νύμφη Ancient Greek · revision 2224

+ {{infobox|confidence=disputed|formation=borrowing|attested=Homer, Iliad|origins=qfa-sub-grc}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /ným.pʰɛː/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈnym.ɸi/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈnym.fi/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''νῠ́μφη''' (númphē) ''f'' (genitive νῠ́μφης); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Doric νύμφα; epic vocative νύμφα.^(Beekes 2010)^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ Its origin is disputed.^(Frisk 1960)^(Wiktionary) It has long been compared with Latin [[m|la|nūbō|t=to marry]] and Old Church Slavonic [[m|cu|снубити|tr=snubiti|t=to love, court]], from Proto-Indo-European [[m|ine-pro|*sneubʰ-]], a connection LIV still follows; but it leaves the nasal inside νύμφη unexplained.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Beekes therefore considers it Pre-Greek, [[der|qfa-sub-grc|-]], perhaps with a prenasalized stop, and takes the short vocative νύμφα to be the old nominative, with a Pre-Greek ending.^(Beekes 2010)^(Beekes 2014) Kretschmer had also argued for a substrate origin, comparing the spring name Νυμφασία.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)^(Wiktionary) Scarborough's database rates the non-Greek origin as very reliable.^(PHILOGLOSSA)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Homer uses it for a bride and for a young woman.^(LSJ 1940)^(Cunliffe 1924) Iris addresses Helen, and Eurycleia Penelope, as νύμφα φίλη.^(LSJ 1940)^(Cunliffe 1924)^(CGL 2021) It is also a nymph: the nymphs who haunt groves, springs and meadows, and goddesses such as Calypso.^(Cunliffe 1924)^(CGL 2021)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Classical Greek it remained the bride or young wife, in Herodotus, Aristophanes and Plato, set against the bridegroom, [[νυμφίος|tr=numphíos]].^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) The nymphs were divided by their haunts: of the mountains, of the waters, of the meadows and rocks, of trees, of the sea.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) Springs themselves were called nymphs, and so in poetry the word could mean water.^(LSJ 1940) Porphyry applies it to souls seeking birth.^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ By resemblance it named a doll, the pupa of a bee or wasp in Aristotle, the winged male ant, a mollusc, the point of a ploughshare, the hollow between the lower lip and the chin, the clitoris in the physicians Rufus and Galen, an opening rosebud and a niche.^(LSJ 1940)^(Beekes 2010)

+

+ In the Septuagint it is often a daughter-in-law as well as a bride.^(Lust 2003) The New Testament uses it in both senses, and Revelation speaks of the bride of the Lamb.^(BDAG 2000)^(UBS 2023)

+

+ Medieval vernacular Greek had the form νύφη, by assimilation of -μφ- to -φφ- and simplification, and used it for a bride, a newly married woman, a wife and a fiancée; the “bride of Christ” is the Church or a nun.^(Kriaras)^(Triantafyllidis 1998) Modern Greek [[m|el|νύφη|tr=nífi]] is a bride; the learned [[m|el|νύμφη|tr=nímfi]] survives in church phrases and as the zoological term for a pupa.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Homer – The ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'' use it for a bride and for a nymph.^(LSJ 1940)^(Cunliffe 1924)

+ * Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod names kinds of nymphs.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for a young wife.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for the pupa of a bee or wasp.^(LSJ 1940)^(Beekes 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Revelation speaks of the bride of the Lamb.^(BDAG 2000)

+ * 2nd century AD – Galen uses it for the clitoris.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 1100–1669 – Medieval vernacular Greek has the form νύφη.^(Kriaras)^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|bride]], a young wife.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # A marriageable maiden, a young woman.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(Koine)'' A [[m|en|daughter-in-law]].^(LSJ 1940)^(BDAG 2000)

+ # A [[m|en|nymph]], a female spirit of nature.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(poetic)'' Spring water.^(LSJ 1940)

+ # A doll.^(LSJ 1940)

+ # ''(zoology)'' The [[m|en|pupa]] of a bee or wasp; the winged male ant; a kind of mollusc.^(LSJ 1940)^(Beekes 2010)

+ # ''(anatomy)'' The hollow between the lower lip and the chin; the clitoris.^(LSJ 1940)

+ # The point of a ploughshare; an opening rosebud; a niche.^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ἄνυμφος|tr=ánumphos]]

+ * [[μελλόνυμφος|tr=mellónumphos]]

+ * [[νυμφαγωγός|tr=numphagōgós]]

+ * [[νυμφαῖος|tr=numphaîos]]

+ * [[νυμφεῖος|tr=numpheîos]]

+ * [[νυμφεύω|tr=numpheúō]]

+ * [[νυμφίδιος|tr=numphídios]]

+ * [[νυμφικός|tr=numphikós]]

+ * [[νυμφίος|tr=numphíos]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[νυμφευτής|tr=numpheutḗs]]

+ * [[νυμφεύτρια|tr=numpheútria]]

+ * [[la|nūbō]]

+ * [[en|nymph]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Cornutus explained the name of the nymphs, the springs of fresh water, from their always appearing young (νέαι φαίνεσθαι).^(Etygram)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}