The Meta-Encyclopedia

Daphne

3 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Daphne. All 3 are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

daf'ne, in Greek mythology, a nymph, daughter of the river god Peneus. Apollo, in a somewhat overbearing mood, reproved Cupid for playing with bow and arrows. Cupid was determined to show the god that he was able to handle these weapons; so he shot Apollo through the heart with a gold-pointed arrow, thus inspiring him with a violent passion for Daphne. The nymph, however, he shot with a leaden arrow, which made her reject all thoughts of a lover. Apollo pleaded in vain; she would have none of his affection, and persuaded her father to consent to her remaining unmarried all her life. Finally, one day, while Daphne was enjoying some woodland sport, Apollo saw her running, her loosened hair flying in the wind. He immediately pursued her, begging her to run more slowly and not to fear him. Daphne ran her swiftest, but Apollo was swifter. When he was close upon her, she called to her father for aid, and was immediately transformed into a laurel tree. Apollo stood amazed, but realizing what had happened, he embraced the tree, kissed its branches, still trembling with Daphone's fear, and declared that thenceforth this should be his tree, and that he would wear a crown of its leaves which should no more decay, but remain ever green as a symbol of his own eternal youth. In Ovid's version of the story he makes Apollo say that Roman conquerors shall wear the laurel wreath. I espouse thee for my tree: Be thou the prize of honor and renown; The deathless poet, and the poem, crown; Thou shalt the Roman festivals adorn, And, after poets, be by victors worn.-Ovid.

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

a genus of plants belonging calyx without appendages, stamens 8 to to the Thymelæacex. Orifice of the simple, fruit succulent. D. laureola is 10, inclosed within the calyx, stigma the spurge laurel. It is an evergreen. D. mezereum has deciduous leaves and found in the temperate districts of Asia very fragrant flowers. They are all well as that of the branches, of D. and Europe. The bark of the root, as diaphoretic in cutaneous and syphilitic mezereon is used in decoction as a affections. In large doses it is an irritant poison, causing hypercatharsis. Used ex contains a ventral crystalline principle, externally it acts as a vesicant . It called daphnein . The fruit is poisonous. The barks of D. gnidium, D. alpina, D. cneorum, D pontica, and D. laureola have similar properties. The berries of the last are poisonous to all animals except birds. The inner bark of D. lagetta, when cut into thin pieces after maceration, assumes a beautiful net-like appearance, whence it has received the name of lace-bark. order Cladocera, family Daphniadæ. D.

1000 Classical Characters (1900)

A daughter of the River Peneus, or of the Ladon, and the goddess Terra, and of whom Apollo became enamored. Daphne fled to avoid the addresses of this god, and was changed into a laurel.

What Has Changed in the Last Century

The myth itself stands as Aiton's told it in 1910 and as 1000 Classical Characters gave it in 1900: Ovid's Daphne still turns to laurel, and Bernini's marble of the transformation is still the image most readers picture. What has moved is interpretation rather than fact — since the later twentieth century the story has been read much more often as a tale of attempted rape and refusal than as a charming explanation of Apollo's wreath, and it is now commonly taught that way. The one plainly dated part of the page is Collier's botanical entry of 1921, which recommends a decoction of mezereon bark as a diaphoretic for skin and syphilitic complaints: mezereon has long since been dropped from medical use, syphilis has been treated with penicillin since the 1940s, and Daphne remains a garden shrub whose berries and bark are simply poisonous.

Written for this edition, 2026.