From the book
The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns
Attributed to Orpheus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →- English renderings
- Limb; bodily member
Meaning
The cosmic constituents are called Pan’s limbs at XI.3, and corresponding visible powers are Hephaistos’s limbs at LXVI.7. The body-word gives a divine unity to multiple manifestations. It is not the unrelated musical meaning “song,” despite the musical language elsewhere in the Pan hymn.
Places to read
- Hymn XI · Line 3Read the word in its hymn.
Attested forms
μέλε’; μέλη
Occurrence inventory
2 in total. XI.3; LXVI.7