Skip to content
ontologydriven
Sign out

Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

Acheron en · PROPN · etymology 1

Pronunciation

  • (Southern-England) audio
  • /ˈæ.kəɹ.ɔn/
  • /ˈæ.kəɹ.ən/
  • (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin Acherōn, from Ancient Greek Ἀχέρων (Akhérōn), probably Pre-Greek but folk-etymologically said to be from ἄχος (ákhos, “pain, distress”) + ῥέον (rhéon, “stream”).

Meanings

  1. (Greek, with or without the) A river in the infernal regions; also, the infernal regions themselves. By some of the English poets, it was supposed to be a flaming lake or gulf.
    • Acheron and Phlegeton, which a subterraneous fire causes to boil, are the billows of that hell which was visited by Æneas. 1807, [Germaine] de Staël Holstein, translated by D[ennis] Lawler, “[[Book XIII. Vesuvius and the plain of Naples.] Chap[ter] IV.] The extempore effusion of Corinna on the Plain of Naples.”, in Corinna; or, Italy. […], volume III, London: […] Corri, […]; and sold by Colburn, […], and Mackenzie, […], →OCLC, page 234:
    • Ile diue into the burning lake belowe, / And pull her out of Acaron by the heeles. c. 1588–1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas Millington, […], published 1594, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], signature H, recto:
    • Behold! I rise from primal silence / As a storm crushing dismal shores ov Acheron 2009, Behemoth, The Seed ov I:
    • The Greeks believed that Hades was beneath the earth. It had five rivers—the Acheron, the Kokytos, the Lethe, the Pyriphlegethon, and the Styx. Each served as a boundary between the land of the living and the land of the dead. 1974, C[ovington] Scott Littleton, “Hades”, in The World Book Encyclopedia, volume 9 (H), Chicago, Ill.: Field Enterprises Educational Corporation, →ISBN, page 4, column 2:
  2. (literary) Hell.
  3. A small town in Victoria, Australia.

Coordinates

Eridanus · Lethe · Styx · Cocytus · Phlegethon

Deriveds

Acheronian

Relateds

Acherontic

Translations (25)

eo Akerono (a river) · fa آخرون (a river) · oc Aqueront (a river) · ja アケローン (a river) · ro Aheron (a river) · fr Achéron (a river) · ett 𐌀𐌗𐌓𐌖𐌌 (a river) · it Acheronte (a river) · ka აქერონტი (a river) · la Acherōn (a river) · uk Ахеро́нт (a river) · es Aqueronte (a river) · fi Akheron (a river) · el Αχέροντας (a river) · ru Ахеро́н (a river) · pt Aqueronte (a river) · eu Akeronte (a river) · eo Aĥerono (a river) · grc Ἀχέρων (a river) · el Αχέρων (a river) · cmn 阿刻戎 (a river) · ko 아케론강 (a river) · es Aquerón (a river) · hy Աքերոն (a river) · bg Ахерон (a river)