labrys

Labrys is, according to Plutarch (Quaestiones Graecae 2.302a), the Lydian word for the double-bitted axe. In Greek it was called (pélekys). The plural of labrys is labryes. Etymology Plutarch relates that the word was a Lydian word for 'axe': . ("For Lydians name the double-edged axe 'Labrys'"). Many scholars including Arthur Evans assert that the word labyrinth is derived from labrys and thus implies 'house of the double axe'. A priestly corporation in Delphi was named Labyades; the original name was probably Labryades, servants of the double axe. In Roman times at Patrai and Messene, a goddess Laphria was worshipped, commonly identified with Artemis. Her name was said to be derived from the region around Delphi. In Crete the "double axe" is not a weapon, and it always accompanies female goddesses, not male gods. Beekes regards the relation of labyrinth with labrys as speculative, and rather proposes a relation with, 'narrow street', or to the Carian theonym Dabraundos. It is also possible that the word labyrinth is derived from the Egyptian, meaning: "the temple at the entrance of the lake”. The Egyptian labyrinth near Lake Moeris is described by Herodotus and Strabo. The inscription in on reads. The conventional reading is (labyrinthoio potnia; 'mistress of the labyrinth'). According to some modern scholars it could read * (*daphyrinthoio), or something similar, and hence be without a certain link with either the or the labyrinth.