Subject: (whorl) Names, animals, and meanings (E)

From: mary whalen <marewhalen at yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1998 17:31:39 +0000

This is Sean Whalen (prion).

Echidna.  Greek for viper or adder.  Name of a mythological monster. 
She was described as a creature that is part beautiful woman, and part
serpent.  The daughter of Chrysaor (Golden Sword) and Callirrhoe (Fair
Flowing), or of Tartaros and Gaia (Earth), or of Ceto (Whale or
Sea-monster) and Phorcys.  Said to be the mother of many other
mythological monsters.  The myths are contradictory about who these
monsters' fathers were.  Typhon or Typhoeus is usually said to be the
father of the Chimaera, the Hydra, and Cerberus (and Typhon if
Typhoeus is given as the father).  Typhon/Typhoeus may have been the
father of her other children, too.  Other sources give Orthos (also
called Orthros, who was the dog of the three-headed monster Geryon
[who was himself said to be Echidna's brother by some sources]) as the
father of the Sphinx, the Nemean Lion, and the Crommyonian Sow
(Phaea).  Orthos is sometimes said to be the child of Echidna and
Typhon as well.  The serpend Ladon, the Python, the Colchian dragon,
Scylla, and the eagle that tormented Prometheus are also said to be
her children not by Typhon in some myths while others give him as the
father.  Also, Echidna is the name of the genus of the spiny
ant-eater.  One of the Nine.  A major goddess.  Consort of Pas, mother
of the Seven, goddess of fertility.  Associated with snakes, mice, and
other crawling animals.  Conspired to murder her husband with others.
The confusion over the parentage of her offspring makes me believe
that Wolfe might have intended her to have been unfaithful to Pas, so
some of the "gods" may not be Pas' children at all.

Eft.  Old word for a lizard or newt, or the land-dwelling stage of a
water newt.  Mattak's subordinate.

Eland.  Tragelaphus oryx.  The largest species of antelope.  Can be 12
feet long.  Large twisting horns. Murderer in the tunnels who tames
bufes.

prion
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