6 October 2018

psychopomp

[sahy-koh-pomp]

noun

1. a person who conducts spirits or souls to the other world, as Hermes or Charon.

Origin of psychopomp

Greek

1860-1865 First recorded in 1860-65, psychopomp is from the Greek word psȳchopompós conductor of souls. See psycho-, pomp

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for psychopomp

Historical Examples

Hermes himself, the psychopomp, shall lead, and Malahide shall welcome us.
Day and Night Stories
Algernon Blackwood

The rle of general conductor of souls to the realms of the underworld, however, came to be given to Hermes, the psychopomp.
Elements of Folk Psychology
Wilhelm Wundt

As the souls of the departed are symbolized as rats, so is the psychopomp himself often figured as a dog.
Myths and Myth-Makers
John Fiske

Word Origin and History for psychopomp

n.

1835, from Greek psykhopompos “spirit-guide,” a term applied to Charon, Hermes Trismegistos, Apollo; from psykhe (see psyche ) + pompos “guide, conductor.”

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

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Today’s quote

You don’t write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.

– F. Scott Fitzgerald

On this day

6 October 1961 – President John F. Kennedy advises Americans to build fall-out shelters, as Cold War paranoia continues to grow.

6 October 1966 – LSD, a synthetic hallucinogenic drug, is declared illegal in the United States.

6 October 1978 – death of Johnny O’Keefe, Australian rock and roll legend. Known as J.O.K. or ‘The Wild One’. Born 19 January 1935.