From: m.driussi@genie.com
Subject: (whorl) Re: Digest whorl.v001.
Date: Sat,  1 Feb 97 03:21:00 GMT


[Posted from Whorl, the mailing list for Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun]

Reply:  Item #4834984 from WHORL@LISTS.BEST.COM@INET00#

Re: Aloe, "a pious woman of the Sun Street quarter" (III, list).
("Agalloch" is the same thing, not used in the text, but not nearly
as cute--nor as quick to type in, I hasten to add.)

David,

Thank you for your kind words re: Lexicon.  Here's the stuff I
promised earlier:

==Those Gods==
WHORL        GREEK MEANING (according to R. Graves)
Pas          Pan (All, "Pasture")
Echidna      a monster ("she viper")
Scylla       a sea monster ("she who rends")
Molpe        molpus ("melody")
Tartaros     a chthonic god ("far west" a Creten word?)
Hierax       ("hawk")
Thelxiepeia  name of a Siren ("soothing words")
Phaea        a sow goddess ("shining one")
Sphigx       sphingx ("throttler")*
Kypris       ancient name for Aphrodite ("the island Cypris")

"g" is another way.

Pan, the old fertility god of satyrs with panpipes and all, is thought
by some to be a debased form of a god that was once god of
everything, since "pan" means "all."  This is also the famous god who
died in antiquity: a sailor heard some Egyptians crying "Great Pan is
dead!" and he reported it back home in Greece.  The news rocked the
ancient world.  Turns out that the sailor mis-heard--the Egyptians
were really saying the equivalent of "Osiris is dead!" as a part of
their yearly vegetation god ressurection rite.

Since "hierax" means hawk, my thoughts turn to Horus.  Not surprising
since I've just been writing about his dad, Osiris.  But this hawk,
rather than avenging his father's murder, seems to have been in on
the conspiracy to kill him.

=mantis=

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