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Mercury
Mercury. Classical commentators used the name of this Roman god of commerce, travel, and thievery (Greek counterpart, Hermes) to denote what was apparently the most popular god in Roman-occupied Gaul and Britain. Through their imperial-minded interpretatio romana (see GAUL), the Romans simply ignored the native divine name and substituted their correlative. The vast number of depictions and descriptions of him, however, give us an outline of his cult. Julius Caesar remarks that Mercury was the inventor of all the arts, one of several reasons he is thought comparable to the Irish Lug Lámfhota and the Welsh Lleu Llaw Gyffes. Caesar also describes his money-making abilities; he is a god of commercial success and plenty. The Celtic propensity for triplism is evident in his iconography, both triple-faced and triple-phallused. Several important shrines survive, most notable in the Vosges mountains of eastern France. Sometimes he is shown to be horned, and sometimes he is the consort of Rosmerta, an indigenous deity.
Despite the Roman indifference to providing Mercury with a native name, modern commentators favour two choices. One is Lugos/Lugus, a name found in inscriptions and implicit in the Roman town name of Lug(u)dunum, the root of such modern sites as Lyon, Laon, Loudon, Leiden, Léon, and Liegnitz. Lugos also links Mercury more firmly with Lug Lámfhota, Lleu Llaw Gyffes, and the festival of Lughnasa. A second possibility is Erriapus, a deity of southern Gaul. Additionally, at many sites Mercury takes on different epithets, implying almost a separate identity, notably Artaios [bear], Moccus [pig, boar], and Visucius. Other epithets, denoting shades of differing identity, are Arvernus, Cissonius, and Gebrinius. And despite the lack of a shared epithet, Mercury may also be linked to Teutates, the Gaulish war-god. Lastly, although never linked directly to Cúchulainn, Gaulish Mercury may find echoes in that hero's first name, Setanta. Bibliography See Jan de Vries , La Religion des Celtes (Paris, 1963), 48–63; |
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JAMES MacKILLOP. "Mercury." A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JAMES MacKILLOP. "Mercury." A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O70-Mercury.html JAMES MacKILLOP. "Mercury." A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. 2004. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O70-Mercury.html |
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Mercury
Mercury in Roman mythology, the Roman god of eloquence, skill, trading, and thieving, herald and messenger of the gods, presider over roads, and conductor of departed souls to Hades, who was identified with Hermes. He is usually represented in art as a young man with winged sandals and a winged hat, and bearing the caduceus.
His function as a messenger gave rise to the use of his name in the titles of newspapers and journals, as The Scotch Mercury of 1643. (The ‘English Mercury (1588)’, sometimes cited as the earliest English newspaper, was in fact an 18th-century forgery.) From late Middle English, mercury was used to denote the chemical element of atomic number 80, a heavy silvery-white metal (also called quicksilver) which is liquid at ordinary temperatures. This application probably arose from an analogy between the fluidity of the metal at room temperature and the rapid motion held to be characteristic of the classical deity. Mercurial was formerly used to designate those born under the planet Mercury; having the qualities (identical with those assigned to or supposed to be inspired by the god Mercury) considered to be a consequence of this, as eloquence, ingenuity, aptitude for commerce. In current usage, it means subject to sudden or unpredictable changes of mood or mind; although these qualities were originally associated with the god, the allusion is now generally understood as referring to the properties of mercury as a metal. |
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ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Mercury." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Mercury." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-Mercury.html ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Mercury." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-Mercury.html |
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Mercury
MercuryAlso popularly known as quicksilver. Known for many centuries, the metal has played an important part in the history of alchemy. In its refined state it forms a coherent, very mobile liquid that at ordinary room temparature was a well-known unique substance. The early alchemists believed that nature formed all metals from mercury, and that it was a living and feminine principle. It went through many processes, and the metal that evolved was pure or impure according to the locality of its production. The mercury of the philosophers' stone needed to be a purified and revivified form of the ordinary metal; as the Arabian alchemist Geber stated in his Summa perfectionis: "Mercury, taken as Nature produces it, is not our material or our physic, but it must be added to." Mercury seems to have been an entirely different substance than any ordinary metal or chemical element. Depending upon one's interprepation of alchemy as a system of spiritual growth, mercury could be one of several substances or states of consciousness. |
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"Mercury." Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Mercury." Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3403803037.html "Mercury." Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. 2001. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3403803037.html |
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Mercury
Mer·cu·ry / ˈmərkyərē/ 1. Roman Mythol. the Roman god of eloquence, skill, trading, and thieving, herald and messenger of the gods, who was identified with Hermes. ∎ used in names of newspapers and journals: the San Jose Mercury News. 2. Astron. a small planet that is the closest to the sun in the solar system, sometimes visible to the naked eye just after sunset. 3. a series of space missions, launched by the U.S. from 1958 to 1963, that achieved the first U.S. manned spaceflights. DERIVATIVES: Mer·cu·ri·an / mərˈkyoŏrēən/ adj. |
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"Mercury." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Mercury." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-mercury.html "Mercury." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-mercury.html |
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mercury
mercury (M-) Roman divinity identified with the Gr. Hermes, god of eloquence, messenger of the gods, patron of traders and roads, guide of departed souls (hence messenger, guide XVI); planet nearest the sun; quicksilver; (after L. herba mercurialis) plant-name. XIV. — L. Mercurius, orig. god of commerce, f. merx, merc- MERCHANDISE; the application to the planet appears in classL., and like other names of planets, Mercurius became in medL. the name of a metal.
So mercurial XIV. — (O)F. or L. |
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T. F. HOAD. "mercury." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. T. F. HOAD. "mercury." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-mercury.html T. F. HOAD. "mercury." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-mercury.html |
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Mercury
Mercury in Roman religion, god of commerce and messenger of the gods; identified with the Greek Hermes . He was honored at the Mercuralia, a festival held in May and attended primarily by traders and merchants. |
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"Mercury." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Mercury." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Mercu-god.html "Mercury." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Mercu-god.html |
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Mercury
Mercury In Roman mythology, the gods'messenger, corresponding to the Greek Hermes. At Lystra Paul was taken to be this god, who had a reputation for eloquence (Acts 14: 12).
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W. R. F. BROWNING. "Mercury." A Dictionary of the Bible. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. W. R. F. BROWNING. "Mercury." A Dictionary of the Bible. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O94-Mercury.html W. R. F. BROWNING. "Mercury." A Dictionary of the Bible. 1997. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O94-Mercury.html |
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