omphalos

noun

1. the navel; umbilicus.
2. the central point.
3. Greek Antiquity. a stone in the temple of Apollo at Delphi, thought to mark the center of the earth.

noun

1. (in the ancient world) a sacred conical object, esp a stone. The most famous omphalos at Delphi was assumed to mark the centre of the earth
2. the central point
3. literary another word for navel

also omphalus, “sacred stone,” 1850, from Greek omphalos, literally “navel,” later also “hub” (as the central point), from PIE *ombh-alo-, from root *nobh-/*ombh- “navel” (see navel). The name of the rounded stone in the shrine at Delphi, regarded by the ancients as the center of the world. Related: Omphalic. n. pl. om•pha•li (-lī′)

1. The navel.