Actaeon

Translingual

Etymology

• (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Proper noun

Actaeon n

1. A taxonomic genus within the family Ellobiidae – a synonym of Microtralia, the salt marsh snails.

Hyponyms

• (genus): Actaeon ovulum (Microtralia ovulum)

References

• Microtralia on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Microtralia on Wikispecies.Wikispecies

English

Actaeon Changed into a Stag (Dianae aspectu Actaeon in cervum), engraving by Antonio Tempesta

Alternative forms

• Acteon

Etymology

From Latin Actaeōn, from Ancient Greek Ἀκταίων (Aktaíōn).

In Greek mythology, Artemis transformed Actaeon into a stag with horns on his head. In European folklore, horns were considered the sign of a cuckold, whence the noun sense of Actaeon, "cuckold", and the verb sense "to cuckold", are derived. Compare horned, put horns on, etc.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ækˈtiːən/, /ækˈtiːɒn/, /ækˈteɪən/, /ækˈteɪɒn/, /ˈæktɪən/

Proper noun

Actaeon

1. (Greek mythology) Grandson of Cadmus, transformed into a stag by Artemis in book III of Ovid's Metamorphoses.
   • 1979, Eric S. Rabkin, Fantastic Worlds: Myths, Tales, and Stories, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 62:

     Amid so much prosperity, it was one of his grandsons, Actaeon, who first brought distress to Cadmus, when antlers, foreign to his human shape, sprouted from the youth's forehead, and his hounds gorged themselves on their master's blood.

Translations

Translations

• French: Actéon (fr) m
• Greek: Ακταίων (el) m (Aktaíon), Ακταίωνας m (Aktaíonas)
• Japanese: アクタイオーン
• Korean: 악타이온 (Aktaion), 액티언 (Aektieon)
• Latin: Actaeōn m

Noun

Actaeon (plural Actaeons)

1. (archaic, slang) A cuckold.
   • 1814, Commentaries on the laws of Moses, volume 4, a translation of Johann David Michaelis' German text by Alexander Smith: a footnote on page 127:

     […] but I had the story from some French officers of distinction, who mentioned the name of the injured and prudent husband, and that he was a person of very high rank. That name, however, even if I had not forgotten it, I should not think it fair to repeat, because it would seem to be a matter of some moment to the gentleman though he was an Acteon, not to be thought so.

   • 1819, The Hermit in London, published in The Literary Gazette and Journal of Belles Lettres, number 126 (published on June 19, and reprinted in the compilation of Gazette issues printed at the end of the year by William Pople):

     He once lost a friend by kindly inquiring after his wife, who had made an Acteon of him, first by the head ornament presented, and secondly by sending him to the dogs in the way of pecuniary circumstances.

   • 1960 [1932], Dame Rose Macaulay, They Were Defeated, Collins, page 75:

     If she don't make Actaeon of him before she's done, I'm a bishop.

Verb

Actaeon (third-person singular simple present Actaeons, present participle Actaeoning, simple past and past participle Actaeoned)

1. (obsolete, slang, transitive, rare) To cuckold.
   • 1987 [1582], George Whetstone, edited by Diana Shklanka, An Heptameron of Civill Discourses, Garland Publishing, Inc., page 144:

     […] where vaine glorious Ixion Proclaymed, that he was the Minion of Juno, and had Acteoned Jupiter: for which arrogancie, Jupiter threw him to Hell, with this pictured vengeaunce.

   • 1604 (date written), Iohn Marston [i.e., John Marston], Parasitaster, or The Fawne, […], London: […] T[homas] P[urfoot] for W[illiam] C[otton], published 1606, →OCLC, Act IV, scene i:

     Zuc. […] was I not a handſome fellow from my foote to my feather, had I not wit, nay, which is more, was I not a Don. and didſt thou Acteon me, did I not make thee a Lady.
     Herc. And did ſhe not make you a more worſhipfull thing, a Cuckold.

   • 1620, Alexander Niccholes, A Discourse of Marriage and Wiving, London, page 35:

     There are of opinion that there is in Marriage an ineuitable desteny, not to be auoided which is either to be Acteond [OED actæoned] or not to be […]

References

• “Actaeon, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
• “Actaeon, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
• [Francis] Grose [et al.] (1811) “Actaeon”, in Lexicon Balatronicum. A Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit, and Pickpocket Eloquence. […], London: […] C. Chappell, […], →OCLC.

Further reading

• Actaeon on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Diana and Actaeon on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Ἀκταίων (Aktaíōn).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /akˈtae̯.oːn/, [äkˈt̪äe̯oːn]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /akˈte.on/, [äkˈt̪ɛːon]

Proper noun

Actaeōn m sg (genitive Actaeonis); third declension

1. (Greek mythology) Actaeon (grandson of Cadmus, transformed into a stag by Artemis).

Declension

Third-declension noun, singular only.

Case	Singular
Nominative	Actaeōn
Genitive	Actaeonis
Dative	Actaeonī
Accusative	Actaeona
Ablative	Actaeone
Vocative	Actaeōn

References

• “Actaeōn”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Actæōn in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.