Libra

Astraea was the last of the gods to stay on Earth, as mankind became wicked, she ascended to heaven to become the constellation Virgo; the scales of justice she carried became the nearby constellation Libra. Read what writers on mythology have said about her on this Theoi Project webpage

"They named Libra from the equal balance of this month because on September 24 the sun makes the equinox while running through this sign. Whence Lucan also says (Civil War 4.58): To the scales of just Libra” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.106.]

The word Libra, from Latin libra, plural librae, Greek lithra, a weighing scale, is related to the words: level, lira, deliberate, equilibrium (from æquus, equal + libra), litra (name of a Greek weight and coin), litre (liter, a metric unit of volume)", librate (land worth a pound a year). [Klein, Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary]

"From time immemorial the scales have been the principle attribute of justice, it being impossible to even a little right with any quantity of wrong" [Brewers Book of Myth and Legend, p.253].

The scales are balanced when they are just even. The words just and justice come from the Indo-European root *yewes- 'Law'. Derivatives: jural (law), jurist, jury¹, abjure (to renounce under oath; forswear), adjure (to command or enjoin solemnly, as under oath), conjure (to summon up energy for a specific purpose), injury, juridical, jurisconsult, jurisdiction, jurisprudence, objurgate, perjure, (these words from Latin jus, ius, stem iur-, law, and its derivative iurare, 'to pronounce a ritual formula,' swear), just¹ (from Latin justus, iustus, just), justice. [Pokorny ieuos- 512. Watkins] Names: Justin, Justina, Justus.

Klein says that the words judge and judgement is "from Latin judicem, accusative of judex, 'judge', which stands for *jous-dik-s and originally meant 'one who shows right', from jus (or ius, from *yewes-), 'right', and the stem of dicere, 'to show, tell, say'". Latin dicere is related to Greek Dike, the Greek personification of Justice. Allen [Star Names] says that Greek Dike has sometimes been applied to the stars of Libra. The words judge and Dike come from the Indo-European root *deik- 'To show, pronounce solemnly, also in derivatives referring to the directing of words or objects'. Derivatives: teach (from Old English taecan, to show, instruct), token (a sign, mark), betoken (to signify), tetchy (peevish, testy), tachisme (mark, stain) digit (from Latin digitus, finger < 'pointer,' 'indicator'), toe, dictate, dictator, diction, dictionary, dictum, ditto, ditty, addict, benediction, condition, contradict, edict, fatidic (relating to prophecy), indict, indicate, indiction (a 15-year cycle used as a chronological unit in ancient Rome), indite (to write, compose), interdict, juridical, jurisdiction, maledict, malison (a curse), predict, valediction (valedico : a farewell), verdict, veridical (truthful, veracious: veridical testimony), voir dire (a preliminary examination of prospective jurors or witnesses under oath to determine their competence or suitability), abdicate, dedicate, preach (pre- + dicare), predicament, predicate (to base or establish a statement or action, for example), index (the second finger, index, indicating finger), indicate, judge, judicial, prejudice, (these words from Latin iudex, judge, 'one who shows or pronounces the law'), vendetta, vindicate, avenge, revenge, vengeance, (these suffixes from Latin vindex, surety, claimant, avenger), deictic (directly proving by argument), deixis (the function of a deictic word in specifying its referent in a given context), apodictic (necessarily or demonstrably true, from apo- + deiknunai, to show), paradigm, policy² (written contract or certificate of insurance, from apo- + deiknunai, to show), disk, dictyosome (the Golgi apparatus in plant cells), dish (from Greek dikein, to throw < 'to direct an object', Latin discus ‘dish, quoit’), desk (from the Italian desco 'board, table or stool'), disc, disco, discobolos (ancient Greek discus thrower), dicast (a citizen judge or juror in ancient Athens), syndic (an official, from sun-' with' and dike 'judgment'), syndicate, theodicy (a vindication of God's goodness and justice in the face of the existence of evil, from Greek dike, justice, right, court case). [Pokorny deik- 188. Watkins]

The word balance comes from Latin bi-, 'two, twice', + Latin lanx, genitive lancis, 'plate, dish; scale of weighing machine'.

