Ydra

From Simon Online
Jump to: navigation, search

Ydra serpens.


Apparatus:

ydra serpẽs added on to previous entry Ydria {= Ydua = Ydna} B

Ydra grece serpens e


Translation:

Ydra is Greek for Latin serpens {"snake"}.


Commentary:

Simon is giving the word a very brief and unsympathetic treatment by simply translating it as serpens - "a snake", but ὕδρα /hýdra/, related to ὕδωρ /hýdōr/ "water", is in fact a "water serpent". Most famous of all is the Lernaean Hydra, Greek: Λερναία Ὓδρα, a chthonic water creature of many heads and which for each head cut off grew two more. This Hydra was the guardian of the subaquatic entrance to the Underworld, and it was one of Herakles’s tasks to kill the beast. [[1]]


Next entry