Anethus
{{short description|Greek mythological character}}
In Greek and Roman mythology, Anethus ({{langx|grc|Ἄνηθος|Ánēthos|dill}}) is a beautiful youth who undergoes transformation under unclear conditions and becomes a small flowering plant bearing his name, the dill. He and his story is only found in Maurus Servius Honoratus, a Latin grammarian who lived in the fourth and fifth centuries AD.
Etymology
The ancient Greek word for dill (anethum graveolens) is {{lang|grc|ἄνηθον}} (ánēthon), a neuter noun.{{sfn|Liddell|Scott|1940|loc=s.v. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=a)/nhqon ἄνηθον]}} It was also spelled {{lang|grc|ἄννηθον}} (ánnēthon), {{lang|grc|ἄνητον}} (ánēton) and {{lang|grc|ἄννητον}} (ánnēton).{{sfn|Liddell|Scott|1940|loc=s.v. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=a)/nhqon ἄνηθον]}} According to Robert Beekes it is probably of pre-Greek origin, as are all words ending in a -thos/-thon suffix.{{sfn|Beekes|2009|pages=103, 833}}{{sfn|Colvin|2014|pages = [https://books.google.com/books?id=Wd9nAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA29 29–31]}}
Mythology
The story of Anethus's minor transformation into the dill plant is only found in Servius, who writes that Anethus, much like the poppy and the daffodil, belonged to the class of the beautiful youths that were transformed into the plants bearing their names.Servius, On Virgil's Eclogues [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0091%3Apoem%3D2%3Acommline%3D47 2.47-48]{{sfn|Forbes Irving|1990|page=280}} Besides this brief mention, the full story of Anethus, his family, his birthplace, the deity responsible and the context behind his transformation has been lost.{{sfn|Forbes Irving|1990|page=280}} In ancient Greece anethum was seen by many doctors as a suitable herb for use in cures and remedies, especially for epilepsy.{{cite encyclopedia | last = Hünemörder | first = Christian | location = Hamburg | date = 2006 | url = https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/anise-e122170 | title = Anise | encyclopedia = Brill's New Pauly | publisher = Brill Reference Online | editor-first1 = Hubert | editor-last1 = Cancik | editor-first2 = Helmuth | editor-last2 = Schneider | translator = Christine F. Salazar | access-date = July 31, 2023 | doi = 10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e122170}}
See also
{{portal|Mythology|Ancient Greece|Ancient Rome}}
References
{{reflist}}
Bibliography
- {{cite book | author-link = Robert S. P. Beekes | last = Beekes | first = Robert S. P. | title = Etymological Dictionary of Greek | location = Leiden, the Netherlands | publisher = Brill Publications | date = 2009 | volume = 1 | isbn = 978-90-04-17420-7 | series = Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series | editor = Lucien van Beek}}
- {{cite book | title = A Brief History of Ancient Greek | first1 = Stephen | last1 = Colvin | date = 2014 | publisher = Wiley Blackwell | isbn = 978-1-4051-4925-9}}
- {{cite book | title = Metamorphosis in Greek Myths | location = Oxford, New York, Toronto | first = Paul M. C. | last = Forbes Irving | publisher = Oxford University Press, Clarendon Press | date = 1990 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=URvXAAAAMAAJ | isbn = 0-19-814730-9}}
- {{cite book | first1 = Henry George | last1 = Liddell | first2 = Robert | last2 = Scott | title = A Greek-English Lexicon, revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie | location = Oxford | publisher = Clarendon Press | date = 1940 | author1-link = Henry Liddell | author2-link = Robert Scott (philologist)}} [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057 Online version at Perseus.tufts project.]
- Maurus Servius Honoratus, In Vergilii carmina comentarii. Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii; recensuerunt Georgius Thilo et Hermannus Hagen. Georgius Thilo. Leipzig. B. G. Teubner. 1881. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0053 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
{{Metamorphoses in Greco-Roman mythology}}