Orphic Hymns · Hymn 81
Zephyrus, the West Wind
Ζεφύρου
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 gentle air, release from weariness, and a favourable passage over the sea.
Use this hymn as a prayer to the western breezes in spring or before a voyage. It may supplement a rite for rest, renewal, or safe passage, retaining the request that their invisible presence breathe kindly upon the worshippers.
English hieratic rendering
Hymn 81 · An English rendering aligned with the Greek lines.
- Breezes of every birth, western breezes wandering through the air,
- sweet-breathing whisperers, bearing rest from weariness,
- breezes of spring and of the meadows, longed for in the harbours,
- drawing a gentle passage for ships, a light-moving air:
- come with favour, breathing upon us without fault,
- aerial, unseen, light-winged, formed of air.
Ancient Greek & pronunciation
Read the English pronunciation spelling directly below each Greek line.
- Αὖραι παντογενεῖς Ζεφυριτίδες, ἠεροφοῖτοι,AH-vreh pahn-doh-yeh-NEES zeh-fee-ree-TEE-dhehs, ee-eh-roh-FEE-tee,
- ἡδύπνοοι, ψιθυραί, καμάτου ἀνάπαυσιν ἔχουσαι,ee-DHEEP-noh-ee, psee-thee-REH, kah-MAH-too ah-NAH-pahf-seen EH-khoo-seh,
- εἰαριναί, λειμωνιάδες, πεποθημέναι ὅρμοις,ee-ah-ree-NEH, lee-moh-nee-AH-dhehs, peh-poh-thee-MEH-neh OHR-mees,
- σύρουσαι νηυσὶ τρυφερὸν πόρον, ἠέρα κοῦφον·SEE-roo-seh neef-SEE tree-feh-ROHN POH-rohn, ee-EH-rah KOO-fohn·
- ἔλθοιτ’ εὐμενέουσαι, ἐπιπνείουσαι ἀμεμφεῖς,EHL-theet’ ehv-meh-NEH-oo-seh, eh-peep-NEE-oo-seh ah-mehm-FEES,
- ἠέριαι, ἀφανεῖς, κουφόπτεροι, ἠερόμορφοι.ee-EH-ree-eh, ah-fah-NEES, koo-FOHP-teh-ree, ee-eh-ROH-mohr-fee.
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
The hymn invokes the west wind through its many breezes: whispering, spring-bearing, and light-winged. Their gentleness brings relief from toil and a soft passage for ships. The closing appeal asks that these unseen powers arrive without harm and with favourable breath.
Ancient offering rubric: Frankincense.
Textual note
Abel’s main text reads καμάτου, “weariness”, in verse 2, rather than the manuscript reading θανάτου, “death”, reproduced digitally. Verse 4 follows his πόρον, “passage”, rather than ὅρμον, “anchorage”. His apparatus records these alternatives.
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 124506; 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.