Delphinus

Delphinus and Dolphin comes from Greek delphis, genitive delphinos, 'dolphin', whence Greek delphus, womb, (referring to its shape), Sanskrit garbha womb. Greeks called siblings born of the same mother adelphoi (singular), adelphos (brother), and adelphas (sister), literally 'from the same womb'. Dolphin is related to dauphin (the eldest son of the king of France from 1349 to 1830), Philadelphus, Philadelphia, calf (young of a cow, and various species of mammals including dolphins), chilver (a ewe lamb, often referred to as a 'chilver lamb'), the name Chilvers, the second element in dagoba which is the short form of dhatu-garbha, a Buddhist shrine or stupa, a beehive shaped building. The common dolphin is Delphinus delphi.

Delphi was the site of the sanctuary to Phoebus Apollo, the Pythian Games and the legendary Oracle 'Pythia'. The name of the site may commemorate Apollo's cult title which is "Delphinios" meaning dolphin [1]. Delphi was also known as the center of the world. To find out exactly where the center of the world was located, Zeus released two eagles (Aquila, eagle, is an adjoining constellation) from opposite ends of the earth, one from the east and one from the west, and the precise spot where they met, was in Delphi. The Delphic Oracle was known as the 'Pythia'.

"This earliest oracle [at Delphi] was protected by a horrible dragon named Delphyne or Python, who was devastating the countryside. When Apollo was still very young, he slew the dragon, claimed the oracle for himself and established funerary games (the Pythian Games) in order to appease the dead monster’s spirit. He dedicated one of his symbols—a three-legged stool called a tripod—to the shrine and installed his own priestess, the Pythia, upon it. According to tradition, the Pythia was seated in the midst of vapors billowing from the earth beneath her tripod, seated in a trancelike state induced by the mists and by chewing laurel leaves, babbling her incoherent prophecies that were then translated into Homeric hexameter by a priest [1]. From her sometimes garbled muttering, the priest would translate into hexameter verse. The Pythia never gave a straight answer..." [Delphi by Ron Leadbetter].

Delphi (from Greek delphos, meaning a womb), is often translated as the Omphalos, but Varro disagrees:

"...for there all things originate in the centre, because the earth is the centre of the universe. Besides, if the ball of the earth has any centre, or umbilicus, it is not Delphi that is the centre; and the centre of the earth at Delphi—not really the centre, but so called—is something in a temple building at one side, something that looks like a treasure-house, which the Greeks call the omphalos, which they say is the tomb of the Python [Varro: On The Latin Language, p.287].

"The name Delphi from Greek Delphoi, is connected with delph, 'hollow' or delphus, 'womb'" [2]. Greek delph 'hollow', is cognate with our word delve, from Old English delfan, meaning to search deeply and laboriously, or to dig the ground, as with a spade, and comes from the Indo-European root *dhelbh- 'To dig, excavate'. The city Delft or Delf in Holland is related to this root from where we get delft, glazed earthenware. Some etymologists see the word delve as related to dell, and dale, meaning a valley. Dell and dale come from the Indo-European root *dhel- 'A hollow'. Derivatives: dell (from Old English dell, valley), dale (from Old English dael), thalweg (a subterranean stream, from Old High German tal, valley), dalles (from Old Norse daela, wooden gutter on a ship, from Germanic *del-). [Pokorny 1. dhel- 245. Watkins]

In Greek mythology Delphyne, the daughter of Gaia (Earth), is the name of the female dragon appointed, by Gaia, to guard the oracle of Delphi, and slain by Apollo. She is sometimes called Python. She is sometimes equated with Echidna, a monster with the head and torso of woman, but the lower part of a snake, and the consort of Typhon. In one tale Delphyne (here half maiden, half snake, like Echidna) guards the sinews of Zeus, which had been stolen by her mate Typhon. Apollo had a title Delphinius which in some stories was interpreted as having come from his slaying of Delphyne (or from showing the Cretan colonists the way to Delphi whilst riding on a dolphin) [3].

