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BOETES. Boötes, the constellation Artophylax, also known as the Bear Driver, lies in the northern hemisphere near Ursa Major, the Great Bear. The constellation, also known as the Haywain, the brightest star of which is Arcturus, is one of the oldest named, known as far back as Homer, Odyssey V.272.

Chaucer calls the constellation a star, Bo IV, Metr 5.5-7. The name Boötes was probably applied to the alpha or brightest star. [Arctour: Calistopee: Ursa]

R.A. Allen, Star Names and their Meanings, 92; Homer, Odyssey, ed. and trans. A.T. Murray, I: 188-189.
From CHAUCER NAME DICTIONARY
Copyright © 1988, 1996 Jacqueline de Weever
Published by Garland Publishing, Inc., New York and London.
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