Hermes
(ˈhɜːmiːz)
[L. Hermēs, Gr. Ἑρµῆς.]
1. In Greek mythology, a deity, the son of Zeus and Maia, represented as the messenger of the gods, the god of science, commerce, eloquence, and many of the arts of life; commonly figured as a youth, with the caduceus or rod, petasus or brimmed hat, and talaria or winged shoes. Identified by the Romans with Mercury. Hence b. A statue of Hermes = Herma.
| 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v., Athens abounded more than any other place in hermes's. |
† 2. Used for the metal Mercury. Obs.
| 1667 Milton P.L. iii. 603 Though by thir powerful Art they binde Volatil Hermes, and call up unbound In various shapes old Proteus from the Sea. |
3. Hermes Trismegistus (Gr. Ἑρµῆς τρὶς µέγιστος, L. Hermes ter-maximus, Hermes thrice-greatest), the name given by the Neo-platonists and the devotees of mysticism and alchemy to the Egyptian god Thoth, regarded as more or less identified with the Grecian Hermes, and as the author of all mysterious doctrines, and especially of the secrets of alchemy. Hence hermetic, hermetically, and the following expressions: † a. Hermes' seal: = Hermetic seal: see hermetic A. 2 b. Obs.
| 1605 Timme Quersit. iii. 192 Hermes seale..take the red hote tonges, and therewith wring or nippe the toppe close together; whereby it shall be so closed as if it had no vent before. 1641 French Distill. v. (1651) 119 Closed up..in a glazen womb sealed with Hermes seales. 1662 J. Chandler Van Helmont's Oriat. 75 Let the neck be shut with a Hermes Seal, by the melting of the glasse in the same place. 1756 Rolt Dict. Trade s.v. Hermetical Seal, With a pair of pincers twisting it close together, which is called putting on Hermes's seal. |
† b. Hermes' fire: = corposant; also, a will-o'-the-wisp. Also St. Hermes' fire (? by confusion with St. Elmo's fire). Obs.
| 1611 Cotgr., Ardans, S. Hermes fires; the flittering, or going fiers..or flames, which be seen by night, and neere vnto waters. 1658 tr. Bergerac's Satyr. Char. xii. 45, I send St. Hermes fire (Jack in a lanthorn) to the marches. 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 11 The Greeks call'd them Castor and Pollux..which some call Hermes fire; Saint Elmo others. |