psychopomp
Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A guide or conductor of spirits or souls to the other world: a special title of Hermes.
‘Psychopomp’ comes from a Greek word meaning ‘spirit-guide.’
Examples
“We have seen that the original werewolf, howling in the wintry blast, is a kind of psychopomp, or leader of departed souls; he is the wild ancestor of the death-dog, whose voice under the window of a sick-chamber is even now a sound of ill-omen.”
Myths and Myth-makers: Old Tales and Superstitions Interpreted by Comparative Mythology
“Or has he not shrivelled into a spectral Hermes, a grisly psychopomp, bowing his head in minished glory, and leading men's souls no longer aloft but downwards -- down to the pale regions of things that have been?”
