Orphic Hymns · Hymn 80
Boreas, the North Wind
Βορέου
Prayer and ritual
These hymns may be spoken as complete prayers to the Gods. Within the Temple’s practice, a ritual is a direct theurgical act; hymnody gathers the mind and turns it toward the Divine, helping the initiate enter reverent communion with the Gods.
Use a hymn on its own in place of another prayer, or add it to the prayer portion of a suitable ritual. Choose according to the deity addressed and the petition expressed in the hymn. When combining them, preserve the ritual’s prescribed sequence and let the hymn give voice to its purpose.
The petition of this hymn
For the clearing of clouded air and the return of the Sun’s light.
Recite the hymn as prayer to Boreas when honouring the winds and the changing sky. It may accompany a rite of purification or seasonal renewal, drawing upon its explicit appeal for the dispersal of clouds and the clearing of the heavens.
English hieratic rendering
Hymn 80 · An English rendering aligned with the Greek lines.
- Stirring the deep air of the cosmos with winter winds,
- O frost-fixing Boreas, come from snowy Thrace;
- break the cloud-filled stillness of the air's moist courses,
- scattering the rain-born water in damp showers,
- making all things clear, rendering the aether bright of aspect,
- shining upon the earth with the rays of the Sun.
Ancient Greek & pronunciation
Read the English pronunciation spelling directly below each Greek line.
- Χειμερίοις αὔρῃσι δονῶν βαθὺν ἠέρα κόσμου,hyee-meh-REE-ees AH-vree-see dhoh-NOHN vah-THEEN ee-EH-rah KOH-zmoo,
- κρυμοπαγὲς Βορέα, χιονώδεος ἔλθ’ ἀπὸ Θρῄκηςkree-moh-pah-YEHS voh-REH-ah, hyee-oh-NOH-dheh-ohs EHLTH’ ah-POH THREE-kees
- λῦέ τε παννέφελον στάσιν ἠέρος ὑγροκελεύθουLEE-EH teh pah-NEH-feh-lohn STAH-seen ee-EH-rohs ee-ghroh-keh-LEHF-thoo
- ἰκμάσι ῥιπίζων νοτεραῖς ὀμβρηγενὲς ὕδωρ,eek-MAH-see ree-PEE-zohn noh-teh-REHS ohm-vree-yeh-NEHS EE-dhohr,
- αἴθρια πάντα τιθείς, θαλερόμματον αἰθέρα τεύχωνEH-three-ah PAHN-dah tee-THEES, thah-leh-ROH-mah-tohn eh-THEH-rah TEHF-khohn
- ἀκτῖσιν λάμπουσαν ἐπὶ χθονὸς ἠελίοιο.ahk-TEE-seen LAHM-boo-sahn eh-PEE khthoh-NOHS ee-eh-LEE-ee-oh.
Short sound guide for English speakers
Every line beneath the Greek uses English pronunciation spellings. Say each hyphenated syllable in sequence and emphasize the syllable in CAPITALS. For example, οὐρανόθεν is oo-rah-NOH-thehn. Read adjacent vowels separately: theh-AH has two syllables; oo-rah-NEE-een has four. Hyphens guide the voice; they do not mark pauses.
| Spelling | Sound to make |
|---|---|
| ah · eh · ee · oh · oo | father · met · see · go without its final glide · moon. Keep these vowels clear in unstressed syllables too. |
| th · dh | The unvoiced th in thin · the voiced th in this. Thus DHEE begins with the sound in “thee.” |
| kh | The ch in Scottish loch or German Bach: let air pass at the back of the mouth, without closing it into a k. |
| hy | The breathy beginning of a carefully spoken Hugh. Raise the middle of the tongue toward the roof of the mouth and let air pass without voice. In shy, sound s followed by hy; do not use the English sh sound or the English word “shy.” |
| gh | Make the kh sound above, then add voice. Keep the passage open; this is a flowing sound, not a hard g. |
| y · g | y as in yes, with gentle friction · always a hard g as in get. |
| r | Tap the tongue lightly behind the upper teeth, or use a light roll. |
| ks · ps | Sound both consonants, even at the beginning of a word: ks as in backs, ps as in lips. |
| n-g · m-b · n-d | Sound the nasal and the following consonant. In AHN-geh-leh, the n-g group is like finger, with the g audible. |
Always sound s as in hiss, even at the end of DHEE-kees; z is voiced, as in zero. All other consonants have their usual English sounds. Initial consonant groups may be unfamiliar: sound every written consonant, without inserting an extra vowel. A word without capitals carries no written stress in the Greek. Where two syllables have capitals, both written accents are retained. An apostrophe marks a vowel already elided in the Greek; do not add it back. A hyphen at the end of a Greek verse joins the unfinished word to the next verse.
These spellings follow the Modern Greek liturgical reading used throughout this library. Breathings and iota subscripts are silent; separately pronounced vowels remain separate. The few Greek consonants without an exact English equivalent use the sound cues above. Ancient vowel length, pitch accent and metre are not reconstructed.
Hymn notes
Sacred meaning
Boreas is called from snowy Thrace as the power that stirs the deep air. The prayer directs that wintry force toward the breaking of a cloud-filled standstill. Its desired completion is an open, radiant sky under the light of the Sun.
Ancient offering rubric: Frankincense.
Text and attribution
Greek text: Eugenius Abel, Orphica (1885), printed pages 99. The text follows the printed main reading of this edition; source-specific variants are recorded where relevant. Read the digitised edition. Greek source. Wikisource transcription, revision 124502; checked and corrected against Abel’s print. The English hieratic rendering and suggested devotional use are new editorial work. The applications are guidance for this library, not additional lines of the ancient poem.