Hecate

See also: Hécate

English

Alternative forms
  • Hekate
various rare or obsolete forms
  • Ecate, Echate [15th century]
  • Hecat, Hecat’, Heccat, Hekat [17th century]
  • Hecatê, Hecaté, Hecatè (uncommon)

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Ἑκάτη (Hekátē), possibly the feminine equivalent of Ἑκατός (Hekatós), an obscure epithet of Apollo, variously interpreted as "one who works/operates from afar", "one who drives off",[1] "the far reaching one" or "the far-darter".[2]

Alternatively, some suggest that the name derives from the Ancient Greek word for "will".[3]

Pronunciation

All

  • US[4]
  • enPR: hĕʹkətē, IPA(key): /ˈhɛkəti/
  • enPR: hĕkəʹtē, IPA(key): /hɛˈkəti/
  • enPR: hĕʹkǐt, IPA(key): /ˈhɛkɪt/
  • enPR: hĕkǐtʹ, IPA(key): /hɛkˈɪt/
  • British
  • enPR: hĕʹkətē, IPA(key): /ˈhɛkəti/[5]

Proper noun

Hecate

  1. The powerful goddess, in Greek mythology, of magic, crossroads, fire, light, the moon, and the underworld. Her Roman counterpart is Trivia.
  2. (astronomy) 100 Hekate, a main belt asteroid.

Coordinate terms

Translations

References
  1. Charles Anthon, A Classical Dictionary (Harper & Brothers, 1869)
  2. P. E. Wheelwright, Metaphor and Reality (1975, ISBN 0-253-20122-5
  3. Jenny Strauss Clay, in Hesiod's Cosmos (Cambridge University Press, 2003, ISBN 0-521-82392-7, lists a number of researchers who associate Hecate's name and "will", e.g. Walcot (1958), Neitzel (1975), and Derossi (1975); she identifies "the name and function of Hecate as the one 'by whose will' prayers are accomplished and fulfilled". This interpretation also appears in Liddell and Scott's A Greek English Lexicon.
  4. Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved. Via“Hecate” in the Collins English Dictionary
  5. “Hecate” in the Collins English Dictionary

Anagrams
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