'Persuasor Amphitrites' was a title for Delphinus, from the story of the Dolphin who persuaded Amphitrite to marry Poseidon. The story goes that Poseidon (Neptune) wanted Amphitrite's hand in marriage. Amphitrite would have nothing to do with him, and to elude him she tried to hide, sometimes in deep water, sometimes on land (her name implies amphibian). Poseidon asked the Dolphin, Delphin, to trace her which he was able to do, and he persuaded her to marry Poseidon and Hyginus said that Delphin himself took charge of the wedding [Hyginus, Astronomica 2.17 (4)]. The grateful god rewarded his service by placing him among the stars [5]. The Pythia (also called Delphyne, although this is uncertain...) was the priestess presiding over the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi. Greek peitho (from peithein) means persuasion and this word resembles Pythia and Python. Greek peitho is personified as a goddess called Peitho, a daughter of Aphrodite. She is identified with the Roman Suada, Suadela, the personification of persuasion [6]. Persuade comes from the Indo-European root *swád- 'Sweet, pleasant'. Derivatives: sweet, suasion, assuasive, dissuade, persuade, (these words from suasus, Latin suadere, to advise, urge < 'recommend as good'), suave, assuage, (these words from Latin suavis, delightful), aedes (a mosquito of the genus Aëdes, transmits diseases such as yellow fever and dengue, from Greek edos, pleasure). Suffixed form *swad-ona; hedonic (pleasure), hedonism, from Greek hedon, pleasure. [Pokorny swad- 1039. Watkins] 

A womb wraps a baby in 'swaddling' [not a recognized of *swád-] clothes, with numerous layers of 'skins' or membranes (the word placenta might be Vela).

Greek delphus or delphos, means a womb, and so it seems does the meaning of Pandora's pithos, or Pandora's Box, mistranslated by sixteenth century monk Erasmus who changed the original Greek word pithos to Latin pyxis, box.

"A pithos is a jar that is womb-like in shape and is a symbol for the earth, the mother of all. The implications of the pithos to the story of Pandora are obvious. Pandora's gifts are released from her own womb. Her fault lies not in her curiosity, but in her being. She is constitutionally deceptive and lethal because she draws men into her pithos, and brings new men forth for a life of misery. The image of Woman as a pithos is extremely ancient. In many ancient Helladic burials, the pithos was used as a coffin. The deceased was placed inside in a fetal position, covered with honey, and buried in the hope of new life and regeneration" [Robert E. Meagher, Helen, Myth, Legend, and the Culture of Misogyny].

Pythia, the Python, the Delphian oracle; Greek pithos, a jar; and Greek peitho, persuasion; have a similar resonance.

A womb as an entity would have an interest in promoting marriage so that it can fulfill its purpose. The Dolphin played the part of a procurer, matchmaker, or proxy, for Neptune. The name Pandora resembles Pandare. Chaucer's Pandare is depicted as a kind and friendly go-between for the lovers, his name is borrowed from Greek Pandaros, who was a leader of the Lycians in the Trojan war, said to have procured for Troilus the love of Chryseis. His name is related to the word pander which in earlier times had good connotations but later acquired the debased meaning of 'a procurer for a prostitute, pimp', or 'arranger of sexual liaisons'. Its modern use as a verb, meaning 'indulge,' dates from the 19th century [John Ayto].

Pandora was the first woman, bestowed upon humankind as a punishment for Prometheus's theft of fire. Entrusted with a box containing all the ills that could plague people, she opened it out of curiosity and thereby released all the evils of human life, except hope which got trapped in the lid. The words curious and procure are related.

Pythons are egg-bearing snakes, and are a close relative of the boa which bears live young, both from the family boidae. Pythons are unusual amongst snakes in caring for their eggs. A female will coil round, guard and incubate her eggs for 2-3 months. As the sun rises, she will leave them to bask. When shade envelops the eggs they cool and the female, now warm, returns and wraps herself around them. She will, when necessary, increase her body heat by 'shivering' [7].

It seems that this constellation was associated with the Muses from Greek Mousa, a Muse. Muse and music are from the Indo-European root *men-1 'To think'.

"In continuation of the Greek story of Arion [probably Cygnus, who was rescued by a dolphin; the dolphins, lovers of music, were attracted to Arion's singing and playing on the lyre] and his Lyre [Lyra] appears Greek Mousikon zodion, the Musicum signum of the Latins [as titles for Delphinus]; or this may come from the fact mentioned in Ovid's Fasti that the constellation was supposed to contain nine stars, the number of the Muses ..." [Allen, Star Names]

"Ovid's Fasti that the constellation was supposed to contain nine stars, the number of the Muses ...". A baby spends nine months in the womb. The Kuretes/Curates were nine dancers, the words curious and procure and Curates are related.