“A pound is made of twelve ounces [Troy weights?], and thus it is considered as a type of perfect weight because it consists of as many ounces as there are months in the year. It is called a 'pound' (libra) because it is independent (liber) and contains all the aforementioned weights within it.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.333.]

The symbol for the British currency called the pound '£' (L with a horizontal line), and the pound, weight, is also known as the 'lira sign'. The pound currency unit was so named because it was originally the value of 1 pound Tower Weight of fine silver. Both symbols derive from librum, the basic Roman unit of weight, in turn derived from the Latin word pendere, for scales or balance.

“A weight (pondus) is so called because it hangs (pendere) balanced in the scales, hence also the term pensum ('something weighed'). The term pondus is loosely used for one pound (libra). Hence also the dipondius (i.e. dupondius) is named, as if it were duo pondera ('two pounds'); this term has been retained in usage up to today.” [p.332.] “Steward (dispensator) is the name for a person entrusted with the administration of money, and such a one is a dispensator because in former times the person who dispensed money would not count it but 'weigh it out' (appendere).” [p.217.] “A 'measure of wool' (pensum) for women is named from weighing (pendere, past participle pensus), whence also the words 'rations' (pensa) and 'expense' (impensa) [p.389.]”   [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD]

"From the same pendere ‘to weigh or pay, comes dispensator ‘distributing cashier,' and in our accounts we write expensum ‘expense’ and therefrom the first pensio ‘payment’ and likewise the second and any others, and dispendium ‘loss by distribution,' for this reason, that money is wont to become less in the dispendendo ‘distributing of the payments’; compendium ‘saving,' which is made when it compenditur ‘is weighed all together’" [Varro: On The Latin Language, 1st century AD, p.171.]

Latin pendere comes from the Indo-European root *(s)pen- 'To draw, stretch, spin'. Derivatives: spend, spider (related to the verb pendere, to hang, let hang; scales 'hang in the balance', Arachne, the spinster spider hanged herself), spin, spindle (a slender, tapered rod for twisting and holding thread in spinning), spinster, painter² (a rope attached to the bow of a boat, used for tying up, as when docking or towing), pansy (French pensée 'thought.' The flower resembles a little face crinkled up in thought, from Latin pensare to weigh and ponder about), penchant, pend, pending, pendant¹, pendentive, pendulous, pendulum, pensile (hanging loosely; suspended), pension¹, pensive, peso, poise¹ (to carry or hold in equilibrium; balance), antependium (a decorative hanging for the front of an altar, lectern, or pulpit), append, appendectomy, appendix (a human appendix hangs at the end of the large intestine), avoirdupois (weight or heaviness, especially of a person), compendium (a short, complete summary; an abstract), compensation, counterpoise, depend, independence, independent, dispense, expend, expensive, impend, penthouse, perpend (to consider carefully; ponder), perpendicular, prepense (contemplated or arranged in advance; premeditated: malice prepense), propend (to have a propensity; incline or tend), recompense, stipend, suspend, vilipend (treat with contempt; despise), -penia (lack; deficiency as in leukopenia), geoponic (agriculture or farming), lithopone (a white pigment), span² (to bind or fetter), spancel (a rope used to hobble an animal, as a sheep), spanner, span¹ (the extent or measure of space, the span of life determined by the fates, lifespan), spangle (sparkling object), pound¹, ponder, ponderous; equiponderate, preponderate, spontaneous. [Pokorny (s)pen-(d-) 988. Watkins] In the names: Spencer, Aspen, Pentagon, Pennsylvania.

