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Meaning & History
Latinized form of Greek Ἀκοίτης (Akoites) meaning "bedfellow, husband". This was the name of several characters in Greek mythology, including the helmsman of a ship that landed on the island of Naxos, where some of the sailors found a beautiful sleeping boy and brought him on board with them. The sleeping youth was the god Bacchus in disguise; Acoetes alone recognized the god and resisted against their plan to abduct him. When Bacchus awoke he eventually revealed himself and turned the sailors into dolphins, but Acoetes was spared and made a priest of Bacchus on Naxos.