halcyon

See also: Halcyon

English

WOTD – 2 May 2006

Alternative forms

• alcyon

Etymology

From Latin halcyōn, alcyōn (“kingfisher”), from Ancient Greek ἀλκυών (alkuṓn).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhælsiːən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

halcyon (plural halcyons)

1. (poetic) A kingfisher said in classical mythology to nest on the sea, thereby calming the waters.
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     the Halcyon bird, or as some call it Alcedo or Kings-fisher, exceeds all mens conceit. […] Gods decree hath been, that all the watrie wildernesse should be quiet and made calme, without raine, wind, or tempest, during the time the Halcyon sitteth and bringeth forth her young-ones […].

   • Template:RQ:Dryden The Indian Emperour
   • c. 1880, Ambrose Bierce, On a Mountain:

     And, by the way, during those halcyon days (the halcyon was there, too, chattering above every creek, as he is all over the world) we fought another battle.

   1. The dead body of such a bird, said in Tudor times to act as a weather vane when hung from a beam.
      • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

        Renege, affirm, and turn their halcyon beaks
        With every gale and vary of their master

2. A tropical kingfisher of the genus Halcyon, such as the sacred kingfisher () of Australia.

Translations

poetic: kingfisher

• Catalan: blauet (ca) m
• Finnish: jäälintu
• French: halcyon (fr) m
• Greek: αλκυόνη (el) f (alkyóni)

  Ancient: ἀλκυών f (alkuṓn)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: ailcín m
• Maori: kōtare
• Spanish: alcedón (es), alción (es)
• Ukrainian: зиморо́док (zymoródok), риба́лочка (rybáločka), водоморо́з (vodomoróz)
• Walloon: vert-pexheu (wa) m, rapexheu (wa) m, pexhrea (wa) m

bird of genus Halcyon

• Bulgarian: синьо рибарче n (sinjo ribarče)
• Catalan: alció (ca) m
• Finnish: metsäkalastaja
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: αλκυόνη (el) f (alkyóni)
• Hungarian: halkapó, halcion
• Spanish: martín pescador, alcedón (es)

Adjective

halcyon (comparative more halcyon, superlative most halcyon)

1. Pertaining to the halcyon or kingfisher.
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 84:

     Renege; affirm, and turn their halcyon beaks / With every gale and vary of their masters,

2. (figurative) Calm, undisturbed, peaceful, serene.

   Synonyms: at peace, blissful, calm, peaceful, prelapsarian, relaxed, serene; see also Thesaurus:quiet

   • 1787, Alexander Hamilton, Federalist Papers No. 30:

     Reflections of this kind may have trifling weight with men who hope to see realized in America the halcyon scenes of the poetic or fabulous age.

   • 1842, Thomas De Quincey, Cicero:

     Deep, halcyon repose.

   • 1919, H.P. Lovecraft, The City:

     I had wander’d in rapture beneath them, and bask’d in the Halcyon clime.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess‎^[1]:

     The huge square box, parquet-floored and high-ceilinged, had been arranged to display a suite of bedroom furniture designed and made in the halcyon days of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when modish taste was just due to go clean out of fashion for the best part of the next hundred years.

Derived terms

• halcyon days

Related terms

• Alcyone

Translations

pertaining to the kingfisher

• Finnish: kuningaskalastaja- (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: alcionio

calm

• Bulgarian: мирен (bg) (miren), спокоен (bg) (spokoen)
• Finnish: tyven (fi)
• German: ruhig (de), glücklich (de), friedlich (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: alcionio
• Maori: aupaki, āio

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Latin

halcyōn (kingfisher)

Alternative forms

• alcyōn

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀλκυών (alkuṓn, “kingfisher”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈhal.ky.oːn/, [ˈhäɫ̪kyoːn]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈal.t͡ʃi.on/, [ˈäl̠ʲt͡ʃion]

Noun

halcyōn f (genitive halcyonis); third declension

1. The halcyon; kingfisher.

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	halcyōn	halcyonēs
Genitive	halcyonis	halcyonum
Dative	halcyonī	halcyonibus
Accusative	halcyonem	halcyonēs
Ablative	halcyone	halcyonibus
Vocative	halcyōn	halcyonēs

Synonyms

• (kingfisher, halcyon): alcēdō

Related terms

• alcēdō
• Alcyonē