Ceyx

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. In Greek myth, the king of Trachis who drowned at sea and was turned into a kingfisher by the gods
2. A legendary Thessalian king whose death in a shipwreck led his grieving wife to be transformed into a seabird
3. The mythical ruler of Trachis, lost in a storm at sea and changed by the gods into a kingfisher bird

Etymology: In Greek myth, Ceyx was a king of Trachis whose ship was wrecked in a storm while he sailed to consult an oracle. His wife, Alcyone, grieved so deeply that the gods took pity on both of them and changed them into birds. Ovid tells the story in his "Metamorphoses," and the kingfisher, long associated with calm seas, became its emblem. "Ceyx" is now the scientific genus name for a group of small kingfishers, borrowed from the mythological king's Greek name. Its use in biology is a modern naming convention, so it belongs to the taxonomy of birds rather than to everyday English. The myth also gave English the word "halcyon," which likewise refers to the calm, mythical bird.