Medusa en · PROPN
Pronunciation
- /mɪˈdjuːsə/
- /məˈduːsə/ (US)
- mĭ'dū'zə (US)
- /mɪˈdjuːzə/
- mĭ'dū'sə (US)
- (US) audio
Etymology
From Middle English Medusa, Meduse, from Latin Medūsa, from Ancient Greek Μέδουσα (Médousa), from μέδω (médō, “rule over”).
Meanings
-
(Greek) The youngest and only mortal of the three gorgon sisters, killed by Perseus.
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.
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:It will be suggested here that the myth of Perseus, involving the decapitation of Medusa, is a narrative version of ritual.
2000, Nannó Marinatos, The Goddess and the Warrior: The Naked Goddess and Mistress of the Animals in Early Greek Religion, page 62:1895, 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.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medousa | alternative | lexicographic |
Coordinates
Deriveds
medusa · medusal · medusahead · medusafish · Medusalike · Medusa piercing
Relateds
Translations (27)
cmn 墨杜萨 (one of the Gorgons) · nl Medusa (one of the Gorgons) · ja メドゥーサ (one of the Gorgons) · chr ᎺᏚᏌ (one of the Gorgons) · it Medusa (one of the Gorgons) · mr मेड्यूसा (one of the Gorgons) · da Medusa (one of the Gorgons) · la Medūsa (one of the Gorgons) · el Μέδουσα (one of the Gorgons) · cmn 美杜莎 (one of the Gorgons) · fi Meduusa (one of the Gorgons) · de Medusa (one of the Gorgons) · sw Medusa (one of the Gorgons) · ru Меду́за (one of the Gorgons) · sv Medusa (one of the Gorgons) · lt Medūza (one of the Gorgons) · ca Medusa (one of the Gorgons) · ar مَدُوزَة (one of the Gorgons) · grc Μέδουσα (one of the Gorgons) · pt Medusa (one of the Gorgons) · fr Méduse (one of the Gorgons) · iu ᒥᑑᓴ (one of the Gorgons) · es Medusa (one of the Gorgons) · tr Medusa (one of the Gorgons) · pl Meduza (one of the Gorgons) · hu Medusza (one of the Gorgons) · eo Meduzo (one of the Gorgons)