Harpocrates
/hɑːrˈpɒkrətiːz/noun
A Greek and Roman name for the Egyptian child-god Horus, later associated with silence and secrecy.
Did you know?The familiar finger-to-lips gesture was a Greek and Roman reinterpretation: Egyptian images of child Horus commonly showed him touching his mouth, a gesture of childhood rather than a command for silence.
Etymological Timeline
2nd Millennium BCE
Egyptian
Ḥr-pꜣ-ẖrd
“Horus the Child; an epithet of the youthful form of the god Horus”
Late Period Egypt
Egyptian
Har-pa-khered
“A conventional scholarly transliteration of the Egyptian divine name”
Hellenistic Period
Greek
Ἁρποκράτης (Harpokrátēs)
“Greek rendering of the Egyptian name for Horus the Child”
1st Century BCE–1st Century CE
Greek/Roman
Harpocrates
“A deity associated by Greek and Roman authors with silence, secrecy, and guarded speech”
16th–17th Century
English
Harpocrates
“The classical name used in English writing for the Egyptian-Greek god”
Modern English
English
Harpocrates
“A proper name referring to the ancient deity and the symbolic figure of silence”
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