Delphi

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A significant ancient Greek site known for its oracle, where the priestess would deliver prophecies inspired by the god Apollo
2. An archaeological location in Greece, famous for its temple dedicated to Apollo and its role as a major religious sanctuary
3. The former center of the ancient world considered as a sacred site, renowned for its rituals and the Delphic oracle's insights into the future

Etymology: The place name came first. Delphi was a town on the slopes of Mount Parnassus in central Greece, and its sanctuary of Apollo housed the oracle that Greeks consulted for centuries on matters public and private. The Greeks themselves linked the name to the dolphin, and the most famous version of that story has Apollo seizing a ship's crew, who had been sailing as dolphins, a tale that gives the place an origin in the sea creature. Whatever the origin of the name, it was the town that gave the English word its sense, since the oracle was known by the place where it spoke. The English noun was borrowed from Latin "Delphi", the Latinised form of the Greek "Delphoi", and it kept the plural-looking ending of its source. Speakers used it to refer to the sanctuary and its prophetic voice, so the word moved from geography to a shrine's authority. Its meaning in English stays fixed to that ancient Greek setting.