Re: Latin for VFT
Oliver T Massey CFS (massey@hal.fmhi.usf.edu)
Tue, 24 Oct 1995 10:39:39 -0400
> >As long as you're here, Jan.
> >Would you know where _for sure_ the "venus" in VFT came from?
>
> Here we are entering the somewhat slippery field of divine nomenclature
> (where not much is known _for sure_). Please feel free to comment or
> correct me if necessary, anyone.
>
> Dione (Delta, iota, omega, ny, eta) was in ancient Greece a kind of
> sub-goddess of Aphrodite (=Venus of Romans), thought to be the mother of
> the latter. Sometimes, Dione was also used as a synonym of Aphrodite.
>
> Now what led the early botanists to call the plant after Dione? There are
> principally two theories:
>
> I think LINNAEUS said that this miraculum naturae (i.e. _D.m._) incited the
> love of a botanist (to nature, plants, or whatsoever) like the goddes of
> love did with ordinary people (i.e. to love each other).
>
> The second theory compares the ciliae at the leaf margins of _Dionaea_ with
> the eyelashes of _Homo sapiens_ (fem.; an obvious convergence without real
> homology!). The closing of the trap reminding of the twinkling of a (female
> human) eye, i.e. one of Venus' most powerful instruments (well, it's up to
> you to decide if the consequences of the latter for human life are as fatal
> as those of the former for the plant's victim).
>
> Kind regards
> Jan
Gee, you cleaned that up nicely, :)
Tom in FL