Clue – Labyrinth
- PostEagle
- August 13, 2017
- Word Etymology
- 0 Comments
The word for today is CLUE which comes from an old English word – CLEWE – which means A BALL OF THREAD.
In ancient Greek mythology, the hero THESEUS was sent by his father to the distant island of CRETE in the middle of the Mediterranean to slay the dreaded MINOTAUR, a monster – half bull, half man – which was devouring 7 Greek boys and 7 Greek girls each year.
This monster was housed in a maze called the LABYRINTH which protected him. No one could find the way in, let alone find the way out. Theseus was going to free the Greek nation from the yoke of Crete by killing the MINOTAUR. The name MINOTAUR comes from the name of the king of Crete – MINOS – and the Latin word – TAURUS – which means BULL. So the word MINOTAUR means the bull of Minos.
ARIADNE, the king’s daughter, fell in love with the handsome Greek youth THESEUS and helped him find the way into the heart of the LABYRINTH so that he could destroy the monster. She told him to unwind a spool of thread as he made his way through the maze so that he could trace his way back. (In some versions of the story, Theseus drops seeds as he walks instead of unwinding a ball of thread.) THESEUS finds the MINOTAUR, slays him, and extricates himself from the LABYRINTH which in reality is a shelter for the king in case of assassination attempts or attack from an enemy.
Therefore, we have the meaning of CLUE. The symbol of MINOS’ authority was a two headed axe. If you visit the ruins of the palace of MINOS on the isle of Crete, you will see many paintings of the two headed axe. LABYRINTH, which today means MAZE, is the ancient word for TWO HEADED AXE.
