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