From the book
The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns
Attributed to Orpheus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordΔιμήτωρ is a double-birth or double-maternal designation applied here to Bakchos.
- In the Orphic HymnsIn L.1 the title stands beside son of Zeus and Bakchos of the wine-press.
- TranslationBoth adopted lines print the vocative διμῆτορ.
- A place to readThe double-maternal title accompanies son of Zeus and wine-press language.
- English renderings
- of two mothers, double maternal or birth relation
Meaning
Διμήτωρ is a double-birth or double-maternal designation applied here to Bakchos. The edition renders it of two mothers. An ancient explanation is supplied by Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4.4.5: he connects the title with two Dionysoi who have the same father but different mothers. That comparison does not make his account the required meaning of either hymn occurrence, which identifies neither pair of mothers nor their relation.
Use in the book
In L.1 the title stands beside son of Zeus and Bakchos of the wine-press. The named father and productive setting frame the address, while the maternal doubling remains unexplained. In LII.9 the god is a youth διμῆτορ among earth-breaking, fiery and Epaphian titles. Again the epithet contributes to a many-sided portrait instead of presenting a narrated birth sequence.
The collection supplies other birth language, including the sewing of Dionysos into a thigh in XLVIII.3 and his relation to Semele in XLIV.3. These passages are useful comparisons, but neither occurrence of διμήτωρ explicitly tells the reader to equate its twofold relation with one particular sequence. It is especially important to distinguish the word from δίμορφος and διφυής: two forms, twofold nature and a double maternal relation are related images, not interchangeable lexical statements.
Places to read
- Hymn L · Line 1The double-maternal title accompanies son of Zeus and wine-press language.
- Hymn LII · Line 9The same designation qualifies the invoked youth in a different epithet sequence.
Translation
Both adopted lines print the vocative διμῆτορ. The apparatus reports διμάτωρ in each setting, with differing editorial annotations: at L.1 Hermann’s lemma is printed διμήτωρ and marked sic; at LII.9 Abel’s διμῆτορ is given directly. Preserve the adopted forms without treating this variation as a new explanation of the god’s birth.
Attested forms
διμῆτορ
Occurrence inventory
2 in total. L.1; LII.9
Consequential readings
Lexical references
Further source
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4.4.5. Ancient explanation of the two-mother title through two Dionysoi with a shared father and different mothers; comparison, not compulsory interpretation of the hymns.