the Pleiads, seven daughters of Atlas, placed by Zeus among the stars, Hom., Hes.; only six are distinctly visible, whence the myth of the "lost Pleiad, " Ovid.
Prob. from πλέω, to sail, because they rose at the beginning of the sailingseason, as Ὑάδες from ὕω, with reference to the rainy season. Poets, adopting the form Πελειάδες, represented them as doves, and the ὑάδες as swine.
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