Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Dionysus |
DionysusNoun1. (Greek mythology) god of wine and fertility and drama; the Greek name of Bacchus. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
"Dionysus" is a name that signifies or is derived from: "someone from Zeus". |
Date "Dionysus" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1808. (references) |
Crosswords: Dionysus |
| English words defined with "Dionysus": Bacchanalia, Bacchus ♦ Dionysia, dithyramb ♦ Hyades ♦ maenad, Midas ♦ Orgies ♦ silenus. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Dionysus" is also a word in the following language with the English translation in parentheses. Turkish (Dionysia). |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Dionysus and Dionysius the Elder were two different people in Greek mythology. For Dionysius the Elder, click here.
Dionysus (also known as Bacchus and in (Roman mythology) associated with the Italic Liber), the Greek god of wine,represented not only the intoxicating power of wine, but its social and beneficent influences likewise; he was viewed as the promoter of civilization, and a lawgiver and lover of peace, as well as the patron deity of both agriculture and the theater. He is a life-death-rebirth deity.
Within the Olympian tradition, Dionysus was made to be the son of Zeus and Semele; in Eleusis, of Zeus (always an intruder at Eleusis) and Demeter.
Dionysus was a god of mystery religious rites, such as those practiced in honor of Demeter and Persephone at Eleusis near Athens. In the Thracian mysteries, he wore the "bassaris" or fox-skin, symbolizing new life. (See also Maenads)
Many scholars believe that Dionysus was a fusion of a local Greek nature deity and a more powerful god from Thrace or Phrygia such as Sabazios.
Herodotus, (in Histories 2:146) was aware that the worship of Dionysus arrived later among the Greeks than the Olympian pantheon, for he remarks
Dionysus was strongly associated with the satyrs, centaurs and sileni. He always carried a thyrsus. The grapevine and its wild barren alter-ego, the toxic ivy plant, were both sacred to him, the fig was also his. The pine cone that tipped his thyrsus linked him to Cybele, and the pomegranate linked him to Demeter and the Great Goddess..
Introduced into Rome (c. 200 BC) from the Greek culture of lower Italy or by way ofGreek-influenced Etruria, the bacchanalia were held in secret and attended by women only, on three days in the year in the grove of Simila near the Aventine Hill, on March 16 and 17. Subsequently, admission to the rites were extended to men and celebrations took place five times a month. The notoriety of these festivals, where many kinds of crimes and political conspiracies were supposed to be planned, led in 186 BC to a decree of the Senate— the so-called Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus, inscribed on a bronze tablet discovered in Calabria (1640), now at Vienna&mash; by which the Bacchanalia were prohibited throughout all Italy except in certain special cases which must be approved specifically by the Senate. In spite of the severe punishment inflicted on those found in violation of this decree, the Bacchanalia were not stamped out, at any rate in the south of Italy, for a very long time.
Dionysus was equated with both Bacchus and Liber (also Liber Pater). Liber ("the free one") was a god of fertility and growth, married to Libera. His festival was the Liberia, celebrated on March 17.
Dionysus sometimes had the epithet Bromios, meaning "the thunderer" or "he of the loud shout". Another epithet was Dendrites; as Dionysus Dendrites ("he of the trees"), he was a powerful fertility god. Dithyrambos ("he of the double door") was sometimes used to refer to him or solemn songs sung to him at festivals. The name refers to his premature birth. Iacchus, possibly an epithet of Dionysus, was associated with the Eleusinian mysteries; in Eleusis, he was known as a son of Zeus and Demeter. The name "Iacchus" may come from the iakchos, hymns sung in honor of Dionysus. Eleutherios ("the liberator") was an epithet for both Dionysus and Eros. As Oeneus, he was the god of the wine-press. With the epithet Liknites ("he of the winnowing fan") he was a fertility god connected with the mystery religions. A winnowing fan was similar to a shovel and was used to separate the chaff from the good, cut grain. In addition, Dionysus was known
as Lyaeus ("he who releases") as a god of relaxation and freedom from worry. In the Greek pantheon, Dionysus (along with Zeus) absorbed the role of Sabazios, a Phrygian deity. In the Roman pantheon, Sabazius became an alternate name for Bacchus.
Dionysus had an unusual birth that evokes the difficulty in fitting him into the Olympian pantheon. His mother was Semele (daughter of Cadmus), a mortal woman, and his father Zeus, the king of the gods. Zeus's wife, Hera, a jealous and vain goddess, discovered the affair while Semele was pregnant. Appearing as an old crone, Hera befriended Semele, who confided in her that her husband was actually Zeus. Hera pretended not to believe her, and planted seeds of doubt in Semele's mind. Curious, Semele demanded of Zeus that he reveal himself in all his glory as proof of his godhood. Though Zeus begged her not to ask this, she persisted and he agreed. Mortals, however, can not look upon a god without dying, and she perished. Zeus rescued the fetal Dionysus, however, by sewing him into his leg. A few months later, Dionysus was born. This, awkward surrogate-fatherhood motif is an attempt to explain his being called "the twice-born" without invoking the mystery of a life-death-rebirth deity.
