Medusa

See also: medusa and médusa

English

the severed head of Medusa (Rubens)

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Μέδουσα (Médousa), from μέδω (médō, “rule over”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɪˈdjuːsə/, /mɪˈdjuːzə/
• (US) enPR: mĭ'dū'sə, mĭ'dū'zə IPA^(key): /məˈduːsə/
• Rhymes: -uːsə
• Hyphenation: Me‧dus‧a

Proper noun

Medusa

1. (Greek mythology) The only mortal of the three gorgon sisters. She is killed by Perseus. The other two sisters were Euryale and Stheno.
   • 1895, Adolf Furtwängler, Eugenie Strong (editor and translator), Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture: A Series of Essays on the History of Art, 2010, →ISBN, page 201,

     On an Attic vase of the middle of the fifth century the head of Medusa in the hand of Perseus is represented as that of a beautiful woman free from any distortion. This led us to conclude (supra, p. 158) that Medusa must have been so represented at Athens in the greater arts even previous to this vase, for the vase-painters never invent such bold novelties for themselves.

   • 2000, Nannó Marinatos, The Goddess and the Warrior: The Naked Goddess and Mistress of the Animals in Early Greek Religion, page 62,

     It will be suggested here that the myth of Perseus, involving the decapitation of Medusa, is a narrative version of ritual.

   • 2001, Dennis Berthold, Melville's Medusas, in Sanford E. Marovitz, Athanasios C. Christodoulou (editors), Melville "Among the nations": Proceedings of an International Conference, Volos, Greece, July 2-6, 1997,

     But their depictions of Perseus are remarkably different and demonstrate the ambiguity of Medusa that was seeping into Victorian iconography. In later, Roman versions of the myth, for example Ovid's Metamorphoses, Perseus slays the sea monster with his sword instead of using Medusa’s head to petrify the monster.

Derived terms

• medusafish
• medusahead
• medusal

Translations

one of the Gorgons

• Catalan: Medusa (ca)
• Cherokee: ᎺᏚᏌ (Medusa)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 美杜莎 (Měidùshā)

• Dutch: Medusa (nl) f
• Esperanto: Meduzo
• Finnish: Meduusa
• French: Méduse (fr) f
• German: Medusa f
• Greek: Μέδουσα (el) f (Médousa)
• Hungarian: Medusza

• Inuktitut: ᒥᑑᓴ (mituusa)
• Japanese: メドゥーサ
• Latin: Medusae
• Lithuanian: Medūza f
• Marathi: मेड्यूसा (meḍyusā)
• Polish: Meduza f
• Portuguese: Medusa (pt) f
• Russian: Меду́за (ru) f (Medúza)
• Spanish: Medusa (es) f
• Swahili: Medusa
• Turkish: Medusa

See also

• Euryale
• Stheno

References

• Medusa (mythology) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• amused, sea mud

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Italian

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Μέδουσα (Médousa), from μέδω (médō, “rule over”).

Proper noun

Medusa f

1. (Greek mythology) Medusa

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Japanese

Romanization

Medusa

1. Rōmaji transcription of メドゥサ

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Portuguese

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Μέδουσα (Médousa), from μέδω (médō, “rule over”).

Proper noun

Medusa f

1. (Greek mythology) Medusa (creature with a petrifying gaze)

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Spanish

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Μέδουσα (Médousa), from μέδω (médō, “rule over”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /meˈdusa/, [meˈðusa]

Proper noun

Medusa f

1. (Greek mythology) Medusa