star cluster in constellation Taurus (generally pictured as forming the head of the bull), late 14c., from Greek Hyades, popularly explained by the ancients as "rain-bringers" (from hyein "to rain"), because wet weather supposedly began coincidentally with their heliacal rising; but probably rather from hys "swine" (the popular Latin word for the star-group was Suculae "piglets, little pigs"), from PIE *su- "pig" (see sow (n.)). Grimm ("Teutonic Mythology") lists the Anglo-Saxon glosses of Hyades as Raedgastran, Raedgasnan, Redgaesrum.
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