In another version of the same story, Dionysus (often called Zagreus, the supreme god of Greek Orphism, in this account) was the son of Zeus and Persephone, the queen of the underworld. A jealous Hera again attempted to kill the child, this time by sending Titans to rip Dionysus to pieces after luring the baby with toys. Though Zeus drove the Titans away with his thunderbolts but only after the Titans ate everything but the heart, which was saved, variously, by Athena, Rhea, or Demeter. Zeus used the heart to recreate Dionysus and implant him in the womb of Semele, hence he was again "the twice-born". Sometimes it was said that he gave Semele the heart to eat to impregnate her. The rebirth in both versions of the story is the primary reason he was worshipped in mystery religions, as his death and rebirth were events of mystical reverence.
The legend goes that Zeus took the infant Dionysus and gave him in charge to the rain-nymphs of Nysa, who nourished his infancy and childhood, and for
their care were rewarded by Jupiter by being placed, as the Hyades, among the stars. Alternatively, he was raised by Maro.
When Dionysus grew up he discovered the culture of the vine and the mode of extracting its precious juice; but Hera struck him with madness, and drove him forth a wanderer through various parts of the earth. In Phrygia the
goddess Rhea cured him and taught him her religious rites, and he set out on a progress through Asia teaching the people the cultivation of the vine. The most famous part of his wanderings is his expedition to India, which is said to have lasted several years. Returning in triumph he undertook to introduce his worship into Greece, but was opposed by some princes who dreaded its introduction on account of the disorders and madness it brought with it.
As a young man, Dionysus was exceptionally attractive. Once, while disguised as a mortal on a ship, the sailors attempted to kidnap him for their sexual pleasures. Dionysus mercifully turned them into dolphins but saved the captain, Acoetes, who recognized the god and tried to stop his sailors.Worship
The cult of Dionysus arrived in Greece from Anatolia, but Greek concepts of where Nysa was, whether set in Anatolia, or in Libya ('away in the west beside a great ocean'), Ethiopia (Herodotus), or Arabia (Diodorus Siculus), are variable enough to suggest that a magical distant land was intended, perhaps named 'Nysa' to explain the God's unreadable name, as the 'god of Nysa.' Apollodorus seems to be following Pherecydes, who relates how the infant Dionysus, god of the grapevine, was nursed by the rain-nymphs, the Hyades at Nysa. Bacchanalia
Appellations
Birth
Childhood
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Dionysus."
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | Dionysus (1970) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | The Crouching Silenus, Stage of Theatre of Dionysus, Athens, Greece. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| "Dionysus" is generally used as a noun (proper) -- approximately 97.78% of the time. "Dionysus" is used about 45 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (proper) | 97.78% | 44 | 51,500 |
| Noun (plural) | 2.22% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 45 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| "Dionysus" is a name that signifies or is derived from: "someone from Zeus". | |||
| The following table summarizes names related to "Dionysus." | |||
| Name | Gender | Language | Related Name |
| Dionysios | Male | Ancient Greek | Dionysos |
| Dionysodoros | Male | Ancient Greek | Dionysos |
| Dionysios | Male | Greek | Dionysos |
| Dionysos | Male | Greek Mythology | N/A |
| Dionysus | Male | Roman Mythology | Dionysos |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "Dionysus": dionysus-worship, dionysus-worshippers. | |
Ending with "Dionysus": Apollo-dionysus, Pseudo-dionysus. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
dionysus | 146 |
dionysus god greek | 9 |
dionysus theater | 7 |
dionysus picture | 6 |
dionysus god | 5 |
dionysus record | 4 |
dionysus hermes infant | 4 |
dionysus sarcophagus | 4 |
dionysus festival | 3 |
dionysus greek mythology | 3 |
cult dionysus | 3 |
dionysus symbol | 3 |
apollo dionysus | 2 |
dionysus god wine | 2 |
dionysus mythology | 2 |
dionysus image | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "Dionysus"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||
