſand pound fairly ſpent in ſack: you ſhall ſhare with me to the utmoſt farthing. But for dry reſtitution, I have not been accustom'd to it of many years. You would not have me a changeling at this time of day, I hope, Maſter Shallow. / Shal[low]. Changeling! no, Sir John, thou art no changeling; but, depend on it, I will not put up with this wrong. [...] I will have my money; depend on't I will have my money.

1760, [William] Kenrick, Falstaff’s Wedding: A Comedy. […], London: […] J. Wilkie, …, →OCLC, act II, scene vi, page 28:

What words are these have fall’n from me?
Can calm despair and wild unrest
Be tenants of a single breast,
Or sorrow such a changeling be?

1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XVI, page 26:

(archaic, also figurative) A person apt to change their loyalty or thinking; a waverer.


elemental

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

From Middle English elementall, from Medieval Latin elementālis; compare Old French elementel. By surface analysis, element + -al.

Incidentally, such beings may be said to have an existence of a sort upon the lower astral plane; they are elementals created by man's evil desires and unclean thoughts.

1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 115:

(mysticism, fantasy) A creature (usually a spirit) that is attuned with, or composed of, one of the classical elements: air, earth, fire and water or variations of them like ice, lightning, etc. They sometimes have unique proper names and sometimes are referred to as Air, Earth, Fire, or Water.


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.


maya

(Hindu mythology) Magic; supernatural power as held by the gods.


Fenian Cycle

(Irish mythology) A body of prose and verse focusing on the exploits of the mythological hero Fionn mac Cumhail and his warriors the Fianna Éireann.

cicle fenià

a body of prose and verse focusing on the exploits of the mythological hero Fionn mac Cumhail and his warriors


Fianna Éireann

Meaning "Soldiery of Ireland", named after the mythological Fianna


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.


eoten

Learned borrowing from Old English eoten. Doublet of ettin.

lbor

The chief exploit of the hero, Beowulf the Great, is the destruction of the two monsters Grendel and his mother; both like most of the evil beings in the old times, dwellers in the fens and the waters; and both, moreover, as some Christian bard has taken care to inform us, of "Cain's kin," as were also the eotens, and the elves, and the orcs (eótenas, and ylfe, and orcneas).

1834, “The National Fairy Mythology of England”, in Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country, volume 10, page 53:

In these manuscripts we are again in an atmosphere of eotens and trolls, there are traces of even older terrors, when the first Teuton settlers in Europe struggled with the aborigines who lived in caves[.]

1922, Eleanour Sinclair Rohde, The Old English Herbals, page 3:

A giant from Old English literature and mythology.


monomyth

From mono- + myth. Borrowed by Joseph Campbell from Finnegans Wake.

Most male epics follow Joseph Campbell's monomyth pretty neatly; can we expect Barrett Browning to do the same? Is the monomyth a male construct, the “male-myth” rather than the unified myth that speaks for all, […]

2008, E. L. Risden, Heroes, Gods and the Role of Epiphany in English Epic Poetry, McFarland, →ISBN, page 143:

(mythology) A cyclical journey or quest undertaken by a mythical hero.

Joseph Campbell
The Hero with a Thousand Faces


goblin

From Middle English gobelyn, from Old Northern French gobelin (compare Norman goubelin, Walloon gobelin), possibly a blend of Old Dutch *kobeholdo (“goblin”) (compare Dutch kabouter, German Kobold) and Late Latin cobalus (“mountain sprite”), from Ancient Greek κόβαλος (kóbalos, “rogue, knave; goblin”). Displaced native Old English pūca from Proto-Germanic *pūkô (“a goblin, spook”).

inh

From yͤ hagg & hungry Goblin,
yͭ into raggs would rend yee,
& yͤ spirit yͭ stand’s by yͤ naked man,

c. 1620, anonymous, “Tom o’ Bedlam’s Song” in Giles Earle his Booke (British Museum, Additional MSS. 24, 665)

"[…]If he had struck a stroke more to the side just here," said the goblin, tapping the very stone, as it seemed to Curdie, against which his head lay, "he would have been through; but he's a couple of yards past it now, and if he follow the lode it will be a week before it leads him in.[…]"

1872, George MacDonald, The Princess and the Goblin, page 50:

At last the goblins had a chance to rid themselves of one of the troublesome defenders, and two goblin warriors snatched the opportunity.

