The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns

Glossary

One ruling per term. Greek words are given in the form the hymns use; the English is the rendering used throughout this volume, without exception.

ἀνάγκη necessity. The constraint the world is under, not fate and not a person's compulsion. LIX (the Moirai), LXX.5, LXXXVI.13.

ἁγνός holy, 47 places — the commonest of them. Read pure at 15 until the final run. See ἅγιος.

ἅγιος consecrated. Six places: VI.11, XLI.7, LII.8, LIV.10, LV.28, LXXIX.8.

αἰών transliterated Aion, as at proem 28, where it is distinguished from Chronos in the next line. Unending time, as a power.

βουκόλος oxherd. A grade of officer in Bacchic associations. I.10, XXXI.7.

βουλή counsel, never purpose. Chiefly in εὔφρονι βουλῇ, with kindly counsel, five times: XIV.12, LIX.20, LXX.1, LXXIV.9, LXXIX.11 — closing the line in four of the five and opening the hymn in the fifth. XLVI.6 read designs until the final run.

γνώμη purpose, never counsel. Thirteen places. XXXIX.7 read designs until the final run, and the reading of that line is disputed on other grounds besides.

δαίμων daimon, untranslated, in all twenty-nine places (twenty-eight lines; proem 31 has it twice). Not a demon and not simply a god.

εὐδύνατος greatly able. Seven places: XXIX.20, XXXIII.1, XXXVIII.20, LXXIV.2, LXXVI.6, LXXVII.5, LXXXIV.1. Kept clear of mighty, which renders κραταιός and the ὀβριμ- compounds.

εὐίερος well-hallowed, 12 places; hallowed alone at two of them until the final run.

ἠΰς goodly. Homeric, not modernised.

ἤιε transliterated Ieios at proem 7, rather than translated: the etymology is unsettled, and the healer and the archer each commit the line to one guess.

ἱερός sacred, 23 places, four of them the substantival ἱερά, the offerings. Read holy at 19 until the final run.

καθαρός undefiled, so that pure is left to ὅσιος. LVIII.9, LXIII.4, XXXIV.9; all three read pure until the final run.

κληδοῦχος key-holder. Both a temple office and a divine epithet: I.7, II.5.

κράντειρα accomplisher. X.12, XXVII.2, LXXII.1.

μύστης initiate.

ὄργια orgia, untranslated, and the singular orgion at LII.5. Both read rite(s) until the final run, where τελετή had already taken that word.

ὀργιοφάνται those who show the orgia. VI.11 and XXXI.5, the only two occurrences in the collection and, so far as the lexica go, in Greek. Probably an office of the performing group, but never attested as a title — so, unlike βουκόλος, this is inference.

ὅσιος pure, and impure for οὐχ ὅσιος. Read holy at six places until the final run.

παννυχίς the all-night rite, in the compound φιλοπάννυχος: III.5 of Nyx, LV.2 of Aphrodite. The second read lover of the night-long until the final run.

πρόνοια providence as a common noun (X.27, XI.19, XXV.10); transliterated Pronoia at proem 30, where it is one of the catalogue's named powers and the only one set over the rest.

ῥόμβος rhombos, untranslated, at IV.4 and VIII.7. Both the bull-roarer of Bacchic and Korybantic rite and the whirling itself; the lexica file these two occurrences under the whirl.

τελετή rite, always — the one term of art in this list that is translated rather than transliterated. Twenty-one places.

θεσμοδότειρα Giver of Law. proem 25. Occurs nowhere else in Greek; the identification with Demeter Thesmophoros is a guess.

θρέπτειρα nurse.

θυμίαμα fumigation, never incense: the rubric names a rite, not a substance. Thirteen distinct prescriptions over seventy-eight hymns.

Charites the Graces, transliterated. LX, and at proem 18, X.13 and XLIII.8.

Eubouleus / Euboulos Abel prints Εὔβουλος once and Εὐβουλεύς seven times; the manuscripts have four of each. At XXX.6 the name is Dionysos.

Horai the Seasons, transliterated. XLIII twice, and at proem 18, XI.4 and XXIX.9.

Moirai the Fates, transliterated. Four times in LIX, and at XLIII.7 and LXIX.12.

Mousai the Muses, transliterated. LXXVI.2, and at proem 17 and LXXVII.2.

Nymphs kept as English, against the rule above, because νύμφη in this collection also means bride (XXII.1, of Tethys) and the English word carries both.