hymen

hymen
/huy"meuhn/, n. Anat.
a fold of mucous membrane partly closing the external orifice of the vagina in a virgin.
[1605-15; < LL hymen < Gk hymén skin, membrane, the virginal membrane]

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Greek god of marriage.

He was usually thought to be a son of Apollo by one of the Muses, perhaps Calliope. Other accounts called him the son of Dionysus and Aphrodite. In Attic legend he was a beautiful youth who rescued a group of young women, including his beloved, from a gang of pirates. He obtained the girl in marriage, and their happy life was invoked in many wedding songs.

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also called  Hymenaeus,  
 in Greek mythology, the god of marriage, whose name derives from the refrain of an ancient marriage song. Unknown to Homer, he was mentioned first by the 5th-century-BC lyric poet Pindar as the son of Apollo by one of the Muses. Various Muses are mentioned as his mother: Calliope (ancient commentary on Pindar), Clio (Apollodorus), Terpsichore (Alciphron), and Urania (Catullus and Nonnus). Other accounts made him the son of Dionysus and Aphrodite, and as such he would have been a god of fruitfulness. In Attic legend he was a beautiful youth who rescued a group of women, including the girl he loved, from a band of pirates. As a reward he obtained the girl in marriage, and their happy life caused him ever afterward to be invoked in marriage songs.

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  • hymen — hymen …   Dictionnaire des rimes

  • hymen — 1. (i mèn , d après l Académie et Chifflet au XVIIe siècle qui veulent qu on prononce l n ; d autres prononcent i min ; les deux prononciations sont usitées ; les poëtes le font rimer avec des rimes en in ou en ain) s. m. 1°   Nom de la divinité… …   Dictionnaire de la Langue Française d'Émile Littré

  • hymén- — hymén(o) ♦ Élément, du gr. humên « membrane ». ⇒HYMÉN(O) , (HYMÉN , HYMÉNO )élém. formant I. Élém. tiré du gr. « membrane », entrant dans la constr. de qq. termes sav.; le second élém. est d orig. grecque : hyménogonie, subst. fém., biol. «… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • hymen — 1610s, from Fr. hymen (16c.), from medical Latin, ultimately from Gk. hymen membrane (especially virginal membrane, the membrane par excellence); thin skin, from PIE *syu men , from root *syu to bind, sew (see SEW (Cf. sew)). Originally any… …   Etymology dictionary

  • hymenæa — [imenea] n. m. ÉTYM. Hyménée, n. f., 1873, P. Larousse; lat. mod. hymenæa, de hymen. → 2. Hymen. ❖ ♦ Bot. Plante dicotylédone (Légumineuses; Césalpiniacées), arbre tropical, utilisé pour son bois (⇒ Courbaril) …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Hymen — Hy men, n. [L., fr. Gr. ?.] 1. (Class Myth.) A fabulous deity; according to some, the son of Apollo and Urania, according to others, of Bacchus and Venus. He was the god of marriage, and presided over nuptial solemnities. [1913 Webster] Till… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Hymen — HYMEN, ĕnis; HYMENAEVS, i, Gr. Ὑμέναιος, ου, (⇒ Tab. XVI.) 1 §. Namen. Man leitet solchen insgemein von hymen, dem so genannten claustro virginitatis, oder Jungfernhäutchen, her. Voss. Etymol. in. Hymen, p. 298. Serv. ad Virg. Aen. I. 655. IV. 99 …   Gründliches mythologisches Lexikon

  • Hymen — 1580s, Greek god of marriage, represented as a youth carrying a torch and a veil, perhaps etymologically the joiner, lit. the one who sews (two together); see HYMEN (Cf. hymen) …   Etymology dictionary

  • Hymen — [hī′mən] n. [L < Gr Hymēn: see HYMEN] 1. Gr. Myth. the god of marriage 2. [h ] [Old Poet.] Old Poet. a wedding song or poem …   English World dictionary

  • Hymen — Hȳmen, Genit. Hymens, plur. inus. bey den ältern Griechen der Gott der Ehen, welcher für des Bachus und der Venus Sohn ausgegeben wurde. Lyäens und Cytherens Sohn, Im schönsten Rausch geboren, Gott Hymen, der du dir zum Thron Das Hochzeitbett… …   Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart

  • hymen — HYMEN, ou Hymenée. s. m. Mariage. Il n a d usage qu en Poësie. Sous les loix de l Hymen. le joug de l Hymenée. Les Payens en faisoient une Divinité qui presidoit aux nopces …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie française

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