2006, Charlotte Bishop, Norty: The Chosen Ones, page 187:

The goblin shifted the two younger ones closer to him. It looked like he was hiding behind them, using them as a shield.
The goblin looked pure evil. His eyes were brown.

2010, Thom L. Nichols, War: Return of the Elves, Part 1, page 37:

I shall send another entourage of goblins back here to Desput with the goblins’ new ally the Pixy! These creatures deserve the same respect as any other goblin.

2010, D. S. Macleod, The Middle Times: Rise of the Goblin King, page 229:

Risk is everywhere. From tabloid headlines insisting that coffee causes cancer (yesterday, of course, it cured it) to stern government warnings about alcohol and driving, the world is teeming with goblins. For each one there is a frighteningly precise measurement of just how likely it is to jump from the shadows and get you.

2013 June 22, “Snakes and ladders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 76:

(fantasy) A malevolent and grotesque diminutive humanoid, often associated with orcs or trolls.

iratxo

hostile diminutive humanoid in fantasy literature


infernal

en-adj

infernal (comparative more infernal, superlative most infernal)

more infernal (comparative)
most infernal (superlative)

celestial

antonym(s) of “of or relating to hell, underworld or fire”

From Middle French infernal, from Medieval Latin infernalis, from Latin īnfernus, from īnferum (“netherworld, underworld, hell”), equivalent to inferno + -al.

Of or relating to hell, or the world of the dead; hellish.

جَحِيمِيّ

of or relating to hell, or the world of the dead; hellish

(by extension) Of or relating to a fire or inferno.

infernaal

by extension: of or relating to a great fire or inferno


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.


simurgh

(Iranian mythology) A gigantic winged benevolent creature.


hof

Borrowed from Old Norse hof or Old English hof, reinforced in modern (post-1990, chiefly neopagan) use by Icelandic hof (“shrine, temple”).

For each ten churches burned to ashes, one heathen hof is avenged.

1996, Varg Vikernes, cited after Gardell, Gods of the Blood, published 2003, page 307:

Asatruarfelagid lacks a central religious temple, or hof in Icelandic. Constructing a hof has been high on the members' wish list for many years.

2005, Michael Strmiska, Modern Paganism In World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives, page 170:

The Candidate for membership of Hof, Garth or Hearth shall hold an Armill, or he may touch an unsheathed Sword throughout the ceremony.

2014 November 18, Stubba, The Book of Blots, page 102:

(Germanic paganism) temple, sanctuary, hall.


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.


kobold

en-noun

kobold (plural kobolds or (rare) kobolde)

Borrowed from German Kobold. Doublet of cobalt.

a. 1867, George MacDonald, The Shadows, 2000 [1980], The Golden Key and Other Stories, page 96,
The king had seen all kinds of gnomes, goblins, and kobolds at his coronation; […] .

Among the nonhuman creatures that peopled rural Europe in the Middle Ages — the fairies, elves, dwarfs, trolls, and kobolds — there were beneficent female spirits who patronized those households that treated them well.

1977, James Buchanan Given, Society and Homicide in Thirteenth-Century England, published 2007, page 138:

In Germany also the kobolds are rather troublesome than otherwise, to the miners, taking pleasure in frustrating their objects, and rendering their toil unfruitful.

2011, William Wirt Sikes, Varla Ventura, The Occult Powers of Goats and Other Welsh Tales of Goblins, Fairies, Gnomes, and Elves, unnumbered page:

(German folklore) A mischievous elf or goblin, or one connected (and helpful) to a family or household.


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


inferno

From Italian inferno (“hell”), from Latin infernus (“of the lower regions”), inferna (“the lower regions”); see infernal.
The meaning "big fire" came as a figurative use from the traditional idea of hellfire.

At each sudden explosion in the inferno below they sprang back from the brink [of the volcanic crater].

