halcyon

See also: Halcyon

English

WOTD – 2 May 2006

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhælsiːən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

halcyon (plural halcyons)

1. In classical legends, a bird said to nest on the sea, thereby calming the waters; later usually identified with a type of kingfisher, hence (poetic) a kingfisher.
   • Template:RQ:Florio Montaigne Essayes
   • 1665, John Dryden, The Indian Emperour, IV iv 132:

     Amidst our arms as quiet you shall be / As halcyons brooding on a winter sea.

   • 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.

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

Translations

poetic: kingfisher

• Catalan: blauet m
• Finnish: jäälintu
• French: halcyon (fr) m
• Greek: αλκυόνη (el) f (alkyóni)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: ailcín m
• Maori: kōtare
• Spanish: alcedón, alción (es)
• 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)
• Spanish: martín pescador, alcedón

Adjective

halcyon (comparative more halcyon, superlative most halcyon)

1. Pertaining to the halcyon or kingfisher. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
2. Calm, undisturbed, peaceful, serene.
   • 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.

Synonyms

• (calm, serene): at peace, blissful, calm, peaceful, prelapsarian, relaxed, serene

Derived terms

• halcyon days

Translations

pertaining to the kingfisher

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

calm

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

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} мирен (bg) (miren), ^{(please verify)} тих (bg) (tih)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

See also

• Alcyone

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Latin

halcyōn (kingfisher)

Alternative forms

• alcyōn

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Classical) 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