DEUCALION

deucalion, in greek legend, son of prometheus, king of phthia in thessaly, husband of pyrrha, and father of hellen, the mythical ancestor of the hellenic race. when zeus had resolved to destroy all mankind by a flood, deucalion constructed a boat or ark, in which, after drifting nine days and nights, he landed on mount parnassus (according to others, othrys, aetna or athos) with his wife. having offered sacrifice and inquired how to renew the human race, they were ordered to cast behind them the "bones of the great mother," that is, the stones from the hillside. the stones thrown by deucalion became men, those thrown by pyrrha, women. see apollodorus i. 7, 2; ovid, _metam._ i. 243-415; apollonius rhodius iii. 1085 ff.; h. usener, _die sintflutsagen_ (1899). deuce (a corruption of the fr. _deux_, two), a term applied to the "two" of any suit of cards, or of dice. it is also a term used in tennis when both sides have each scored three points in a game, or five games in a set; to win the game or set two points or games must then be won consecutively. the earliest instances in english of the use of the slang expression "the deuce," in exclamations and the like, date from the middle of the 17th century. the meaning was similar to that of "plague" or "mischief" in such phrases as "plague on you," "mischief take you" and the like. the use of the word as an euphemism for "the devil" is later. according to the _new english dictionary_ the most probable derivation is from a low german _das daus_, i.e. the "deuce" in dice, the lowest and therefore the most unlucky throw. the personification, with a consequent change of gender, to _der daus_, came later. the word has also been identified with the name of a giant or goblin in teutonic mythology.