Manilius in giving the astrological influences for Aries describes the process of deriving thread from wool, and associates Aries with the weaving competition (a word from *pet-, see below) of Pallas (Greek Athena) and Arachne, who hanged herself. Athena, whom Manilius identifies with the constellation Aries, took pity on Arachne. Sprinkling her with the juices of aconite (a-, not, + konis, 'dust', 'without dust', understood to mean the dust of the arena - maybe an Aries word, - hence 'without struggle, unconquerable' [Klein]), Athena loosened the rope, which became a cobweb, while Arachne herself was changed into a spider; "and her descendants to forever hang from threads and to be great weavers" (Ovid). The word spider is cognate with the Latin word for balance or scales, pendere. The Aries/Libra axis represents the two equinoxes, Aries, the vernal equinox, and Libra, the autumnal equinox. The competition between Arachne and Pallas/Athena might be represented in the two equinoxes (it was never said who won the competition).

“A quill (pinna) is so called from 'hanging' (pendere), that is, flying, for it comes, as we have said, from birds.” [p.142].“Feathers (pinna) are named from 'being suspended' (pendere, 2^nd conjugation), that is, from flying - hence also the word pendere ('suspend,' 3^rd conjugation) - for flying creatures move with the aid of feathers when they commit themselves to the air [p.264.]” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD]

The word feather and its Latin cognate pinna, comes from the Indo-European root *pet- 'To rush, fly'. Derivatives: feather, -petal, petition, petulant, appetite, compete, impetigo (skin infection), impetuous, impetus, perpetual, repeat, panache ('plume of feathers'), pen¹ (a writing pen or quill), penna, pennate, pennon, pin, pinna (feather, wing or fin), pinnacle, pinnate, pinnati-, pinnule; empennage, (these words from Latin penna, pinna, feather, wing), propitious, -pter (wing), dipteral (Diptera, that includes the true flies and mosquitoes), pteridology (the study of ferns), pterygoid (located in the region of the sphenoid, a compound bone with winglike processes, situated at the base of the skull), sauropterygian (extinct aquatic reptiles), ptomaine (nitrogenous organic compound produced by bacterial putrefaction of protein), ptosis (drooping of the upper eyelid caused by muscle weakness or paralysis), peripet- (to change suddenly, peri- + piptein, to fall), symptom (a happening, symptom of a disease; syn- + piptein, to fall;), sumpto- (to coincide ), (these words from Greek piptein, to fall), hippopotamus ("the hippopotamus represents the Western sky, because of its swallowing up into itself the stars which traverse it" [1]), potamic (relating to rivers), potamology (the scientific study of rivers, potamos, river, Greek potamos 'rushing water,' river), talipot (a palm tree), pterodactyl, dermapteran, pteryla, pterosaur, pteropod, -pterous. [Pokorny 2. pet- 825. Watkins] Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to evolve flight. Mesopotamia.

Johann Bode, Uranographia, 1801.

The head of an obsolete modern constellation, Turdus Solitarius, encroaches onto one of the scales of Libra, the one with the alpha star, Zuben Algenubi. Turdus Solitarius, the solitary thrush was a constellation that was never widely recognized and was replaced by other birds, including Noctua, the owl, and the Hermit Bird. The constellation was located on the end of the tail of Hydra, the water-snake, just below Libra, the scales. Its stars have been incorporated back into Hydra. Manilius says the scales represent 'balancing night with the length of day'. This particular scale, alpha, might represent the night scale; Noctua means night owl. The words ostrich and thrush comes from the same root, ostrich (avis + Late Latin struthio, Greek strousthos), turdus and thrush (from Greek strousthos). It is said that the Egyptian goddess Maat used an ostrich feather to measure the weight of the heart, or soul, in which a person’s heart or soul lies in one pan and the ostrich feather of the goddess Maat in the other [3].

At first Scorpio held the scales in his claw, but then the scales were transferred to Virgo, who used them to weigh competing claims and thus to dispense her justice.

