E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Bones.
Deuca’lion, after the Deluge, was ordered to cast behind him the bones of his mother, i.e. the stones of mother earth. Those thrown by Deuca’lion became men, and those thrown by his wife, Pyrrha, became women.
1
Pindar suggests that laas, a stone, is a pun on laos, the people. Both words, in the genitive case singular, are alike laou. (Olynthics, ix. 66.)
