Author Christian Dansereau

In Greek mythology, Proteus is an early sea-god or god of rivers and oceanic bodies of water. He can foretell the future, but, will change his shape to avoid having to; he will answer only to someone who is capable of capturing him. From this feature of Proteus comes the adjective protean, with the general meaning of "versatile", "mutable", "capable of assuming many forms". "Protean" has positive connotations of flexibility, versatility and adaptability.