Greek | "ιονύσιοσ. (various references) | ||||
Pig Latin | ionysusday | ||||
Misspellings | |
"Dionysus" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Dionisiy, Dionysios. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "d-i-n-o-s-s-u-y" | |
-2 letters: sounds, synods. | |
-3 letters: donsy, nidus, nisus, nodus, noisy, sinus, sonsy, sound, sudsy, synod, yonis. | |
-4 letters: dins, diss, dons, doss, duns, duos, ions, nodi, nods, nosy, nous, onus, ouds, sins, sods, sons, sous, soys, suds, suns, udos, undo, undy, yids, yins, yods, yond, yoni. | |
-5 letters: din, dis, don, dos, dui, dun, duo, ids, ins, ion. | |
| Words containing the letters "d-i-n-o-s-s-u-y" | |
+3 letters: insidiously. | |
+4 letters: countrysides, dysfunctions, indissolubly, sinusoidally. | |
+5 letters: deinonychuses, industriously. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)44 69 6F 6E 79 73 75 73 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)-.. .. --- -. -.--. ... ..- ... |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000100 01101001 01101111 01101110 01111001 01110011 01110101 01110011 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)D i o n y s u s |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0044 0069 006F 006E 0079 0073 0075 0073 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)3875818091858785 |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Usage Frequency 8. Names: Derived from | 9. Expressions 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Derivations | 13. Anagrams 14. Orthography 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
| Note to the press & webmasters - this dictionary can be linked, indexed, or referred to using the following non-English expressions: woordeboek, fjalor, معجم, قاموس, diccionariu, речник, diccionari, diksyonario, diksinario, 字典, gérlyver, slovník, ordbog, woordenboek, shimiyuc p'anca, orðabók, orðbók, dictionnaire, wurdboek, wörterbuch, λεξικό, אוצר מילים, szótár, uqausiit tukingit, dizionario, 字引 , じい, じびき, じて", ディクショナリー , じり", じしょ, '"かい, ディクショナリ , 사 , dizionari, recnik, fockleyr, dikshonario, słownik, dicionário, dicţionar, dicziunari, словарь, lolomi fefiloi, foclair, abardair, faclair, briathrachan, pukuntau, leksikon, rečnik, vocabbulariu, diccionario, sí-chazamagâma, ordbok, lexikon, พจนานุกรม, sözlük, ansiklopedik sözlük, словник, довідник, có tính chất sách vở, geirlyfr, geiriadur, for dictionary; definisie, qartësi, përcaktim, saktësi, الوضوحية في الشيء, حد, تحديد, تعريف, التحديد, الإيضاحية, яснота, сила, очертания, дефиниция, 定義 , 定义, definice, deskriptordefinition, definitie, määritelmä, définition, ορισμός, "'"ר", "'בל", meghatározás, definíció, definizione, 確定 , ディーゼル電気車 , デ'ドロ酢酸 , デフィニション , ディフィニション , ていぎ, かくてい, 의, geyrid, meenaghey, keeayllaght, baght, definishon, definição, definiţie, determinare, definire, определение, definicija, definición, definition, açıklama, belirleme, belirtme, kesinleştirme, tanım, tarif, seçiklik, tanımlama, чіткість, тлумачення, виразність, визначення, дефініція, ясність, чітка чутність, sự định rõ, sự định nghĩa, lời định nghĩa sự định, diffiniad, darnodiad, for definition; vertaling, transferim, transmetim, ترجمة من لغة أجنبية للغة الأم, ترجمة, إفتتان, транслация, огъване, превод, предаване, поддаване, тълкуване, превеждане, 翻译, překlad, oversættelse, translatie, taajuusmuutos, translaatio, traduction, oersetting, Übersetzung, μετάφραση, תור'מ ות, תר'ום, "עתק", "עתק, fordítás, traduzione, 翻訳 , へい"ういどう, やくしょ, やくしゅつ, "うどく, ほ"やく, トランスレーション , やくじゅつ, ほ"やくしょ, 번역, tradukshon, tradução, translaţie, tãlmãcire, traducere, сдвиг, трансляция, перемещение, перевод, tumačenje, traducción, översättning, tercüme, процес перекладу, переклад, пояснення, переміщення, sự dịch, sự biến th nh sự giải thích, trosiad, for translation; Grieks, Griek, الإغريقي, يوناني, اللغة اليونانية, Griegu, гръцки език, гръцки, грък, Griyego, 希臘語 , 希腊语, řecký, řeètina, řek, græker, grikst, kreikkalainen, grec, Gryk, Gryksk, Gryks, grieche, ελληνικόσ, 'Ελληνας, יו ית, יו י, görög, Grikki, greco, ギリシア語 , ギリシア", 그리스, Greagish, Greagagh, grego, grèc, greacã, греческий, Eleni, grk, grčki jezik, grčki, griego, grek, Yunanli, yunanlı, yunanca, yunan, Rumca, yunanistan'a ait, rum, грек, гречанка, грецька мова, грецький, kẻ cắp b gi gặp nhau, quân bạc bịp tôi không thể hiểu được điều đó thật l kỳ phùng địch thủ, người Hy-lạp tiếng Hy-lạp kẻ bịp bợm, kẻ lừa đảo, Groegwr, for Greek; |
