Orestes

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A character from Greek mythology known for avenging his father's murder by killing his mother
2. A figure in ancient Greek stories representing themes of justice and familial revenge for his role in the Orestia trilogy
3. The son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, symbolizing the struggle between duty and morality in classical literature

Etymology: Orestes is the name of a figure from Greek myth, the son of Agamemnon, who was ordered by the god Apollo to kill his mother Clytemnestra after she and her lover had murdered his father. The name itself was not invented for English. It was borrowed directly from Ancient Greek, where "Orestes" was already the standard name of this hero, and it has kept its shape in English ever since. Because the name belongs to a single mythological character, it survives in English mainly as a proper noun. Readers encounter it in classical literature, most famously in the tragedies that dramatize his story, and the word's meaning has stayed tied to that narrative of vengeance rather than shifting into a general term.