Myth & LegendGreek → English
Atalanta
/ˌætəˈlæntə/noun
The huntress of Greek myth who outran her suitors, and a given name taken from her.
The Greek roots
ἀ-
a-
equal to, same as
τάλαντον
tálanton
balance, weight
Literally: “equal in weight”
The story of the word
The name is built on the word for a balance, with a prefix of equality: she who weighs the same, a match for any man. She lost her race only when Hippomenes rolled three golden apples across her path and she stopped for them. That same τάλαντον was a heavy weight of silver, the talent of the parable, and the English sense of a natural gift comes from readers of that parable rather than from Greek.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
In a sentence
She read the Atalanta story as a girl and refused to be beaten in a sprint for years afterwards.
The red admiral butterfly carries her name, Vanessa atalanta.