From the book
The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns
Attributed to Orpheus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordἮτορ is a poetic heart-word.
- In the Orphic HymnsHeracles and Hermes have an all-conquering heart at XII.5 and XXVIII.2.
- TranslationThe repeated English “heart” preserves the image well.
- A place to readThe all-conquering heart expresses Heracles’ effective strength.
- English renderings
- heart; power and disposition
Meaning
Ἦτορ is a poetic heart-word. In this collection its listed occurrences all stand with ἔχω, “have,” and an adjective or participle defining the heart’s condition. The heart is therefore a way of expressing the bearer’s force or attitude, not primarily an anatomical object described for its shape or location.
Use in the book
Heracles and Hermes have an all-conquering heart at XII.5 and XXVIII.2. In these passages the word contributes to an account of effective power: heart is associated with capability and resolve. Most other examples instead make the deity’s disposition toward worshippers explicit. Earth, Dionysus, and Nomos have a favourable heart; Leto is asked to listen with a gracious one.
The collective request at Prayer.43 gathers the same pattern into the hoped-for divine arrival: the gods should come favourably, possessing a rejoicing heart. Power and goodwill are not separate lexical meanings mechanically assigned to different organs. The accompanying adjective supplies the emphasis. Comparison with θυμός is useful because that word likewise carries feeling and disposition, but the poems do not establish a fixed psychological chart in which each heart-word has one exclusive faculty.
Places to read
- Hymn XII · Line 5The all-conquering heart expresses Heracles’ effective strength.
- Hymn XXVIII · Line 2Hermes shares the same powerful-heart phrase.
- Hymn XXXV · Line 6Leto’s gracious heart belongs to the request that she hear.
- Prayer to Musaeus · Line 43The collective invocation asks for rejoicing hearts at the gods’ arrival.
Translation
The repeated English “heart” preserves the image well. “Holding a heart,” however, is not a literal description of carrying an organ in the hand; ἔχω here attributes the stated condition to its bearer. The entry’s count concerns the noun ἦτορ itself, not every other word translated “heart” in the volume.
Attested forms
ἦτορ
Occurrence inventory
7 in total. Prayer.43; XII.5; XXVI.11; XXVIII.2; XXX.9; XXXV.6; LXIV.13