The Ptolemaic form of the Egyptian Osiris. The word is a
corruption of osorapis (dead apis, or rather
“osirified apis”), a deity which had so many things in common with
Osiris that it is not at all easy to distinguish them.
Serapis.
Symbol of the Nile and of fertility.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
