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mythology vocab 1
Question | Answer |
---|---|
aphrodisiac | love-potion, named for Aphrodite, goddess of love |
arachne | "spider" in Greek, adopted in science to describe spider family. |
athene | Pallas Athene. Pallas="brandisher", spear. safegarde |
atlas | a map, named after the Titan ho bore the sky on his shoulders and was turned to stone by Perseus. |
calliope | musical instrument, mother of Orpheus was named Calliope because she was the Muse of Eloquence and Heroic Poetry, The name derives from beauty and voice. |
cloth | Clotho spun the thread of life on her spindle; Lachesis measured the thread; and Atropos, Lady of the Shears, snipped the thread of life when it had been measured out. Cloth comes from Clotho, the spinner. |
cronos | god of time. |
cyclops | "circle" and "eye" |
echo | nymph Echo, who fell in love ith Narcissus, She could not tell him of her love because she was under a curse which allowed her to repeat only the last word of what was said to her. |
elysian fields | "place of great happiness" inspired the French to call their famous boulevard in Champs Elysees |
erinyes | the Furies, punished people for their crimes on the earth. They were call the Eumenides, which meant "kindly ones." This name reveals the Greek habit of calling unpleasant things by pleasant names. We use the word euphemism. |
erotic | relating to love, Eros, Aphrodite's son, the secret archer, whose arrows were tipped with the sweet poison of love. |
fortune | Fortuna, the Roman goddess of luck and vengeance, mistress of destiny. Vortumna, turner, turned heel of year, stopped on happy sorrow life or death. |
galatea | statue which Pygmalion carved to the shape of his heart's desire. |
hades | home of the dead. Greek word meaning "the unseen", also in Roman as Pluto-god of wealth. |