The main function of our ears is hearing and balance (this also has something to do with Hercules, Heracles, the -cles is cognate with 'listen'), and in law, a hearing is a proceeding before a court. "Hebrew Moznayim represents 'Libra, the Hebrew month of Tishrei'. Moznayim, from the word oznayim (ears), implies equilibrium and balance (the inner sense of the ears)" [4]. Strong's Bible has of Hebrew 'azan "a primitive root (rather identical with ''azan' (238) through the idea of scales as if two ears); to weigh, i.e. (figuratively) ponder:--give good heed." [5]. The outer projecting portion of the ear is called pinna.

Allen [Star Names] says that the sacred books of India mentions this constellation as Tula, the Tamil Tulam or Tolam, a Balance. Greek has the plural word talanton, 'pair of scales', 'balance', related to Sanskrit tula, 'balance', tulayati, 'lifts up, weighs', from the Indo-European root *tele- 'To lift, support, weigh; with derivatives referring to measured weights and thence to money and payment'. Derivatives: telamon (a figure of a man used as a supporting pillar. In mythology Telamon is one of the Argonauts and the father of Ajax), toll¹ (a fixed charge or tax for a privilege, especially for passage across a bridge or along a road), philately (stamp collecting), tolerate (from Latin tolerare, to bear, endure), talion (a punishment identical to the offense, as the death penalty for murder), retaliate (from Latin talio, reciprocal punishment in kind, possibly 'something paid out'), talent (from Greek talanton, any of several specific weights of gold or silver, hence the sum of money represented by such a weight), ablation (from ab, away + latus, carried), collate (to examine and compare carefully in order to note points of disagreement), dilatory (dis + latus, intended to delay), elate, elated (used as the past participle stem of effere ‘to carry up’, from ferre ‘to carry’. Exultantly proud and joyful), elative, illation (the act of inferring or drawing conclusions), illative (drawing conclusions), legislator (lex, law, + lator, bearer, from latus), oblate¹, prelate, prolate, relate, sublate, superlative, translate, (these words from Latin latus, 'carried, borne,' used as the suppletive past participle of ferre, to bear), dilate (Latin dilatare, literally ‘to spread widely apart’, from latus ‘wide’), lateral, latitude (Latin latitudo, ‘breadth, width’, from latus ‘broad’), tola (a unit of weight used in India, from Sanskrit tul, tula, scales, balance, weight), extol (to praise highly; exalt). [Pokorny 1. tel- 1060. Watkins] Atalanta means 'equal in weight', derived from Greek atalantos. Atalanta was a fierce huntress, she said she would marry anybody who could beat her in a foot race -  a competition.

The lex talionis (law of retaliation) is a theory of retributive justice which says that proper punishment should be equal to the wrong suffered [6]. The most common expression of lex talionis is 'an eye for an eye'.

In the Bible Daniel 5:27 Tekel can mean weighed or shekel.

"Tekel: You have been weighed on the balances and found wanting."

“Spiders (aranea) are vermin of the air (aer), named from the air that is their nourishment. They spin out a long thread from their little body and, constantly attentive to their webs, never leave off working on them, maintaining a perpetual suspension in their own piece of craftsmanship.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.258.]

The astrological influences of the constellation given by Manilius:

"Balancing night with the length of day when after a year's space we enjoy the new vintage of the ripened grape, the Scales will bestow the employment of weights and measures and a son to emulate the talents of Palamedes, who first assigned numbers to things, and to these numbers names, fixed magnitudes, and individual symbols. He will also be acquainted with the tables of law, abstruse legal points, and words denoted by compendious signs; he will know what is permissible and the penalties incurred by doing what is forbidden; in his own house he is a people's magistrate holding lifelong office. Under no other sign would Servius [Servius Sulpicius Rufus, ca. 106-43 BC, extolled as the greatest of jurists by Cicero] more fittingly have been born, who in interpreting the law framed legislation of his own. Indeed, whatever stands in dispute and needs a ruling the pointer of the Balance will determine"  [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 4, p.239]

© Anne Wright 2008.