Tethys

[ tee-this ]

noun

1. Classical Mythology. a Titan, a daughter of Uranus and Gaia, the wife of Oceanus and mother of the Oceanids and river gods.
2. Astronomy. one of the moons of Saturn.
3. Geology. the Mesozoic ocean or seaway of which the Mediterranean Sea is a greatly shrunken remnant.

Tethys

¹

/ ˈtɛθ-; ˈtiːθɪs /

noun

1. the sea that lay between Laurasia and Gondwanaland, the two supercontinents formed by the first split of the larger supercontinent Pangaea. The Tethys Sea can be regarded as the predecessor of today's smaller Mediterranean See also Pangaea

Tethys

²

/ ˈtiːθɪs; ˈtɛθ- /

noun

1. Greek myth a Titaness and sea goddess, wife of Oceanus

Tethys

³

/ ˈtiːθɪs; ˈtɛθ- /

noun

1. a large satellite of the planet Saturn

Word History and Origins

Origin of Tethys¹

From Latin Tēthys, from Greek Tēthýs; further origin uncertain; Tethys def 1 was first recorded in 1700–10; Tethys def 2 in 1845–50; and Tethys def 3 in 1890–95

Example Sentences

The species, described in a paper in the journal Communications Biology, inhabited the Tethys Sea, the tropical precursor of the Mediterranean, which covered about a third of what is now northern Africa.

From New York Times

But in the Mesozoic Era, it was a tropical shoreline along the Tethys Ocean, inhabited by dinosaurs and marine creatures.

From New York Times

As the planet's tectonic plates shifted over molten rock 140 million years ago, and as India's land mass collided with the Asian continent, a previously-existing ancient ocean known as Tethys could have disappeared.

From Salon

Both Africa and India were part of Gondwana, but what is now India moved north into the Tethys Ocean—creating the Indian Ocean behind it—about 120 million years ago.

From Scientific American

Protathlitis roamed a coastal region along the Tethys Sea, an ocean whose remnants include the Mediterranean Sea.

From Reuters