hydra

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈhy.dra]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈiː.dra]^[1]

Forms

hydra f (genitive hydrae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ὕδρα (húdra, “water snake”).^[2][1][3] The Greek word is from Proto-Indo-European *udréh₂, from Proto-Indo-European *wed- (“water”), and is related to English otter.^[1][4][5] Isidore of Seville gives its Latin name as excetra.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Varro, dated 116–27 BC.^[7] Cicero mentions how someone might depict a skin or the Hydra, and Lucretius names it among Hercules' labours.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

It was any of various mythical snakes, above all the Lernaean Hydra killed by Hercules, whose heads grew back two for each one cut off.^[2][5] Virgil also places a hydra with fifty mouths in the underworld.^[8] Virgil, Seneca and Martial use it of a snake in general.^[2] Cicero, in his Aratea, and Manilius use it of the constellation Hydra.^[2][9]

Medieval writers used it of water snakes and dragons, and figuratively of a many-headed evil, as Alcuin's comparison with the Hydra's hundred heads.^[10][11] English hydra is recorded in the late 14th century as idre.^[4]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it.^[7]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius names the Lernaean Hydra.^[2][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the constellation.^[2][7]
• late 14th century – English hydra is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mythical snake, especially the Lernaean Hydra.^[2][1]
2. A snake, water snake.^[2][1]
3. The constellation Hydra.^[2][9]

Word family

• hydreus

Related words

• excetra
• English hydra

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
10. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
11. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press