Ῥέα

Forms

Ῥέᾱ (Rhéā) f (genitive Ῥέᾱς); first declension^[1] Epic and Ionic Ῥείη (Iliad 14.203, Homeric Hymns, Hesiod), epic Ῥεῖα and Ῥέη (Hesiod, Homeric Hymn to Demeter); a contracted Ῥῆ is quoted from Pherecydes of Syros.^[2][3] In the Iliad (15.187) the common form Ῥέα is scanned as one syllable.^[2][3]

Etymology

The origin of the name is unknown.^[4][5] Several explanations have been proposed, none widely accepted: a connection with ἔρα (éra, “earth”) (seen in ἔραζε (éraze, “to the ground”)), a derivation from ῥέω (rhéō, “to flow”), or a Pre-Greek (Minoan) name.^[1][6] Less likely is a link with the mythical river name Sanskrit रसा (Rasā́), which would take it back to Proto-Indo-European *h₁rṓs.^[1]

Ancient writers already derived the name from the verb for flowing: Chrysippus, because rivers flow out of the earth,^[2] and the Etymologicum Magnum reports that Plato connected it with the flowing of time, others with the rain that flows down from her son Zeus.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The goddess is named in the Iliad (14.203, in the genitive Ῥείης) as the mother of the gods.^[2][8] In Hesiod's Theogony she is the daughter of Uranus and Gaia, sister and wife of Cronus, and mother of Zeus, Hera, Demeter, Hades, Poseidon and Hestia.^[9][2]

Semantic evolution

In Hesiod's story Cronus swallows his children, and Rhea saves Zeus by hiding him in Crete and giving Cronus a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes instead.^[9] The Homeric Hymns show her at the birth of Apollo and Artemis and as Zeus's messenger in the story of Persephone.^[9] Pindar calls Zeus and Hestia children of Rhea.^[10] Later, from Melanippides on, she was often identified with Cybele and with Demeter, and was linked with the Idaean Dactyls and the Telchines.^[9]

Aeschylus calls the Ionian Gulf “the gulf of Rhea”.^[3][11] The Pythagoreans used the name for the number two.^[2] Plutarch writes it for Rhea Silvia, the daughter of Numitor and mother of Romulus and Remus, and for the mother of Sertorius.^[3][11]

In 1801 the goddess's name became the Modern Latin genus name of a South American flightless bird, the rhea; a moon of Saturn discovered in 1672 also bears it.^[5]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad names Rhea as the mother of the gods.^[2][8]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod's Theogony tells how she saved the infant Zeus from Cronus.^[9][2]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar calls Zeus and Hestia children of Rhea.^[10]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus calls the Ionian Gulf “the gulf of Rhea”.^[3]
• 5th century BC – Melanippides associates her with Demeter and Cybele.^[9]
• 3rd century BC – Chrysippus derives the name from ῥέω (rhéō, “to flow”).^[2]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses the name for Rhea Silvia and for the mother of Sertorius.^[3][11]
• 1672 – A newly discovered moon of Saturn is named after her.^[5]
• 1801 – Her name is given to the South American rhea as a genus name.^[5]

Meanings

Proper noun

1. The goddess Rhea, daughter of Uranus and Gaia, wife of Cronus and mother of Zeus and the other Olympian gods.^[2][3][12]
2. (Pythagorean) A name for the number two.^[2]
3. Rhea Silvia, daughter of Numitor and mother of Romulus and Remus.^[3][11]
4. The mother of Sertorius.^[3][11]

Related words

• ῥέω (rhéō)
• English rhea

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, online ed., https://www.koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Βικιλεξικό, the Greek Wiktionary, https://el.wiktionary.org
7. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ a b c d e f Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth, eds. (2002–2010), Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ a b Slater, William J. (1969), Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: De Gruyter
11. ^ a b c d e Дворецкий, И. Х. (1958), Древнегреческо-русский словарь, Moscow: ГИС
12. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1889), An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press