A szó etimológiáját kutatva gyakran lyukadunk ki Anatóliában:

 

In English the first appearance of "labrys" is reported in Oxford English Dictionary from Journal of Hellenic Studies XXI. 108 (1901): "It seems natural to interpret names of Carian sanctuaries like Labranda in the most literal sense as the place of the sacred labrys, which was the Lydian (or Carian) name for the Greek πέλεκυς, or double-edged axe." And, p. 109, "On Carian coins indeed of quite late date the labrys, set up on its long pillar-like handle, with two dependent fillets, has much the appearance of a cult image."

 

The non-Greek word "labrys" first appears in Plutarch as the Lydian word for axe (Greek Questions, 45):

 

Herakles, having slain Hippolyte and taken her axe with the rest of her arms, gave it to Omphale. The kings of Lydia who succeeded her carried this as one of their sacred insignia of office, and passed it down from father to son until Candaules. Candaules, however, disdained it and gave it to one of his companions to carry. When Gyges rebelled and was making war upon Candaules, Arselis came with a force from Mylasa to the assistance of Gyges, slew Candaules and his companion, and took the axe to Caria with the other spoils of war. And having set up a statue of Zeus, he put the axe in his hand and called the god, "Labrandeus," labrys being the Lydian word for 'axe'.

 

It is widely accepted that the word "Labraundeos" means in archaic Greek "shining" or "bright". The main feature of thundergod Zeus was the lightning, which of course is shining, which would be consistent with the fact that "Labraundeos" could be an epytome for "shining god". "Labry" means "shining" (λαμπρό [lambro] still means "bright" in modern Greek) and "deos" is an ancient word for "god", cognate with modern Greek "theos" (as in "theocracy", "theology"...)

 

Archeology suggests that the veneration of Zeus Labraundeos at Labraunda was far older than Plutarch imagined. Like its apparent cognate "labyrinth", the word entered the Greek language as a loanword, so that its etymology, and even its original language, is not positively known. The loanword labyrinth was used in Greek, but the designation "The house of the Double Axe" for the palace at Knossos is an imaginative modern innovation.