Etymologically
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hydra

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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

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