Greek delphus, womb, seems to have the same meaning as English womb, and Latin uterus. The term uterus is commonly used within the medical and related professions, whilst womb is in more common usage. Uterus comes form the Indo-European root *udero-. Derivatives: uterus, from Latin uterus, womb (reshaped from *udero-). Perhaps taboo deformation *wen-tri-; venter, ventriloquism, from Latin venter, belly. Perhaps taboo deformation *wnd-ti-; vesica, from Latin vesica, bladder. Variant form *ud-tero-; hysteria (a word coined because of the belief that hysteria originated in disorders of the womb - Collins Concise), hysteric, hystero-, from Greek hustera, womb. [Pokorny udero- 1104. Watkins] The family Hystricidae, are the porcupines. [Delphyne, or Pythia is sometimes equated with Echidna. Echidna’s are Australian animals, similar in spike function to the American porcupine, and dubbed porcupines.]

Aristophanes in Vestas I., reg. 28, calls Pythia 'Pythia ventriloqua vates' or the 'ventriloquial prophetess', on account of her stomach-voice [8].

"The hysterics of the Pythonesses or priestesses at the oracles of Apollo in Delphi were regarded as the utterances" [9].

Herodotus has told the story of Arion, the boy musician who rides on a dolphin's back. Arion became a swan (Cygnus) at his death. The words swan, and consonant are related, from Latin sonare, 'to sound'. Here below Aristotle says the dolphin has a voice that can utter vowel, vocal (from Indo-European *wekw-) sounds, which might explain the significance of Arion riding a dolphin; consonants and vowels; and the utterances of the Pythia or Delphine which no one could understand; the voice from the womb:

"The dolphin, when taken out of the water, gives a squeak and moans in the air, ... For this creature has a voice (and can therefore utter vocal or vowel sounds), for it is furnished with a lung and a windpipe; but its tongue is not loose, nor has it lips, so as to give utterance to an articulate sound (or a sound of vowel and consonant in combination.)" [The History of Animals By Aristotle]

Greek delphus, womb, is related to Sanskrit garbha womb, and dagoba, the Buddhist stupa.

"The classical form of the stupa consists of a solid, hemispherical dome. Early Buddhist texts refer to this as the garbha, meaning 'womb' or 'container.' With this reference the stupa as a whole is called the 'dhatu-garbha.' Dhatu is Sanskrit for element. Herein lies the derivation of the word 'dagoba,' which is the short form of dhatu-garbha and which is the most usual designation of the stupa in Sri Lanka. ... 'Hiranyagarbha. Hiranya is Sanskrit for golden and garbha, means womb. According to Vedic cosmology, this golden womb was the nucleus from which all creation evolved. ...The dome is a symbol of both the womb and the tomb. ... Our physical conception in the womb follows our death in the spiritual realm. The womb is thus the symbol of the tomb. This is the metaphysical counterpart of the historical view that the stupa evolved out of the ancient funerary mound" [10].

Popularly in England Delphinus is now Job’s Coffin [Allen, Star Names]; a coffin is a tomb, and a womb is often likened symbolically to a tomb. Varro called Delphi the tomb of the Python. A number of Etruscan tombs show dolphins leaping from the waves, often below funerary banqueters [11]. [Perhaps crypt? The pronouncements of the Delphic oracle were notoriously cryptic].

"Classically, the womb was regarded as an independent organism, a kind of animal within the female body hungry to bear children. The Book of proverbs speaks of the grave and the womb being equally insatiable. Plato in his Timaeus wrote that the womb was a creature longing to be fertilized. If unfruitful for long it became restless and angry and left its proper place and wandered about the body, closing the passages for air, stopping respiration and causing anxiety, feelings of dread and other symptoms of illness. Hysteria (from the Greek hystera meaning 'womb') was long thought to be caused by the womb tearing itself loose from its anchorage and wandering in the female body. In Bavaria, the hungry uterus was offered small round morsels made of cat's grease, honey, nutmeg and other ingredients. It was believed that while the woman slept the womb-creature would emerge from the woman's mouth and partake of the fare and be appeased. In modern societies, 'pre-menstrual syndrome' is a medically recognized condition that has also recently been accepted as a legitimate legal defense in a number of court cases in the US and Europe" [THINGS FEMALE Benjamin Walker].

