Learn English – Adjectives or words inspired by Helen of Troy’s beauty

adjectivesetymology

Are there any adjectives inspired by Helen's beauty?

I can see examples from more recent history like:

Boycott from Charles C. Boycott

or Bowdlerize from Thomas Bowdler.

Some Greek mythology inspired words/phrases are :
Herculean

Achilles Heel

Narcissistic

However I could not find anything that refers to Helen of Troy's beauty.If you could also talk of some other lesser known mythological figure based adjectives/phrases, kindly share.

Best Answer

From OED:

Helena, n.
Etymology: < Latin Helena, < Greek Ἑλένη female proper name. The Greek Helene was the sister of Castor and Pollux, the name given to double meteors at sea; but there was perhaps association also with Greek ἑλένη torch.

Obs.
A meteoric light seen about the masts of ships: cf. corposant n.

helenium, n.
Etymology: modern Latin, < Greek ἑλένιον, possibly commemorating Helen of Troy.
An early name for elecampane, the European herb Inula helenium, of the family Compositæ.

From Wikipedia:

Helen: feminine given name derived from the Greek Ἑλένη Helenē, meaning torch or corposant.

That's about it. You can forget about Hellenic, which is just a synonym for Greek.

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