python English · revision 39614

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1390, Chaucer, Manciple's Tale|origins=grc Πύθων}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /ˈpaɪθən/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /ˈpaɪθɑn/, /ˈpaɪθɔn/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|Pȳthōn]],^(OED 2026)^(Hoad 1986)^(Etymonline) [[der|grc|Πύθων|tr=Pū́thōn]], the name of the serpent that Apollo killed near Delphi.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(Ayto 2005) The Greek name is evidently related to [[m|grc|Πυθώ|tr=Puthṓ]], the old name of Delphi, though how is unclear, and so is its further origin.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Skeat 1911) Ancient writers linked both with [[m|grc|πύθω|tr=púthō|t=to make rot]], because the serpent was said to have rotted there, but the OED notes that the length of the vowel is against this,^(OED 2026)^(Ayto 2005) and Etymonline mentions a derivation from [[ine-pro|*dʰewb-|t=deep, hollow]], for monsters that live in the depths.^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2024) The zoological sense comes from [[m|la-new|Python]], the name of a genus given by F. M. Daudin in 1803;^(OED 2026) Barnhart and Etymonline think the English word came by way of French.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The serpent or monster slain by Apollo near Delphi: c. 1390, in Chaucer's ''Manciple's Tale'', where it is spelt ''Phitoun''.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) Barnhart and Etymonline date the classical form ''Python'' to 1590 and the 1580s.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In 17th- and 18th-century poetry a python could be any monster or plague.^(Cresswell 2021)^(SOED 2002) The word was used for a genus of large snakes from the early 19th century: the OED's first quotation is from the ''Encyclopædia Metropolitana'' (a1825), Merriam-Webster dates the sense to about 1825, and Barnhart and Etymonline to 1836.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) Etymonline notes that it was loosely used for any very large snake before it settled on the non-venomous snakes of the tropics that kill by constriction.^(Etymonline) At the end of the Second World War ''Python'' was the code name of a scheme that gave long-serving British troops overseas home leave (1945).^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002) In 1969 the BBC comedy series ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' gave the language ''Pythonesque'', surreal or absurd, by the mid-1970s.^(Ayto 2005)^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1390 – ''Phitoun'', the serpent killed by Apollo.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1580s – the spelling ''Python'' for the serpent.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1803 – ''Python'', a scientific genus name.^(OED 2026)

+ * a1825 – a large constricting snake.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1836 – Barnhart's and Etymonline's date for the snake.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1945 – the code name of a home-leave scheme for British forces.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Any of various large, heavy-bodied, non-[[venomous]] [[snake|alt=snakes]] of Africa, Asia and Australia that kill their prey by [[constriction]].^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # (loosely) Any very large constricting snake, such as a [[boa]] or an [[anaconda]].^(MWU 2024)^(Etymonline)

+ # ''Python'' (Greek mythology) The huge serpent or dragon killed by [[Apollo]] at Delphi.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[pythoness]]

+ * [[pythonic]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Pythian]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A separate ''python'', from [[la-lat|pȳthōn]] in the Vulgate and [[grc|πύθων|tr=púthōn]] in the New Testament, meant a familiar spirit with powers of prophecy, or a person possessed by one (from 1548); it is now a term of ancient history.^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002)^(Klein 1966)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}