Nyseus

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Νῡσεύς (Nūseús); related to Νῦσα (Nûsa) and Latin Nȳsa.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈnyː.seu̯s/, [ˈnyːs̠ɛu̯s̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈni.seu̯s/, [ˈniːs̬eu̯s]

Proper noun

Nȳse͡us m (genitive *Nȳseī or *Nȳseos)

1. a name of Bacchus, literally it means "person from Nysa"
   • Publius Ovidius Naso, metamorphoses, liber IV. In: Ovid Metamorphoses with an English translation by Frank Justus Miller. In two Volumes I Books I–VIII, 1951, p. 178f.:

     parent matresque nurusque
     telasque calathosque infectaque pensa reponunt
     turaque dant Bacchumque vocant Bromiumque Lyaeumque
     ignigenamque satumque iterum solumque bimatrem ;
     additur his Nyseus indetonsusque Thyoneus
     et cum Lenaeo genialis consitor uvae
     Nycteliusque Eleleusque parens et Iacchus et Euhan,
     et quae praeterea per Graias plurima gentes
     nomina, Liber, babes.

     The matrons and young wives all obey, put by weaving and work-baskets, leave their tasks unfinished ; they burn incense, calling on Bacchus, naming him also Bromius,¹ Lyaeus,² son of the thunderbolt, twice born, child of two mothers ; they hail him as Nyseus³ also, Thyoneus⁴ of the unshorn locks, Lenaeus,⁵ planter of the joy-giving vine, Nyctelius,⁶ father Eleleus,⁷ Iacchus,⁸ and Euhan, and all the many names besides by which thou art known, O Liber,⁹ throughout the towns of Greece.

     ¹ " The noisy one."

     ² " The deliverer from care."

     ³ " Of Nysa," a city in India, connected traditionally with the infancy of Bacchus.

     ⁴ " Son of Thyone," the name given to his mother, Semele, after her translation to the skies.

     ⁵ "God of the wine-press."

     ⁶ So named from the fact that his orgies were celebrated in the night.

     ⁷ From the wild cries uttered by his worshippers in the orgies.

     ⁸ A name identified with Bacchus.

     ⁹ Either from liber, " the free," or from libo, " he to whom libations of wine are poured."

References

• “Nȳseus (dissyl.), s.v. Nȳsa”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Nȳseūs in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 1050.