Sycorax

Etymology and Origin

Sycorax is a feminine name created by William Shakespeare for a character in his play The Tempest (1611). The character, a powerful witch and mother of Caliban, has died before the play's action begins and is only spoken of by other characters. The name's meaning is uncertain, but scholars suggest it may derive from Latin corax or Greek κόραξ (korax), meaning "raven". This etymology alludes to Corax of Syracuse, a 5th-century BC Greek rhetorician. Another possibility is a connection to the Latin term for "sow," as pigs appear in the play, but this is less accepted.

Shakespearean Usage and Character History

In The Tempest, Sycorax is a villainous figure: a witch from Algiers banished to a remote island while pregnant with Caliban. She is remembered for cruelly imprisoning the spirit Ariel in a tree, an act that the protagonist Prospero uses to compel Ariel's service. Though dead, her legacy shapes the play's conflict—Caliban claims the island by inheritance from her, and Prospero exploits her memory to maintain control. Critics view Sycorax as a foil to Prospero, embodying raw, vengeful magic opposed to his learned, masculine wizardry.

Cultural and Literary Significance

Sycorax has become a symbol in postcolonial and feminist readings of The Tempest. Scholars like Octave Mannoni (using the term "Prospero complex") and Gayatri Spivak discuss how her absence and lack of a voice represent the silenced colonized other. Comparisons to Medea from Ovid's Metamorphoses are common, as both are powerful women whose magic and motherhood tie them to the supernatural. Since Shakespeare's era, Sycorax appears in various adaptations, from Aimé Césaire's Une Tempête to contemporary retellings. One of Uranus's moons, discovered in 1997, bears her name in accordance with astronomical titles drawn from English literature.

Key Facts

• Meaning: Unknown; possibly related to Greek korax (raven) or Latin corax (raven).
• Origin: Literary—created by William Shakespeare.
• Type: Fictional character name.
• Usage: Literature; rarely used as a given name.