1899, D. C. Worcester, The Philippine Islands and Their People:

When Jurgis had first inspected the packing plants with Szedvilas, he […] found that each one of these lesser industries was a separate little inferno, in its way as horrible as the killing beds, the source and fountain of them all[, and t]he workers in each of them had their own peculiar diseases.


Nidhogg

Learned borrowing from Old Norse Níðhǫggr (“Malice Striker”)

lbor

(Norse mythology) a dragon who lives in Niflheim (world of ice and the dead), feeding upon the roots of Yggdrasil and bodies of the damned.


nectar

en-noun

nectar (countable and uncountable, plural nectars)

From Latin nectar, from Ancient Greek νέκταρ (néktar, “nourishment of the gods”), from Proto-Indo-European *neḱ- (“perish, disappear”) + *-tr̥h₂ (“overcoming”), from *terh₂- (“to overcome, pass through, cross over”).

der

They pourd in soveraine balme and Nectar good, / Good both for erthly med'cine and for hevenly food.

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

(chiefly mythology) The drink of the gods.


apple of Sodom

apple + of + Sodom; compare the common assumption that the forbidden fruit of the Garden of Eden was an apple. Possibly also imitative of Hebrew תַּפּוּחַ (tapuah, “apple”) + סְדוֹם (Sdom, “Sodom”).

We searched for the famous apple of Sodom, and found two kinds of fruit, either of which, with the help of a little poetic imagination, might pass for the fruit in question. […] The other fruit, which we observed, and which seems to me more like the apple in question, grows around Jericho. It looks very inviting, but its taste is extremely bitter and disagreeable. One of the Arabs told me it was poisonous. [François-René de] Chateaubriand, who thought this the apple of Sodom, says, "When dried it yields a blackish seed, which may be compared to ashes, and which in taste resembles bitter pepper." Whether either of these is the apple of Sodom, or whether there is any such apple, even after all that Josephus and Tacitus and others have said about it, I will not attempt to decide.

1824 May, “Palestine Mission”, in The Latter Day Luminary (New Series), volume V, number V, Washington, D.C.: Printed and published by John S[ilva] Meehan, Columbian Office, North E Street, →OCLC, page 141:

The late adventurous traveller, M. [Ulrich Jasper] Seetzen, who went round the Red Sea, notices the famous apple of Sodom; of which report stated that it had all the appearance of the most inviting apple; but was filled with nauseous and bitter dust only.

1830, Antoine Augustin Calmet, Charles Taylor, “Asphaltites”, in Calmet's Dictionary of the Holy Bible, with the Biblical Fragments, … In Five Volumes, 5th rev. and enlarged edition, volume I (Dictionary, A to IZR), London: Holdsworth and Ball, 18 St. Paul's Church-yard, →OCLC, page 206, column 1:

(medieval mythology) A gigantic tree supposed to have grown on the site of the destroyed cities Sodom and Gomorrah (see Genesis 18–19 in the Bible), the apples of which would turn to ash and smoke once picked.

maceira de Sodoma

a gigantic tree supposed to have grown on the site of the destroyed cities Sodom and Gomorrah

Men have tasted of the apples of Sodom, and they have found bitter ashes under an inviting and luscious surface.

1834 September, “The Influence of the Press [L'Autocratie de la Presse, 8vo. La Haye: May, 1834]”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, volume XXXVI, number CCXXVI, Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons; London: T[homas] Cadell, Strand, →OCLC, page 378:

Then in rapid succession there came into my mind memories of: the apple that William Tell is said to have shot off the head of his son; "apples of gold in pitchers of silver" mentioned in the Bible; the "apple of Sodom," the fruit of the osher tree, which is beautiful externally but filled with a kind of ashes—therefore often used as a symbol of disappointment; […]

1913, W[illiam] R[ichard] C[unningham] Latson, “Association of Ideas”, in Secrets of Mental Supremacy, Holyoke, Mass.: The Elizabeth Towne Co., →OCLC, pages 71–72:

(medieval mythology) The fruit of the mythical tree.


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.


golden age

/ˈɡəʊl.dən eɪd͡ʒ/


woodwose

The young woodwose had now closed his eyes and was stretched out supine on the pool's marble margin; his Tarzan brief had been cast aside on the turf.