Perhaps the utterances of the Pythia or Delphine, or the voice from the belly ventriloquism, has some basis in reality:

"It has been said that for some weeks before birth the foetus is aware of the catastrophic nature of its forthcoming experience. Occasionally its fear is expressed vocally. Cases have been recorded of children crying out while still in the womb. This cry, called the vagitus uterinus, 'uterine cry,' may sound like a whimper, or like a bleat, a howl or yelp. People who have heard it describe the experience as unforgettable, and one of the most eerie imaginable. It is entirely different from the first normal cry the baby makes after birth" [THINGS FEMALE Benjamin Walker]

In the Sanskrit texts, the Caraka-samhita (circa first century C.E.) and the Susruta-samhita (circa second century C.E.) mention is made of the voice from the womb:

Both texts include month-by-month descriptions of what should ideally happen to the garbha during gestation. We find embedded within these narratives a number of different systems through which the voice of the fetus, as well, can be heard and interpreted through its mother’s desires: her pregnancy cravings are variously read as omens, as indicators of the gestating fetus’ personality type, and are also understood as the fetus’ own voice, communicating its intense wishes for substances and foods through its own personal 'hot line' to the outside world as it exists in the condition of dohada ('two-heartedness') with its mother, a unique expression that is tied to and explained by the elegant system of color and visceral substance-coding accepted by both texts. This paper will examine issues of dividuation and personality formation during gestation in terms of fetal desire and maternal habit as the definition of garbha becomes increasingly monovalent during the last two trimesters of pregnancy. http://www.aasianst.org/absts/1999abst/sasia/s-186.htm

Living in cities used to mean 'civilized people' (from the same root kei-):

‘Diviner than the Dolphin is nothing yet created, for indeed they were aforetime men and lived in cities along with mortals, but…they exchanged the land for the sea, and put on the form of fishes; but even now, the righteous spirit of men in them preserves human thoughts and human deeds’  [Oppian, Halieutica (12)]

The astrological influences of the constellation given by Manilius:

"The sea-dark Dolphin ascends from the Ocean to the heavens and emerges with its scales figured by stars, birth is given to children who will be equally at home on land and in the sea. For just as the dolphin is propelled by its swift fins through the waters, now cleaving the surface, now the depths below, and derives momentum from its undulating course, wherein it reproduces the curl of waves, so whoever is born of it will speed through the sea. Now lifting one arm after the other to make slow sweeps he will catch the eye as he drives a furrow of foam through the sea and will sound afar as he thrashes the waters; now like a hidden two-oared vessel he will draw apart his arms beneath the water; now he will enter the waves upright and swim by walking and, pretending to touch the shallows with his feet, will seem to make a field of the surface of the sea; else, keeping his limbs motionless and lying on his back or side, he will be no burden to the waters but will recline upon them and float, the whole of him forming a sail-boat not needing oarage.

"Other men take pleasure in looking for the sea in the sea itself: they dive beneath the waves and try to visit Nereus and the sea nymphs in their caves; they bring forth the spoils of the sea and the booty that wrecks have lost to it, and eagerly search the sandy bottom.

From their different sides swimmers and divers share an equal enthusiasm for both pursuits, for their enthusiasm, though displayed in different ways, springs from a single source.

"With them you may also reckon men of cognate skill who leap in the air, thrown up from the powerful spring-board, and execute a see-saw movement, the first's descent throwing up the second and the plunge of the second lifting the first on high; or hurl their limbs through the fire of flaming hoops, imitating the dolphin's movement in their flight through space, and land as gently on the ground as they would in the watery waves: they fly though they have no wings and sport amid the air.

Even if the Dolphin's sons lack these skills, they will yet possess a physique suited to them; nature will endow them with strength of body, briskness of movement, and limbs which fly over the plain" [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 5, p.335].

© Anne Wright 2008.