Puppis

Puppis is the Stern or the poop deck of the Ship Argo Navis. Puppis is from Latin puppis, 'stern, poop', French poupe, from Old Provencal poppa. The word puppis was also used in Latin as a standard word for 'ship', but technically it refers to the rear deck of the ship which is the poop deck, the afterpart of a ship.

The word stern derives from Indo-European *sta-, the base of a long list of derivative words. In sailing ships the steerage was always located at the stern. The words stern, steer and starboard (steerboard) comes from Germanic *steuro, 'a steering' (from Indo-European *sta-).

“The stern (puppis) is the rear part of a ship, as if the term were post (literally 'after').” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.374.].

The word post², 'after', derives from *apo-. [The word post¹, a post used in steering, is from the same root as stern; Indo-European *sta-]

"The name Puppis came from the Middle English poupe, from the Latin puppim, meaning the rear section of a ship. The word derived from the Latin Puppis, meaning a doll or small image, the Romans and other ancient seafaring peoples had a small sacred idol or image affixed to the stern, where the deity it represented could watch over the vessel" [A Glossary of Nautical Terminology].

Latin has pupus, boy, and pupa meaning both girl and doll, the diminutives of these words were pupillus, children or male children, and pupilla, female children. The word pupil, a child in school, Latin pupillus, or Old English pupille, did not emerge until the 16th century; it originally meant 'orphan, ward', literally 'little boy', diminutive of pupus. According to Klein; pupil is related to pupa, puerile, puppet, and puppy. [Puppis, is adjacent to Canis Major, the Greater Dog].

While the word pupil, a child in school, an orphan, had more of a male connotation, there is an almost universal idea of associating the pupil of the human eye with a little girl or doll. In its anatomical sense, pupilla is a loan translation of Greek kore 'girl; pupil of the eye' [1]. The pupil of the eye was so called from the little images ('puppets'), which appear in it. If you look into someone's eyes you will see a tiny doll-like image of yourself in the black pupil.

Latin pupa means girl, doll, and also pupa or pupate, the chrysalis stage, or nympha, in butterfly metamorphosis, the resting stage between caterpillar and butterfly (pupa is applied only to butterflies, not to other insect's cocoons). In some representations of ancient ships a kind of roof is formed over the head of the steersman, and the upper part of the stern frequently has an elegant ornament called an aplustre, which constituted the highest part of the poop. A lantern was suspended from the aplustre so as to hang over the deck before the helmsman [2], and to serve as a signal at night. Pupae or pupa, is lantern shaped and is suspended from a twig like a hanging lantern, they have been referred to as lantern-like pupa, larval lanterns.

The word pupil is; "probably related to puer 'child'" [Online Etymology Dictionary], from the Indo-European root *pau-¹  'Few, little'. Derivatives: few, paucity (few, scarce, is related to Latin paullus, later spelled paulus, 'little', parvus, 'small, little'), poco (from Latin paucus, little, few), paraffin (Latin parum 'too little' + affinis 'affinity with'), parvovirus (viruses that contain DNA in an icosahedral protein shell and cause disease, especially in dogs and cattle, from Latin parvus, little, small), pauper, poor, poverty, depauperate, impoverish, foal (from Old English fola), filly (from Old Norse fylja, young female horse), puerile (juvenile, immature, childish), puerperal (occurring during childbirth or the period immediately following childbirth. The word puerpure also refers to women who give birth during the years of puberty, from Latin puer), poltroon (cowardly), pony, pool² (a game of chance, resembling a lottery), poulard (a young hen), poultry, pullet (a young hen - Latin puellis also meant a girl), polecat (Mustela putorius of the weasel family from Old French poll, poule), Punchinello (a short fat clown), pusillanimous (lacking courage), putto (a representation of a small child, often naked and having wings, used especially in the art of the European Renaissance. Amoretti or Amorini is an Italian term used to describe the small, winged babies who accompanied Cupid in art. Also called: Putti, from Latin putus), encyclopedia, pediatrician, orthopedics (relating to childhood bone disorders, from Greek pais), pedo-, paedo-, ped-, paed-, paido-, paid-, (these words from Greek pais, stem paid-, child > paideia, 'education'). [Pokorny pou- 842. Watkins] . Klein adds: public, puberty, people. The name Paul is probably from paulus, 'little'. A pedagogue is a teacher who instructs his pupils in a particularly pedantic or dogmatic manner [AHD], he might be described as stern.

The words stern, steer and starboard (steerboard) are related. There might be some ultimate relationship between the English words stern (of a ship), and star (a celestial body) from German stern, Latin stella. Puppis is the stern of Argo Navis, built by Argus; Argus' many eyes represent stars [2], and whose eyes after he was killed were placed on the tail of the peacock Pavo, representing the whole starry sky. Puppis is the back part of the ship from where the helmsman steered by viewing the course of the stars. Manilius explains the connection between stars and pupils of the eyes from the ancient's point of view:

"... triumphantly directing to the stars his [man's] star-like eyes, looks ever more closely at Olympus and inquires into the nature of Jove (God) himself;  .... and in his quest of a being akin to his own, seeks himself among the stars. ... thus the tiny pupil of the eye takes in the whole of the heaven and their eyes owes their vision to that which is very small whilst what they behold is very large". [Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century AD. p.295 and 297.]

Puppets carry a mystic meaning relevant to this celestial feature; that we may be controlled by the stars like puppets on a string. Penguin Dictionary of Symbols explains what was believed about puppets:

"The Mahabharata has the words: 'Human behavior is controlled from the outside like that of a wooden doll on the end of a string.' And in the Upanishads there is: 'Do you know the thread by which is attached this world and the other and all the beings in them, and the hidden Master who controls them from within?' When the craving for the One is satisfied, the human will be absorbed in Plato's golden thread which governs us, puppets that we are. Plato said that, by virtue of all that is best in it, mankind is the plaything of God, while Jacob Boehme wrote: 'You will achieve nothing until you abdicate your own will, that is, what you call 'I' or 'myself'.' Ananda Coomaraswamy conjures up the ecstatic rapture of the puppet 'acting without action' in the sense taught by the Bhagavad Gita and the Taoist doctrine of wi wu wi. Freedom is not to be gained by uncoordinated movement, but by becoming aware that in joining in 'the dance of phenomena' we may identify with the puppet-master who controls us." [The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols, p.774.]

© Anne Wright 2008.