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.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Augean Stable

In both Greek and Latin myth, Augeus was the king of Elis. He kept a herd of 3000 oxen, which were sacred to the sun. Their stable had not been cleaned in 30 years when Hercules was assigned the task of cleaning them in one day, one of the 12 labors he had been assigned to perform in order to atone for the insane murder of his wife and children.

He accomplished the task that seemed impossible when he was able to divert the course of two rivers so that they washed out the filthy stables.

English word: In English, instead of a single word,
we have a phrase, Augean stables, used to describe a foul, filthy mess that requires a heroic effort to clean up.

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