SG Heritage Dictionary

Labyrinth [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. Among the ancients, an edifice or place full of intricacies, or formed with winding passages, which rendered it difficult to find the way from the interior to the entrance. The most remarkable of these edifices mentioned, are the Egyptian and the Cretan labyrinths.

2. A maze; an inexplicable difficulty.

3. Formerly, an ornamental maze or wilderness in gardens.

4. A cavity in the ear.

Labyrinth [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. An edifice or place full of intricate passageways which render it difficult to find the way from the interior to the entrance; as, the Egyptian and Cretan labyrinths.

2. Any intricate or involved inclosure; especially, an ornamental maze or inclosure in a park or garden.

3. Any object or arrangement of an intricate or involved form, or having a very complicated nature.

4. An inextricable or bewildering difficulty.

5. The internal ear. See Note under Ear.

6. A series of canals through which a stream of water is directed for suspending, carrying off, and depositing at different distances, the ground ore of a metal.

7. A pattern or design representing a maze, -- often inlaid in the tiled floor of a church, etc.

Labyrinth Encyclopedia Britannica

LABYRINTH. I. The legendary labyrinth is one of the clearest examples of the close relation between mythology and the early stages of the industrial arts. The word λαβύρινθοί is derived from the λαύραι or passages of a mine; the digamma before the p has become in the latter a vowel, while in the former it retains its consonantal value. The mines of Greece, like those of Thrace and the Aegean Islands, were probably first worked by the Phoenician traders; and the simple-minded natives regarded the strange holes in the ground with wonder and awe. To the natural fear of darkness was added the invariable tendency of the uneducated to regard as supernatural the power conferred by superior knowledge; moreover, the god of the riches of the lower world was also the god of death and the dead. Their fear expressed itself in tales of the extraordinary ramifications of the dark passages and of the danger to which any heedless intruder into them was exposed. The maze of passages was called a labyrinth; the word became a proper name and gained a life and meaning of its own in legend, quite unconnected with its original application. It retained a more antique form, as proper names frequently do, whereas the mining term λαύρα lost the older character of the digamma. It must have been comparatively late before the word labyrinth acquired this new independence and connotation. The best-known instance of its mythic character is found in the legends of Crete. It was interwoven with the tales, partly founded on historical events and partly derived from ancient religion, which clustered round the name of Minos. The skilful workman, Daedalus, who sums up all the legendary conceptions of skill in handicraft, made for King Minos a labyrinth, in the centre of which the ...

Pliny says that there had been in Crete a building called the labyrinth, of which no remains existed in his time; but Hoek has proved quite certainly from the discrepancies and contradictions in accounts and in representations on coins that it had never a real existence. The rocks of Crete are full of winding caves, and these gave the first hint of the legendary labyrinth. This labyrinth is, by the older writers, placed beside Cnossus, and is figured on coins of that city. Late writers, such as Claudian, represent it as being beside Gortyna, and there is a wonderful set of winding passages and chambers in the rocks near that place, which is still pointed out as the labyrinth. When the name had once acquired this meaning, it was applied to several real buildings, of which the following are the most famous. 1. The Egyptian labyrinth, beside the town of Arsinoe or Crocodilopolis, was in two stories, one of them underground, and contained three thousand rooms. Strabo thinks it was built as a common place of meeting for the people of the various nomes; Herodotus and Diodorus say that it was the burial place of the twelve kings who ruled Egypt about 700 b.c. Müller (Hist. Greek Art, § 50-2) also thinks the object of such buildings must have been sepulchral. 2. The Samian labyrinth was built by Theodorus, one of the Samian school of sculptors, for the tyrant Polycrates. It had a hundred and fifty columns, and Pliny says that some scanty remains of it existed in his time. 3. The Lemnian labyrinth, mentioned by Pliny, seems to be a confusion with the Samian (cf. Pliny, xxxvi. 19, 3 with 83). 4. The Italian labyrinth was a series of chambers in the lower part of the grave of Porsenna at Cluûum. Some maintain that this tomb has been found in the mound named Poggio Gajella near Chiusi.

See Herod, ii. 148; Str. p. 811; Plin. xxxvi. 13 and 19; Müller, Etrusker; Dennis, Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria; Hoek, Kreta. Cockerell {Travels'), and Prokesch {Denkwürdigkeiten) describe the so-called labyrinth of Gortyna.

II. In gardening, a labyrinth or maze means an intricate network of pathways enclosed by hedges or plantations, so that those who enter become bewildered in their efforts to find the centre or make their exit. It is a remnant of the old geometrical style of gardening, but is yet occasionally introduced into pleasure grounds. There are two methods of forming it. That which is perhaps the more common consists of walks, or alleys as they were formerly called, laid out and kept to an equal width or nearly so by parallel hedges, which should be kept so close and thick that the eye cannot readily penetrate through them. The task is to get to the centre, which is often raised, and generally contains a covered seat, a fountain, a statue, or even a small group of trees. After reaching this point the next thing is to return to the entrance, when it is found that egress is as difficult as ingress. To every design of this sort there should be a key, but even those who know the key are apt to be perplexed. Sometimes the design consists of alleys only, as in fig. 1, published in 1706 by

