HALCYON: 1: calm, peaceful 2: happy, golden 3: prosperous, affluent
According to Greek mythology, Alkyone, the daughter of the god of the winds, became so distraught when she learned that her husband had been killed in a shipwreck that she threw herself into the sea and was changed into a kingfisher. As a result, ancient Greeks cells such birds alkyon or halkyon. The legend also says they so charmed the wind god that he created a eriod of unusual calm that lasted until the birds' eggs hatched This legend prompted people to use "halcyon" both as a noun naming a genus of kingfisher and as an adjective meaning either "of or relating to the kingfisher or its nesting period" or "calm or peaceful."
1 comment:
This is a word that I've never had a definition for. Apparently it never donned on me to check a dictionary. For years I've wondered what it meant. I like your version better than Webster's - yours has a story. ;)
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