Etymologically
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python

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpyː.tʰoːn][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈpiː.ton][1]

Forms

pȳthōn m (genitive pȳthōnis, feminine pȳthōnissa); third declension[1] As the serpent's name, Pȳthōn also takes the Greek genitive Pȳthōnos (Varro) and accusative Pȳthōna (Propertius, Ovid).[2][3] Manuscripts of the Vulgate also spell it pith-.[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek Πύθων (Púthōn), the name of the huge serpent at Delphi that Apollo killed,[1][5][6] probably from Πυθώ (Puthṓ), the older name of Delphi.[1][7] Köbler leaves its further origin open.[8] A Latin glossary quoted by the TLL says the soothsayers were named after Pythian Apollo.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro (116–27 BC) mentions the navel-stone at Delphi, which people say is the Python's tomb.[5][8]

Semantic evolution

Classical poets use it of the serpent: Ovid, Propertius and Lucan.[2][3] Pliny the Elder names a village in Asia, Pythonos Comē, where the storks gather.[4][3]

In the Latin Bible it became a common noun for a spirit of divination and for one possessed by it: the Vulgate speaks of a woman who has a python, and of a girl with a spirit of divination in Acts.[3][4] Jerome took pythones as ventriloquists, and glossaries explain the word as “diviner”, beside a feminine pythonissa.[4] Medieval British writers used it for a diviner or sorcerer,[9] and early medieval law texts for a soothsayer.[10] English took the serpent's name in the 1580s.[7]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro speaks of the Python's tomb at Delphi.[5][8]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid tells of the serpent in the Metamorphoses.[6][2][8]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder names the village Pythonos Comē.[4][8]
  • c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome explains pythones as ventriloquists.[4][8]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it for a spirit of divination.[3][8]
  • 1580s – English borrows the serpent's name as python.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Pȳthōn) The serpent killed by Apollo at Delphi.[5][6][2]
  2. (Late Latin) A spirit of divination, a prophetic spirit.[3][4]
  3. (Late Latin) A soothsayer, one possessed by such a spirit; a ventriloquist.[1][3][4]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A diviner, sorcerer.[9][10]

Usage notes

The OLD notes that Ampelius once wrote it by mistake for Typhon.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  9. ^ a b 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
  10. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard, Liber exquisiti xenii: Lexikon frühmittelalterlicher Rechtswörter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de