bætyl
(ˈbiːtɪl)
[ad. L. bætulus, a. Gr. βαίτυλος.]
A sacred meteoric stone. Also in Gr.-L. form baitylos, bætylos, -us; also bæˈtylion (pl. -ia) (Gr. βαιτύλιον). Hence bæˈtylic a., of the nature of a bætyl.
| 1854 Encycl. Brit. IV. 361/2 These bætylia were the objects of much veneration among the ancient heathens. 1884 Proc. Soc. Psychical Research II. 117 Aerolites were scouted as a kind of fetish in excelsis—a transcendental bætyl—‘the image which fell down from Jupiter’. 1889 W. R. Smith Relig. Semites 193 The use of baetylia, or small portable stones to which magical life was ascribed. 1901 A. J. Evans in Jrnl. Hellen. Stud. XXI. 106 The rough pyramidal pillars of the Bhuta Spirit,..and many other rude ‘baetyls’ of the same kind..are commonly set up beneath holy trees. Ibid. 113 An artificial pillar image of the divinity, it may be even the actual ‘baetylos’ of remote tradition. Ibid. 118 The sanctity of baetylic stones and pillars is due to a variety of causes. 1903 Amer. Jrnl. Archæol. VII. 200 He found the stone cooled off, and recognizing that it was a baetyl, took it home with him. 1923 Trans. Sc. Ecclesiol. Soc. 97 The Clack or stone [at Clackmannan]..is a true Fetich or Baitylos. 1941 Jrnl. Theol. Stud. XLII. 60 Most of the few fragments [of coral] discovered at Gezer seem to have been unworked pieces, probably therefore prophylactic in purpose, and not objets de luxe. One white piece is of baetylic form. |