Hesperides 的詞源

1590年代，源自希臘語，指“黃昏女神的女兒”，最初是指照料金蘋果花園的女神（數量不定，但最初是三個）。人們錯誤地將她們的名字轉移到了花園本身。

The Gardens of the Hesperides with the golden apples were believed to exist in some island in the ocean, or, as it was sometimes thought, in the islands on the north or west coast of Africa. They were far-famed in antiquity; for it was there that springs of nectar flowed by the couch of Zeus, and there that the earth displayed the rarest blessings of the gods; it was another Eden. As knowledge increased with regard to western lands, it became necessary to move this paradise farther and farther out into the Western Ocean. [Alexander Murray, "Manual of Mythology," 1888]

黃昏女神的金蘋果花園被認爲存在於大洋中的某個島嶼上，或者有時被認爲存在於非洲北部或西海岸的島嶼上。它們在古代非常有名； 因爲那裏有甘露之泉流淌在宙斯的牀邊，那裏大地展示了神的最珍貴的祝福； 那是另一個伊甸園。隨着對西方土地的認識增加，將這個天堂向西洋推進變得越來越必要。[亞歷山大·默裏，《神話手冊》，1888年]

相關詞彙： Hesperidean； Hesperidian。