Greek Nymphs

In the Greek imagination, nymphs are inseparable from the landscape. To a  greater degree than most other Greek deities, they are closely associated with  certain topographical features. The most basic of these is the spring, for  nymphs are above all deities of water. While many nymph names contain  the transparent root -rhoe (e.g., Kallirhoe, "lovely flowing"; Okyrhoe, "swift  flowing"), derivations from Indo-European roots describing the properties  of running water have been proposed for nymph names as diverse as Peirene,  Salmakis, Neda, Gargaphia, and Arethousa. Nymphs are thought to inhabit  all watery places, and the many collective designations for nymphs include  those of the rivers (potameides, epipotamides), springs (naiades, krenaiai), marshes  (limnaiai, limnades, heleionomoi), and water in general (hudriades, ephudriades).  Although most of these terms are attested only after the classical period, the  term naiad (nais is related to the Greek verb nab, "flow") is used from the  time of Homer forward as a substitute or qualifier for numphe.


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from:
Greek Nymphs: Myth, Cult, Lore  by Jennifer Larson