different between sibyl vs sibylline

English

Etymology

Latin Sibylla, from Ancient Greek ??????? (Síbulla).

Noun

sibyl (plural sibyls)

1. A pagan female oracle or prophetess, especially the Cumaean sibyl.
   • : Act III, Scene IV:

     A sibyl, that had number'd in the world

     The sun to course two hundred compasses,

     In her prophetic fury sew'd the work;

   • 1922 T. S. Eliot, The Wasteland: Epigraph (translated from 61 Petronius' The Satyricon: Chapter 8, Lines 80 -86)

     I used to read these tales in Homer when I was a lad. Then the Sibyl! I saw her at Cumae with my own eyes hanging in a jar; and when the boys cried to her, ‘Sibyl, what would you?' she'd answer, ‘I would die,'-- both of ‘em speaking Greek."

Translations

Anagrams

• Sybil

English

Alternative forms

• sybilline

Etymology

Latin sibyllinus, Sibillinus, from Sibylla.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?s?b?la?n/ (UK)

Adjective

sibylline (not comparable)

1. Of or pertaining to a sibyl or female oracle, especially the Cumaean Sibyl and the Sibylline Books. [from late 16th c.]

   Synonym: sibyllic

   • 1998, Deborah J. Bennett, Randomness, Harvard University Press, p. 42

     Another early form of rhapsodomancy is represented by the sibylline books.

2. (by extension) Having oracle-like predicting powers, clairvoyant.
3. Mysterious.

   Synonym: enigmatic

Derived terms

• Sibylline Oracles

Translations

References

Anagrams

• sybilline

French

Adjective

sibylline

1. feminine singular of sibyllin