Mene (, ), in

ancient Greek religion Religious practices in ancient Greece encompassed a collection of beliefs, rituals, and Greek mythology, mythology, in the form of both popular public religion and Cult (religious practice), cult practices. The application of the modern concept ...

and

mythology Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

, is an epithet of

Selene In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Selene (; , meaning "Moon")''A Greek–English Lexicon's.v. σελήνη is the goddess and personification of the Moon. Also known as Mene (), she is traditionally the daughter ...

, the Greek

lunar goddess A lunar deity or moon deity is a deity who represents the Moon, or an aspect of it. These deities can have a variety of functions and traditions depending upon the culture, but they are often related. Lunar deities and Moon worship can be foun ...

as a goddess presiding over the months.

Etymology

The Greek word (''mēnē'') means both the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

and the lunar month.Athanassakis and Wolkow, pp
90, on lines 1–291, on line 5
Kerényi
p. 197
/ref> It represents the feminine form of the older masculine noun (''mēn''), which in turn derives from the oblique stem of the

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...

word ''*meh₁nōt'' ("moon; month").' The name of the

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; , ''Phrygía'') was a kingdom in the west-central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. Stories of the heroic age of Greek mythology tell of several legendary Ph ...

n moon-god

Men A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy. Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the fa ...

derives from the same word''.'' Further cognates include "Moon" and "

Máni Máni (Old Norse: ; "Moon"Orchard (1997:109).) is the Lunar deity, Moon personified in Germanic mythology. Máni, personified, is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the ''Prose Edd ...

William Smith William, Willie, Will, Bill, or Billy Smith may refer to: Academics * William Smith (Master of Clare College, Cambridge) (1556–1615), English academic * William Smith (antiquary) (c. 1653–1735), English antiquary and historian of University C ...

writes of Mene as "a goddess presiding over the months".Smith, s.v
"Mene"
/ref>

Apostolos Athanassakis Apostolos Athanassakis (; born 1938 in the village of Astrochori,https://apostolosathanassakis.com/about/ near Arta, Epirus region, Greece) is a Greek classical scholar, and the former Argyropoulos Chair in Hellenic Studies at the University of ...

and Benjamin Wolkow speculate that Selene's name, which is derived from the word (''selas,'' "light") and thus means "luminous one", might have originally developed as a euphemism, before becoming the Moon and its goddess's proper name.

Notes

References

* Athanassakis, Apostolos N., and Benjamin M. Wolkow, ''The Orphic Hymns'', Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013.
Google Books
* * Hard, Robin, ''The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology"'', Psychology Press, 2004,
Google Books
* Kerényi, Karl (1951), ''The Gods of the Greeks'', Thames and Hudson, London, 1951
Internet Archive
* Smith, William; ''

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' is a biographical dictionary of classical antiquity, edited by William Smith (lexicographer), William Smith and originally published in London by John Taylor (English publisher), Tayl ...

'', London (1873)
"Mene"

External links

Selene Epithets of Greek deities Feminine names {{Greek-myth-stub

Etymology

See also

Notes

References

External links