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CEYS, SEYS. Ceyx was king of Trachis and a son of Lucifer, the morning star. On his way to consult Apollo's oracle at Delphi he encountered a series of disasters, among them the loss of his brother Onetor. On his way back from Delphi his ship ran into a storm, and he was drowned. His wife Alcyone mourned and grieved so continually that Juno, goddess of married women, took pity on her and sent her a vision of the dead Ceyx (Met XI.346-748; OM XI.2996-3787).

The Man of Law says that Chaucer has told the story of Ceys and Alcione, MLI 57. A full version appears in BD 44-269. Machaut tells the story in La Fonteinne amoureuse, 539-1034. It appears in Gower, Confessio Amantis IV.2928-3123. [Alcione]

Ceys, the French variant, appears once, medially, MLI 57; Seys, a spelling variant, appears six times in medial positions, BD 63, 75, 142, 220, 229, 1327.


John Gower, The Complete Works, ed. G.C. Macaulay, II: 380-385; Guillaume de Machaut, Oeuvres, ed. E. Hoepffner, III: 162-180; Ovid, Met, ed. and trans. F.J. Miller, II: 144-173; OM, ed. C. de Boer, IV, deel 37: 190-210.
From CHAUCER NAME DICTIONARY
Copyright © 1988, 1996 Jacqueline de Weever
Published by Garland Publishing, Inc., New York and London.

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