Charybdis

English

Proper noun

Charybdis

1. A dangerous whirlpool on the coast of Sicily opposite Scylla on the Italian coast.
2. (Greek mythology) A personification of the above whirlpool as a female monster.
3. A general term for any dangerous whirlpool
   • 1638: Herbert, Sir Thomas, Some yeares travels into divers parts of Asia and Afrique

     ...that night, wee ſailed merrily by the Maſcarenas, a Charybdis in 21 degrees, var.13 and 17 minutes...

   • 1832 Bell, James A system of geography, popular and scientific

     The tide here sets in alternately from N. to S. and from S. to N., which causes the whirlpool of Galofaro, the Charybdis of the ancients.

   • 1842 Schiller, Friedrich poem Der Taucher (written in 1797) published in English in Blackwood's Magazine volume 52

     Lo! the wave that for ever devours the wave/Casts roaringly up the charybdis again...

Derived terms

• Charybdian

Translations

Greek mythological monster

• French: Charybde (fr) f
• German: Charybdis (de) f
• Hungarian: Kharübdisz (hu)
• Inuktitut: ᖃᕆᑉᑎᔅ (iu) (Qariptis)
• Italian: Cariddi (it) m
• Japanese: カリュブディス (ja) (Karyubudisu)

• Polish: Charybda (pl) f
• Portuguese: Caríbdis (pt) f
• Russian: Харибда (ru) (Kharíbda) f
• Spanish: Caribdis (es) f
• Swahili: Kharibdi (sw)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Danish: Kharybdis (fr) m
• Greenlandic: Kharybdisi (fr) m

See also

• Charybdis on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Scylla