Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride 61

ὁ δʼ Ὄσιρις ἐκ τοῦ ὁσίου καὶ ἱεροῦ τοὔνομα μεμιγμένον ἔσχηκε· κοινὸς γάρ ἐστι τῶν ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ τῶν ἐν ᾍδου λόγος· ὧν τὰ μὲν ἱερὰ τὰ δʼ ὅσια τοῖς παλαιοῖς ἔθος ἦν προσαγορεύειν. ὁ δʼ ἀναφαίνων τὰ οὐράνια καὶ τῶν ἄνω φερομένων λόγος Ἄνουβις, ἔστι δʼ ὅτε καὶ Ἑρμάνουβις ὀνομάζεται, τὸ μὲν ὡς τοῖς ἄνω τὸ δʼ ὡς τοῖς κάτω προσήκων. διὸ καὶ θύουσιν αὐτῷ τὸ μὲν λευκὸν ἀλεκτρυόνα, τὸ δὲ κροκίαν, τὰ μὲν εἰλικρινῆ καὶ φανά, τὰ δὲ μικτὰ καὶ ποικίλα νομίζοντες. οὐ δεῖ δὲ θαυμάζειν τῶν ὀνομάτων τὴν εἰς τὸ Ἑλληνικὸν ἀνάπλασιν· καὶ γὰρ ἄλλα μυρία τοῖς μεθισταμένοις ἐκ τῆς Ἑλλάδος συνεκπεσόντα μέχρι νῦν παραμένει καὶ ξενιτεύει παρʼ ἑτέροις, ὧν ἔνια τὴν ποιητικὴν ἀνακαλουμένην διαβάλλουσιν ὡς βαρβαρίζουσαν οἱ γλώττας τὰ τοιαῦτα προσαγορεύοντες. ἐν δὲ ταῖς Ἑρμοῦ λεγομέναις βίβλοις ἱστοροῦσι γεγράφθαι περὶ τῶν ἱερῶν ὀνομάτων, ὅτι τὴν μὲν ἐπὶ τῆς τοῦ ἡλίου περιφορᾶς τεταγμένης δύναμιν Ὧρον, Ἕλληνες δʼ Ἀπόλλωνα καλοῦσι· τὴν δʼ ἐπὶ τοῦ πνεύματος οἱ μὲν Ὄσιριν, οἱ δὲ Σάραπιν, οἱ δὲ Σῶθιν Αἰγυπτιστί· σημαίνει δὲ κύησιν ἢ τὸ κύειν. διὸ καὶ παρατροπῆς γενομένης τοῦ ὀνόματος, Ἑλληνιστὶ κύων κέκληται τὸ ἄστρον, ὅπερ ἴδιον τῆς Ἴσιδος νομίζουσιν. ἥκιστα μὲν οὖν δεῖ φιλοτιμεῖσθαι περὶ τῶν ὀνομάτων, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἂν ὑφείμην τοῦ Σαράπιδος Αἰγυπτίοις ἢ τοῦ Ὀσίριδος, ἐκεῖνο μὲν ξενικόν, τοῦτο δʼ Ἑλληνικόν, ἄμφω δʼ ἑνὸς θεοῦ καὶ μιᾶς δυνάμεως ἡγούμενος.

Osiris has a name made up from holy (hosion) and sacred (kieron); for he is the combined relation of the things in the heavens and in the lower world, the former of which it was customary for people of olden time to call sacred and the latter to call holy. But the relation which discloses the things in the heavens and belongs to the things which tend upward is sometimes named Anubis and sometimes Hermanubis as belonging in part to the things above and in part to the things below. For this reason they sacrifice to him on the one hand a white cock and on the other hand one of saffron colour, regarding the former things as simple and clear, and the others as combined and variable. There is no occasion to be surprised at the revamping of these words into Greek. The fact is that countless other words went forth in company with those who migrated from Greece, and persist even to this day as strangers in strange lands; and, when the poetic art would recall some of these into use, those who speak of such words as strange or unusual falsely accuse it of using barbarisms. Moreover, they record that in the so-called books of Hermes it is written in regard to the sacred names that they call the power which is assigned to direct the revolution of the Sun Horus, but the Greeks call it Apollo; and the power assigned to the wind some call Osiris and others Serapis, and Sothis in Egyptian signifies pregnancy (caesis) or to be pregnant (cyein): therefore in Greek, with a change of accent, the star is called the Dog-star (Cyon), which they regard as the special star of Isis. Least of all is …