'If the cub has a grievance, let him bring it to the King's judgement,' answered Saeros. 'But the drawing of swords here is not to be excused for any such cause. Outside the hall, if the woodwose draws on me, I shall kill him.'

2007, J. R. R. Tolkien edited by Christopher Tolkien, The Children of Húrin:

A wild man of the woods; a faun, a satyr or a representation of such a being in heraldry or other decoration.


merman

From Middle English mereman, from Old English *meremann (“merman”) (suggested by Old English meremenn, meremennen, meremenin (“mermaid, siren”)), equivalent to mer- + man. Cognate with Dutch meerman (“merman”), German Meermann (“merman”).

The meer man hath no feet but fins / And this hath legs you see and shins.

1653, The Loves of Hero and Leander: A Mock Poem, London, page 19:

A legendary creature, human male from the waist up, fishlike from the waist down.


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.


Fimbulwinter

(Norse mythology) One of the signs of the onset of the end of this world, the final, three-year-long winter (with no intervening summers); it marks the coming of the Ragnarok, the battle that will end the world.

fimbulvinter

in Norse mythology, the long winter signifying the coming of Ragnarok


life after death

The state of afterlife; existence in heaven.


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.


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.


sea serpent

Any unidentified sea monster, especially one resembling a snake or dragon.


mythopoetic

en-adj

mythopoetic (comparative more mythopoetic, superlative most mythopoetic)

more mythopoetic (comparative)
most mythopoetic (superlative)

(mythology) Given the quality of a myth or a poem, used typically in opposition to a purely factual account.


Apple Isle

From apple + isle.
* (Avalon): Translation of Latin Insula Pomorum (“Island of Apples”), Geoffrey of Monmouth's alternative name for Insula Avallonis.
* (Tasmania): A reference to Tasmania's former status as an important apple grower and exporter. Possibly influenced by a supposed resemblance of the map of Tasmania to the shape of an apple.

uder

The journey involved a quest for the mysterious Avalon, the Apple Isle — home of immortality and hidden wisdom.

2002, Sheena Morgan, The Real Halloween: Ritual and Magic for the New Millennium, page 67:

He is equally at home over and under the waves, bringing some chosen ones, like Connla and Bran and the great King Cormac, to visit him in the Apple Isle, the Land of Promise.

2004, Eithne Massey, Legendary Ireland: A Journey through Celtic Places and Myths, page 139:

How can we, who have heard the Voice of the Lady of the Apple Isle, fulfill this calling?

2010, Jhenah Telyndru, Avalon Within: A Sacred Journey of Myth, Mystery, and Inner Wisdom, page 5:


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.


Brigid

/ˈbɹɪ.d͡ʒɪd/

From Irish Brighid, from Old Irish Brigit, from Proto-Celtic *Brigantī (“high, exalted”).

der

The pagan Brigid was part of the Tuatha Dé Danann – a race of dieties who are said to have inhabited Ireland before the Milesians, from whom today’s Irish people are descended. Raised among druids, Brigid was the daughter of an enslaved woman and the Dagda, chief of the gods.

2024 February 5, Katy Hessel, “Move over Saint Patrick: why the world should be celebrating beer-brewing Brigid”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(Irish mythology) The goddess of the Sacred Flame of Kildare and the patron goddess of the Druids. Daughter of Dagda of the Tuatha Dé Danann.


Dagda

The Middle Irish name Dagda means “Good God” or “Shining God”, from Old Irish Dagdae, from Proto-Celtic *Dago-deiwos, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰagʰo- (“shining”) (< *dʰegʷʰ- (“to burn”)) + *deywós (“divinity”).

Raised among druids, Brigid was the daughter of an enslaved woman and the Dagda, chief of the gods.

(Irish mythology) An important god in Irish mythology, portrayed as a father figure, king, and druid.


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.


Uathach

(Irish mythology) The daughter of Scáthach and later the lover of Cúchulainn (after a duel with Cochar Crufe).


