770 GLOSSARY OF MYTHOLOGICAL WORDS AND PHRASES IN ENGLISHing the winter solstice, especially the seven days pre-
ceding and following it. Halcyon days can also de-
scribe any time of tranquillity.
harpy The Harpies ("snatchers"), daughters of
Thaumas and Electra, were originally conceived of
as winds, but eventually came to be depicted as bird-
like women who tormented mortals. The Argonauts
rescued Phineus, the blind king and prophet of
Salmydessus, whose food was "snatched" away by
these ravenous monsters. Today when we call some-
one a harpy we evoke images of these vile, foul-
smelling, predatory creatures; or harpy simply
means a shrewish woman.
hector Hector was the greatest warrior of the
Trojans, who was defeated by his counterpart on the
Greek side, Achilles. To hector means to bluster and
bully. The noun hector denotes a bully. The connec-
tion between the noble Hector and this later concep-
tion originated in the Middle Ages, when Hector was
portrayed as a braggart and bully.
heliotrope/heliotropism, etc. Helius was god of
the sun. The Greek root trop- refers to a turning in a
certain direction. Heliotropism is a biological term
that refers to the growth or movement of an organ-
ism toward or away from sunlight. A heliotrope is a
genus of plant that behaves in that manner. Several
scientific or technical words derive from the name of
the sun-god; for example, a heliostat is an instrument
that uses a mirror to reflect sunlight; heliotherapy,
treatment by means of the sun's rays; heliotype is a
photomechanical process of printing a plate, or the
printing plate itself produced in this fashion; a heli-
ograph is an instrument used to photograph the sun;
and heliocentric refers to anything that has the sun
as a center or is relative to the sun.
Hercules/herculean/Hercules' club Her-cules, in
Greek Heracles, was the greatest hero in the ancient
world, who wore a lionskin and brandished a club.
He achieved countless remarkable exploits and is
most famous for twelve canonical Labors. To de-
scribe someone as herculean is to liken him to Her-
cules in strength and stature. Any effort that is her-
culean requires a tremendous exertion or spirit of
heroic endurance. The Hercules is a constellation in
the northern hemisphere near Lyra and Corona Bo-
realis. A shrub indigenous to the southeastern United
States and characterized by prickly leaves and large
clusters of white blossoms is known as Hercules'
club.
hermetic/hermeneutic/hermeneutics/hermaphro-
dite The god Hermes became associated with the
Egyptian god Thoth and received the appellation
Trismegistus ("thrice-greatest"). A number of works
on occult matters, known as the Hermetic Corpus,
were attributed to Hermes Trismegistus; today her-
metic refers to occult knowledge, particularly
alchemy, astrology, and magic. From this notion of
secret or sealed knowledge hermetic comes to mean
completely sealed; a hermetic jar is one closed against
outside contamination. From Hermes' primary func-
tion as a bearer of messages came the Greek
hermeneus ("interpreter") and the phrase hermeneutike
techne ("the art of interpretation"). Hermeneutics is
the science of interpretation, and hermeneutic, as ad-
jective or noun, connotes an interpretive or explana-
tory function. Hermaphroditus, the beautiful son of
Hermes and Aph-rodite, was bathing in a pool when
the nymph Salmacis caught sight of him and was
filled with desire. She plunged into the water and en-
twined her limbs around him. He fought her efforts
to seduce him but her prayer to the gods that they
might become united into one being was granted. A
hermaphrodite has the genitalia and secondary sex-
ual characteristics of both males and females.
hydra Heracles' second Labor was to encounter
the Hydra, a nine-headed serpent which would grow
back two heads for every one that was severed. Every
time he clubbed off one of the heads he cauterized the
stump so that another could not grow. A hydra is a
polyp with a cylindrical body and tentacles surround-
ing an oral cavity, and it has the ability to regrow it-
self from cut-off parts. A hydra can also be a destruc-
tive force that does not succumb to a single effort. The
Hydra is a constellation in the equatorial region of the
southern sky near the constellation Cancer.
hymen/hymeneal Hymen was the god of mar-
riage who was invoked during the wedding cere-
mony with the chant "O Hymen, Hymenaeus"; thus
he was the overseer of hymeneal or marriage rites.
Originally the Greek word hymen referred to any
membrane, but today the hymen is a membranous
fold of tissue that covers the outer orifice of the
vagina.
hyperborean The Hyperboreans were a mythical
race that inhabited a paradise in the far north, at the
edge of the world, "beyond" (hyper) the reach of the
north wind (Boreas) and his arctic blasts. In English
hyperborean merely means arctic or frigid.
hypnosis/hypnotic, etc. Hypnos, son of Nyx
(Night) and brother of Thanatos (death), was the god
of sleep and father of Morpheus, the god of dreams.
Hypnosis is a sleeplike condition in which the person
becomes susceptible to suggestion. Hypnotic, as an
adjective, means to pertain to or induce hypnosis. As
a noun it refers to the person hypnotized, something
that promotes hypnotism, or means simply a sopo-
rific, that which induces sleep. Hypnogogic refers to