Mythful Meanings

In the English language, many meanings come from myths. This blog considers many of those words.

Myths are stories people tell to explain the great mysteries of life, such as birth and death, why the sun rises and sets, and why the moon changes in a predictable pattern.

I decided to start over from the end of the alphabet and work toward the beginning. I have a stack of index cards with information typed on them, all in alphabetical order. When I started this blog, I started at A, because I didn't realize that all the entries would be pushed down.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Aeolus

In ancient Greece myth, Aeolus was the keeper of the winds. He was the king of an island near Sicily. In The Odyssey, he received Odysseus (Ulysses to the ancient Romans), and provided a west wind to sail home, and gave him a leather bag containing the other winds. Unfortunately, Odysseus' men opened the bag of the winds, which blew them off course and greatly prolonged their voyage.

English word: In English, aeolian means borne or produced by the wind. An aeolian harp is a box fitted with strings so that when the wind blows across it, it produces musical tones. The Aeolian islands are the group of islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, supposedly the home of Aeolus.


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