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Hip·po·crene

(hĭpə-krēn′, hĭp′ə-krēnē)

n.
Greek Mythology

A fountain on Mount Helicon, Greece, sacred to the Muses and regarded as a source of poetic inspiration.

[Latin Hippocrēnē, from Greek Hippokrēnē : hippos, horse (from the myth that Pegasus's hoof created it); see ekwo- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots + krēnē, fountain, spring; possibly akin to Old Norse hrǫnn, wave (for the semantic relationship of the Greek and Old Norse, compare Old English wiell, well, spring, Old Norse vella, bubbling mass, and Old High German wella, wave).]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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