Cethern

(Irish mythology) In the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, an Ulster warrior (son of Fintan) who assists Cúchulainn in the Táin Bó Cúailnge.


Táin Bó Cúailnge

(Irish mythology) The central tale in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology.


Cú Roí

The first element is apparently cú (“hound”); the second probably means "battlefield", making the whole term "hound of the battlefield".

(Irish mythology) A king of Munster and sorcerer who was killed by Cúchulainn and avenged by his son, Lugaid mac Con Roí, who was subsequently killed by Conall the Victorious.


Clymene

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


Flidais

(Irish mythology) A woodland goddess whose chariot is drawn by deer.


Mesgegra

Conall the Victorious
Conall the Victorious

(Irish mythology) The king of Leinster during the events of the Ulster Cycle. He was killed by Conall the Victorious.


Mórrígan

From Irish Mór-Ríoghain ("great queen"), from Middle Irish Morrígan.

(Irish mythology) An Irish mythological figure widely considered to be a goddess, and usually interpreted as a triple goddess.


Macha

(Irish mythology) The wife of Nemed. She died only twelve days after arriving in Ireland.


Donn Cuailnge

(Irish mythology) The Brown Bull of Cooley: an extremely fertile stud bull over whom the Táin Bó Cúailnge was fought.


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

The extreme north of the Earth; an area in a northerly region.


silver bullet

(literally, folklore) A bullet made of silver, usually with reference to the folkloric belief that such bullets are the only weapons which can kill a werewolf, vampire, or other monster.

There is no silver bullet for this problem. It will take hard work and long hours to fix.

Colin H. Kahl, the under secretary of defense for policy, acknowledged last week that “no one capability is a silver bullet,” but said the cluster munitions would allow Ukraine “to sustain the artillery fight for the foreseeable future.”

2023 July 14, Eric Schmitt, quoting Colin H. Kahl, “U.S. Cluster Munitions Arrive in Ukraine, but Impact on Battlefield Remains Unclear”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(figurative) Any straightforward solution perceived to have great effectiveness or bring miraculous results.

solució miraculosa

The Martini is nicknamed “the silver bullet” because of its supposedly lethal properties.

[2003, Lowell Edmunds, Martini, Straight Up: The Classic American Cocktail, JHU Press, →ISBN, page 64:

For a classic silver bullet martini, you simply need to choose your poison—gin or vodka—and add dry vermouth and olives. For the more complex concoctions, you'll want to stock up on flavored vodkas, juices, garnishes, and liqueurs.

2007, Sally Ann Berk, Martini Book: 201 Ways to Mix the Perfect American Cocktail, Hachette, →ISBN:

(colloquial) A classic dry martini cocktail.

[…] "the silver bullet"—a rectal thermometer, to ensure that their body core isn't dangerously overheated from the run.

1998, Thomas E. Ricks, Making the Corps, page 166:

Of course, there is the infamous “Silver Bullet,” which is a rectal thermometer that measures the body's core temperature in the event of a heat case. No one wanted to get it up the butt with the Silver Bullet, […]

2006, Cpl. Matthew D. Wojtecki, Every Other Four, page 140:

A Corpsman was yanking my pants down in order to administer a “silver bullet” (rectal thermometer). I squirmed away and shoved the Corpsman off me before he could insert it.

2017, Jason Delgado, Chris Martin, Bounty Hunter 4/3: From the Bronx to Marine Scout Sniper, page 109:

(military slang) A thermometer, especially one used for rectal temperature readings.


Wandering Jew

The length of the stoppages could not well be reduced; indeed, they are already too short if we are to believe the tale now current of a wandering Jew sort of passenger—a lady of advanced years who can only alight from a train backwards. Every time she begins to get out a porter rushes up crying "Hurry up, ma'am; train's going!"—and pushes her in again!

1944 May and June, “When the Circle was Steam Operated”, in Railway Magazine, page 150:

A Jewish shoemaker who, in Christian tradition, taunted Jesus Christ on the way to his (Jesus') crucifixion and for that was condemned to wander the Earth until Jesus' return (ie. the second coming).

jueu errant

the Jewish shoemaker from the Christian legend


Wandering Jew

Alternative letter-case form of wandering Jew (“plant”)


sylph

First attested in 1657. From New Latin sylphes, coined by Paracelsus in the 16th century. The coinage may derive from Latin sylvestris (“of the woods”) and nympha (“nymph”). Ultimately from the root silva (“woods, forest”). Related to sylvan.
More at Wikipedia.

