late 14c., phitonesse, Phitonissa, "woman with the power of soothsaying," from Old French phitonise (13c.) and Medieval Latin phitonissa, from Late Latin pythonissa, used in Vulgate of the Witch of Endor (I Samuel xxviii.7), and often treated as her proper name. It is the fem. of pytho "familiar spirit;" which ultimately is connected with the title of the prophetess of the Delphic Oracle, Greek pythia hiereia, from Pythios, an epithet of Apollo, from Pythō, an older name of the region of Delphi (see python). The classical spelling was restored 16c.

1580s, name of a fabled serpent, slain by Apollo near Delphi, from Latin Python, from Greek Pythōn "serpent slain by Apollo," probably related to Pythō, the old name of Delphi. Chaucer has it (late 14c.) as Phitoun.

This might be related to pythein "to rot," or from PIE *dhubh-(o)n-, from *dheub- "hollow, deep, bottom, depths," and used in reference to the monsters who inhabit them. Loosely used for "any very large snake," hence the zoological application to large non-venomous snakes of the tropics (1836, originally in French). Related: Pythonic.

1975, in reference to the style of humor popularized by the comedy troupe in the British TV series "Monty Python's Flying Circus."

"presence of pus in the urine," 1787, from medical Latin (by 1760s), from pyo- + -uria (see urine).

c. 1400, "a box," especially, in Church use, the vessel in which the host or consecrated bread is kept, from Latin pyxis, from Greek pyxis "box-wood; a box" (originally one made of box-wood), from pyxos "box-wood; box-tree," a word of uncertain origin, perhaps a loan-word from Italy, where the tree is native.

In nautical use from 1680s as "the metal box in which the compass is suspended." Hence also Pyxis as the name of a Southern constellation proposed 1760s by Lacaille (along with Puppis, Carina, and Vela) to be made from parts of the unwieldy ancient Argo, though Malus "mast" also was long used for this part.