Hades and his name

So this may be a stupid question, but here goes...

I remember reading somewhere [whether it was on the old forum or on some informational page about the gods/hellenismos] that it was believed that Hades does not like it when his name is spoken out loud, and that it [possibly] angers him a little.

I could be totally wrong and have gotten some wack information, but I just wanted to know if this was true or not. If so, what is the reasoning behind it? [I can't find the information anywhere! I think it might have been on the old forum or a since-deleted website].

Megara wrote:So this may be a stupid question, but here goes...

I remember reading somewhere [whether it was on the old forum or on some informational page about the gods/hellenismos] that it was believed that Hades does not like it when his name is spoken out loud, and that it [possibly] angers him a little.

I could be totally wrong and have gotten some wack information, but I just wanted to know if this was true or not. If so, what is the reasoning behind it? [I can't find the information anywhere! I think it might have been on the old forum or a since-deleted website].

You may have simply mis-remembered a bit.

There was a taboo against saying the word Ἀϊδης — however, it had nothing to do with angering a divinity, but was, rather, a linguistic taboo of the same kind that exists in many cultures, where words referring directly to death and dying are avoided in speech (usually replaced with euphemisms), in the semi-superstitious belief that speaking words and names of death will 'call' or 'summon' death to you.

Both the words Ἀϊδης (which means 'deadly' or 'fatal') and Περσεφόνη (which means 'fierce sound' or 'burning sound') were avoided in actual speech. Instead, one would say "Pluto/Πλούτων" (meaning 'wealth/money') or "Cora/Κούρη" (meaning 'girl'), respectively. These two words, 'Pluto' and 'Cora', though originally, in essence, euphemisms meant to avoid having to pronounce the actual names, for fear of summoning death, came to be used so often in actual speech that, in later Greek and Latin, the original names ceased to be used almost completely, and the euphemisms came to be the primary names and terms used for those deities.

Hades was sometimes reffered to as the Chthonic Zeus - the Zeus down under, as another way for people to avoid saying his name.

Linda wrote:Hades was sometimes reffered to as the Chthonic Zeus - the Zeus down under, as another way for people to avoid saying his name.

Ζεὺς Χθόνιος is indeed another referent for Pluto, though it is, in that case, more of a theological title and description than an intentional euphemism.

This title is further significant in early Orpheo-Pythagorean theology, wherein the divine peras+apeiria conjunction who create/re-create the world out of Saturn/Κρόνος, the Dv. Pherecydes of Syros (teacher of Dv. Pythagoras), calls Χθονίη in the apeirian part, and Ζᾱς in the peratic part — who would likewise take the name Χθόνιος in derivation.

This did help me too

Thank you Erodius