London and Wise. In such a case, when the further end is reached, there only remains to travel back again. Of a more pretentious character was a design published by Switzer in 1742. This is of octagonal form, with very numerous parallel hedges and paths, and “six different entrances, whereof there is but one that leads to the centre, and that is attended with some difficulties and a great many stops.” Some of the older designs for labyrinths, on the other hand, avoid this close parallelism of the alleys, which, though equally involved and intricate in their windings, are carried through blocks of thick planting, as shown in fig. 2, from a design published in 1728 by Batty Langley. These blocks of shrubbery have been called wildernesses. To this latter class belongs the celebrated labyrinth at Versailles (fig. 3), of which Switzer observes, that it “is allowed by all to be the noblest of its kind in the world.” Whatever style be adopted, it is essential that there should be a thick healthy growth of the hedges or shrubberies that confine the wanderer. The trees used should be impenetrable to the eye, and so tall that no one can look over them; and the paths should be of gravel and well kept. The trees chiefly used for the hedges, and the best for the purpose, are the hornbeam among deciduous trees, or the yew among evergreens. The beech might be used instead of the hornbeam on suitable soil. The green holly might be planted as an evergreen with very good results, and so might the American arbor vitae if the natural soil presented no obstacle. The ground must be well prepared, so as to give the trees a good start, and a mulching of manure during the early years of their growth would be of much advantage to them. They must be kept trimmed in or clipped, especially in their earlier stages; trimming with the knife is much to be preferred to clipping with shears. It is not advisable to allow the hedge to run up too quickly or irregularly, so that any plants getting much in advance of the rest should be topped, and the whole kept to some 4 feet or 5 feet in height until the lower parts are well thickened, when it may be allowed to acquire the allotted height by moderate annual increments. In cutting, the hedge (as indeed all hedges) should be kept broadest at the base and narrowed upwards, which prevents it from getting thin and bare below by the stronger growth being drawn to the tops.

The maze in the gardens at Hampton Court Palace (fig. 4) is considered to be one of the finest examples in England. It was planted in the early part of the reign of William III., though it has been supposed that a maze had existed there since the time of Henry VIII. It is constructed on the hedge and alley system, and was, we believe, originally planted with hornbeam, but many of the plants have died out, and been replaced by hollies, yews, &c., so that the vegetation is mixed. The walks are about half a mile in length, and the extent of ground occupied is a little over a quarter of an acre. The centre contains two large trees, with a seat beneath each. The key to reach this resting place is to keep the right hand continuously in contact with the hedge from first to last, going round all the stops.

The maze in the gardens at Somerleyton Hall, near Lowestoft (fig. 5), was designed by Mr John Thomas. The hedges are of English yew, and are in very fine condition, without a break or flaw. They are about 6⅜ feet high, and have been planted a little over thirty years. In the centre is a grass mound, which is raised to the height of the hedges, and on this mound is erected a pagoda, which is approached by a curved grass path. At the two corners on the western side are banks of laurels some 15 or 16 feet high, which are kept trimmed with the knife. On each side of the hedges throughout the labyrinth is a small strip of grass.

There was also a labyrinth at Theobald’s Park, near Cheshunt, when this place passed from the earl of Salisbury into the possession of James I Another is said to have existed at Wimbledon House, the seat of Earl Spencer, which was probably laid out by Brown in the last century. There is an interesting labyrinth, somewhat after η P⅛ n 1 .°∖τ"' 2, at Mistle y Place, Manningtree, the seat of the Rev. C. F. Norman. b ’

When the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society at South Kensington were being planned, the Prince Consort, the president of the society, especially desired that there should be a maze formed in the ante-garden, which was made in the form shown in fig. 6. This labyrinth, which was designed by the late Lieut. W. A. Nesfield, was for many years the chief point of attraction to the younger class of visitors to the gardens; but at last it was allowed to go to ruin, and had to be destroyed.

9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 14, p. 179 — signed T. MO.
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Labyrinthal [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1913

Pertaining to, or resembling, a labyrinth; intricate; labyrinthian.

Labyrinthian [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1828

Winding; intricate; perplexed.

Labyrinthian [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1913

Intricately winding; like a labyrinth; perplexed; labyrinthal.

Labyrinthibranch [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1913

Of or pertaining to the Labyrinthici.

Labyrinthibranch [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

One of the Labyrinthici.

Labyrinthic [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1913

Alt. of Labyrinthical

Labyrinthical [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1913

Like or pertaining to a labyrinth.

Labyrinthici [Noun plural] Webster's Dictionary 1913

An order of teleostean fishes, including the Anabas, or climbing perch, and other allied fishes.

Labyrinthiform [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1913

Having the form of a labyrinth; intricate.

Labyrinthine [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1913

Pertaining to, or like, a labyrinth; labyrinthal.

Labyrinthodon [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

A genus of very large fossil amphibians, of the Triassic period, having bony plates on the under side of the body. It is the type of the order Labyrinthodonta. Called also Mastodonsaurus.

Labyrinthodont [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1913

Of or pertaining to the Labyrinthodonta.

Labyrinthodont [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

One of the Labyrinthodonta.

Labyrinthodonta [Noun plural] Webster's Dictionary 1913

An extinct order of Amphibia, including the typical genus Labyrinthodon, and many other allied forms, from the Carboniferous, Permian, and Triassic formations. By recent writers they are divided into two or more orders. See Stegocephala.