Her heart fluttered with expectation—her step was buoyant with hope, and she sprung into the carriage with the lightness of a sylph.

Necromancy meant originally the conjuring up the souls of the dead, and later included the conjuring of all sorts of inhuman spirits such as sylphs, giants, and djinn.

1941, Rupert Gleadow, Magic and Divination, page 125:

(mythology) An invisible being of the air.

The elemental being of air, usually female.

(ornithology) Any of the mainly dark green and blue hummingbirds (genus Aglaiocercus), the male of which has a long forked tail.


haint

"Ain't you scared of haints?"

1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa., New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC, part 2, page 254:

I got a tree on my back and a haint in my house, and nothing in between but the daughter I am holding in my arms.

It didn't take long for word to spread that there was a "haint" in the graveyard. A haint is what the old-timers called a ghost.

2005, Eulie Rowan, “The Four-Legged Haint”, in The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs, Simon and Schuster, page 106:

My dead grandpa's haint floated above my bed one night when I was a young'un and scared me so bad I busted the bedroom door down tryin' to get out that room so fast.

2009, Mary Monroe, God Still Don't Like Ugly, page 211:

(US, dialectal) A ghost; a supernatural being; Alternative form of haunt.


gremlin

Oxford English Dictionary
Roald Dahl
The Gremlins

Uncertain; the following etymologies have been suggested:
* A variant of goblin.
* From Irish gruaimín (“gloomy little person”); or from Dutch gremmelen (“to soil, stain; to spoil”), or griemelen, grimmelen (“(obsolete) to abound, teem; to swarm”), but according to the Oxford English Dictionary there is little evidence for such derivations.
The word was popularized, especially in the United States, by the children’s novel The Gremlins (1943) by the British author Roald Dahl (1916–1990), in which gremlins sabotage Royal Air Force aircraft in revenge for the destruction of their forest home to make way for an aircraft factory; the creatures later join forces with the British to fight the Nazis.

Like Abominable Snowmen, gremlins have never actually been seen; but nobody who works with electronic gear doubts the existence of these mischievous and elusive entities. There are too many malfunctions and failures that can have no other explanation.

1963, Arthur C Clarke, chapter 8, in Glidepath, New York: Simon and Schuster, pages 72-73:

Crucial time was saved by the fact Nexus didn't require a Transport & Works Act. Nevertheless, other gremlins kept raising their heads.

2023 November 29, Richard Foster, “Tyne & Wear Metro goes with the flow”, in RAIL, number 997, page 34:

(originally British, aviation, Royal Air Force slang)

(mythology) An imaginary creature reputed to be mischievously inclined, for example, to damage or dismantle machinery.

гремлин

imaginary creature reputed to be mischievously inclined to damage or dismantle machinery


Freya

Scottish form of Old Norse Freyja (“mistress, lady”).

A female given name from Old Norse of mostly British usage.


Frigga

From Frigg + -a, with suffix added to make the name more obviously feminine in English.


Tyr

From Old Norse Týr, from Proto-Germanic *Tīwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *dyew- (“god”). Doublet of Tiw.

(Norse mythology) The Norse god of war, identifiable with Tiu or Tiw.


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.


Lebor Gabála Érenn

The title translates as The Book of the Taking of Ireland.

(Irish mythology) A loose collection of poems and prose narratives recounting the mythical origins and history of an Irish race from the creation of the world down to the Middle Ages.


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.

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


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.

Papio hamadryas
Papio hamadryas#Translingual

A baboon of species Papio hamadryas, venerated by the ancient Egyptians.

Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genera Hamadryas and Tellervo.


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


silver age

(historical, mythology) A historical period of great accomplishment in a field or a society; in storytelling archetypes, usually following, and not quite as favorable as, a golden age, and not unfavorable as an iron age.