Myth & LegendGreek → English
Cynthia
/ˈsɪnθiə/noun
A female given name, and a poetic title for the moon.
The Greek roots
Κυνθία
Kynthía
she of Mount Cynthus
Κύνθος
Kýnthos
Mount Cynthus on Delos
Literally: “the Cynthian woman”
The story of the word
Artemis was born on Delos at the foot of Mount Cynthus, so Κυνθία became one of her cult names, with Cynthius for her twin Apollo. Since Artemis was identified with the moon, Elizabethan poets used Cynthia to mean the moon and, by flattery, Queen Elizabeth. The name entered ordinary English use only through that literary fashion.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 16th century
In a sentence
Cynthia signs her paintings with the moon in place of a full stop.