Pyxis Nautica

Pyxis was originally Pyxis Nautica, the Nautical Box, or Mariner's Compass, called la Boussole by the French, Kompass by the Germans. [Not to be confused with the Pair of Compasses of the constellation Circinus]

It is perhaps supposed to represent the compass of Argo Navis, though the Argo would not have had a compass, as the ancient Greeks did not use compasses for navigation. Note that Pyxis was not formally a part of Argo Navis; that is, the stars in it have their own independent Bayer designations (unlike Carina, Puppis and Vela which retained and split among themselves the Bayer designations from Argo). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyxis 

Pyxis, a small box, from Latin pyxis, Greek puxis, Vulgar Latin buxem, a pyx was receptacle for coins, and pyxidium is a capsule, these words are related to the English word box, and box tree. Other related words are: 'buzzard', Buteo, a genus of hawks, from French buse, Latin buteo, related to butire, 'to cry like a bittern' (literally 'to utter the sound bu'), from the Indo-European imitative base *bu-, whence also Latin bubo, 'owl, horned owl', bittern (from Vulgar Latin *buti + taurus), bush² (to furnish or line with a bushing, i.e. electrical insulation). The word boisterous comes via Old French boistos ‘clumsy, rough’ from Latin buxus ‘made from box-tree wood’.

According to Ovid the place, Cytorus, was famous in mythology as a source of boxwood [1]. Buxine is a steroid alkaloid obtained from the Buxus sempervirens, or common box tree. Buxine is identical to the much more well known 'berberine', present in Berberis vulgaris (common Barberry), also identical with bebeerine. Buxine is renown for its efficiency in easing illnesses with prominent fevers, and recommended as a substitute for quinine for treating malaria. [2]

The word pyx also pix is used to denote the box in which the Sacred Host, the consecrated bread or wafer of the Eucharist, is commonly kept in the Tabernacle [3]. A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to a venue.

[4] Western Sailing ships started using the marine compass in the Mediterranean Sea around the thirteenth or fourteenth century. To box the compass was to be able to name all 32 points of the compass in clockwise order, a drill for apprentice seamen. The 32 points are simple bisections of the directions of the four winds. The 32 points rose come from the directions of the eight major winds, the eight half-winds and the sixteen quarter-winds [5].

Boxing Day was a day of giving gifts. The box containing the ship's compass on a ship was called the binnacle, 'the case or lighted housing that contains the ship's compass'. "The word binnacle is a corruption of earlier bittacle, from Portuguese bitacola, which is formed by aphesis from Latin habitaculum, 'little dwelling' (whence also French habitacle), a derivative of habitare, 'to dwell'" [Klein]. Habitare comes from the Indo-European root *ghabh- Also *ghebh-. 'To give or receive'. Derivatives: give, forgive, gift, able, binnacle, habit, habitable, habitant, habitat, cohabit, exhibit, inhabit, inhibit, debt, due, duty, endeavor. [Pokorny ghabh- 407. Watkins] The evolution of the opposable or prehensile thumb is usually associated with Homo habilis, the forerunner of Homo sapiens. Maybe Abel whom it is said 'god favored for his gift', is related to able above?

Pyxis is composed of stars that formed the constellation of Malus, the ship's mast. The constellation, Pyxis, is in the position where the mast of the Ship, Argo Navis, should be. The mast of a sailing ship is a tall vertical pole which supports the sails (Vela).

Isidore says “The mast is the pole on a ship that holds up the sail. It is called a mast (malus) because it has the shape of an apple (malum) at the top ...” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, 374.]

Notice the similarity between the word 'able' and the Indo-European root *ab(e)l- Apple, Old Irish aball, 'apple', Danish aeble, Latin Abella (now Avella), is name of a town in Campania, literally 'Apple town'.

Latin malum, means apple. 'Adam's Apple' is the 'voice box' or larynx from Greek larunx, the box containing the vocal cords (vocal cords might be Delphinus?). [The larnax (plural larnakes) may be a relative, it is a type of closed box or coffin often used as a container for human remains in ancient Greece.] Folklore has it that the 'forbidden fruit' offered by Eve got stuck in Adam's throat, hence the prominent voice box in men.

The forbidden fruit was of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Pyxis is a compass. The expression 'moral compass' is the notion that prompts people to choose and behave in certain ways. The mariner's compass consists of a magnetic needle freely suspended so that in the earth's magnetic field it turns until aligned with the magnetic north and south poles. The terms positive and negative are sometimes used for the poles of a magnet. The positive pole is that which seeks geographical north. The north had positive or good connotations, and the south had negative or bad connotations. Dhruva, in Hindu mythology, was the north Pole Star (in Ursa Minor), his name is related to the words 'true' and 'truth' (from I.E. deru-). The south pole is in the constellation Octans.

St. Elmo is the patron saint of sailors. The meteorological phenomena, St. Elmo's fire, occurs during thunderstorms at sea. It is actually the brush-discharge of electricity seen mostly around mastheads and described as ghostly blue flames that light up the masts like candles [6]. In ancient Greece, the appearance of a single ball of fire was called Helena and two were called Castor and Pollux (the Twins, Gemini). It was a good omen because it was a sign that the storm was starting to abate. There is speculation on the net that what Moses observed in the burning bush on Mount Sinai was actually St Elmo's fire [7]. [The word box is related to bush², 'to furnish or line with a bushing' (see above); bush¹, 'a shrub' is not a recognized cognate of bush².] As masts on ships are not consumed by St Elmo's fire; the biblical burning bush was not consumed by the 'fire'. The voice from the burning bush said "I am the Elohim". To me the word Elohim resembles Elmo...

© Anne Wright 2008.