Acanthus (plural: acanthus, rarely acanthuses in English, or acanthi in Latin), its feminine form acantha (plural: acanthae), the
Latinised form of the
ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
word acanthos or akanthos, or the prefix acantho-, may refer to:
Biology
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Acanthus (plant), a genus containing plants used for ornament and in traditional medicine
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Acanthus, an
entomological term for a thorn-like projection on an insect, typically a single-celled cuticular growth without tormogen (socket) or sensory cells
Mythology
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Acantha, a figure in Greek mythology associated with the Acanthus plant
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Acanthus, son of Autonous
In Greek mythology, Acanthus (Ancient Greek: Ακανθος ''Akanthos'' means 'thorn') was the son of Autonous (son of Melaneus) and Hippodamia. He was the brother of Acanthis, Erodius, Anthus and Schoeneus. The bird he turned into has been ide ...
who received his name after the plant, which was common in his infertile homeland
People
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Acanthus of Sparta
Acanthus the Lacedaemonian ( grc, Ἄκανθος), was the victor in two footrace events, the diaulos () and dolichos (), in the Olympic Games of 720 BC. He was also, according to some accounts, the first who ran naked in these games. Other ac ...
, an ancient athlete
*Acanthus, the pen-name of the cartoonist
Frank Hoar
Harold Frank Hoar, FRIBA (13 September 1909 – 3 October 1976) was a British architect, artist, academic and architectural historian. Hoar first came to public prominence when, at the age of 25, he won a competition to design the first ter ...
Places
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Acanthus, Ontario
Acanthus is an unincorporated place and former railway point in geographic Deacon Township in the Unorganized South Part of Nipissing District in northeastern Ontario, Canada. Acanthus is located within Algonquin Provincial Park on Cedar Lake ...
, a modern Canadian town
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Acanthus (Caria)
Acanthus or Akanthos ( grc, Ἄκανθος), also called Dulopolis or Doulopolis (Δουλόπολις), was a town of ancient Caria
Caria (; from Greek: Καρία, ''Karia''; tr, Karya) was a region of western Anatolia extending along the ...
, a town of ancient Caria, near Bybassus
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Acanthus (Egypt), an ancient Egyptian city
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Akanthos (Greece)
Akanthos ( grc, Ἄκανθος; la, Acanthus) was an ancient Greek city on the Athos peninsula, on the narrow neck of land between the sacred mountain and the mainland, to the northwest of the Xerxes Canal. It was founded in the 7th century ...
, an ancient Macedonian city
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Acantha, County Offaly, a townland in the civil parish of
Durrow, barony of Ballycowan, Ireland
Other uses
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Acanthus (ornament)
The acanthus ( grc, ἄκανθος) is one of the most common plant forms to make foliage ornament and decoration, and even as the leaf distinguishing the heraldic coronet of a manorial lord from other coronets of royalty or nobility, which us ...
, a form in architecture and in leather carving, from the plant
*Acanthus path, a fictional tradition of enchanters, magicians and witches in the game ''
Mage: The Awakening''
See also
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List of commonly used taxonomic affixes
This is a list of common affixes used when scientifically naming species, particularly extinct species for whom only their scientific names are used, along with their derivations.
*a-, an-: ''Pronunciation'': /ə/, /a/, /ən/, /an/. ''Origin'' ...
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