νύμφη

• νῠ́μφᾱ (númphā) — Doric

Maybe from the same origin as Latin nūbō (“marry”) (English nubile), from Proto-Indo-European *snewbʰ- (“to marry, to wed”). Beekes argues for a Pre-Greek origin.

νῠ́μφη • (númphē) f (genitive νῠ́μφης); first declension

1. bride, young wife
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 18.492:

      […], νύμφας δ᾽ ἐκ θαλάμων δαΐδων ὕπο λαμπομενάων ἠγίνεον ἀνὰ ἄστυ, […]

      […], númphas d᾽ ek thalámōn daḯdōn húpo lampomenáōn ēgíneon anà ástu, […]

   1. young, nubile woman; marriageable maiden
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 9.560:

         […]: καί ῥα ἄνακτος ἐναντίον εἵλετο τόξον Φοίβου Ἀπόλλωνος καλλισφύρου εἵνεκα νύμφης, […]

         […]: kaí rha ánaktos enantíon heíleto tóxon Phoíbou Apóllōnos kallisphúrou heíneka númphēs, […]

   2. daughter-in-law
      • 300 BCE – 200 BCE, 1 Samuel 4.19:

        Καὶ νύμφη αὐτοῦ γυνὴ Φινεὲς συνειληφυῖα τοῦ τεκεῖν· […]

        Kaì númphē autoû gunḕ Phineès suneilēphuîa toû tekeîn; […]

      • 300 BCE – 200 BCE, Septuagint, Ruth 1.8:

        Καὶ εἶπε Νωεμὶν, ταῖς δυσὶ νύμφαις αὐτῆς […]

        Kaì eîpe Nōemìn, taîs dusì númphais autês […]

   3. (Epigraphic Ancient Greek) young girl
2. (Greek mythology, sometimes capitalized) nymph, goddess of lower rank
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 6.105:

      […]: τῇ δέ θ᾽ ἅμα νύμφαι, κοῦραι Διὸς αἰγιόχοιο, ἀγρονόμοι παίζουσι, γέγηθε δέ τε φρένα Λητώ: […]

      […]: têi dé th᾽ háma númphai, koûrai Diòs aigiókhoio, agronómoi paízousi, gégēthe dé te phréna Lētṓ: […]

   1. goddess of springs; (poetry) spring, spring water
      • 314 CE – 393 CE, Libanius, Orations 11.28
3. doll, puppet
   • 46 CE – 120 CE, Plutarch, Julius Caesar 332d:

      […], ἥ τε μήτηρ τοῦ Καίσαρος Αὐρηλία γυνὴ σώφρων περιέπουσα τὴν νύμφην ἀεὶ χαλεπὴν καὶ παρακεκινδυνευμένην αὐτοῖς ἐποίει τὴν ἔντευξιν.

      […], hḗ te mḗtēr toû Kaísaros Aurēlía gunḕ sṓphrōn periépousa tḕn númphēn aeì khalepḕn kaì parakekinduneuménēn autoîs epoíei tḕn énteuxin.

4. bee or wasp in pupa stage
   • 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, History of Animals 5.19:

      […]· ὅταν δ' ἐκ τῶν σκωλήκων εἰς τὴν διατύπωσιν ἔλθωσι, καλοῦνται μὲν νύμφαι τότε, […]

      […]; hótan d' ek tôn skōlḗkōn eis tḕn diatúpōsin élthōsi, kaloûntai mèn númphai tóte, […]

5. winged male ant
   • 5th century CE, Hesychius Alexandreus, Συναγωγὴ Πασῶν Λέξεων κατὰ Στοιχεῖον
6. A kind of mollusk.
7. (agriculture) point of a plowshare
8. (anatomy) hollow between the lower lip and the chin
   1. (zootomy) depression on the shoulder of a horse
9. opening rosebud
10. (anatomy) clitoris, also the labia minora [from 2nd c.]
    • 129 CE – 216 CE, Galen, Of the Uses of the Different Parts of the Human Body 15.3
11. niche

Antonym: νυμφίος (numphíos, “a bridegroom”)

• Greek: νύμφη (nýmfi, “nymph; bride”), νύφη (nýfi, “bride; in-law”)
• Mariupol Greek: нимф (nimf, “fairy”), ныф (nyf, “bride; in-law”)
• → Latin: lympha, nympha (see there for further descendants)
• → Russian: ни́мфа (nímfa)

• “νύμφη”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press

• “νύμφη”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “νύμφη”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “νύμφη”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• νύμφη in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• νύμφη in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• G3565 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• νύμφη in Trapp, Erich, et al. (1994–2007) Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität besonders des 9.-12. Jahrhunderts [the Lexicon of Byzantine Hellenism, Particularly the 9th–12th Centuries], Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • bride idem, page 97.
  • elf idem, page 265.
  • fairy idem, page 302.
  • nymph idem, page 563.
  • sylph idem, page 850.
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN
• “νύμφη”, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, 2011

From Ancient Greek νύμφη (númphē).

νύμφη • (nýmfi) f (plural νύμφες)

1. bride
2. (Greek mythology) nymph, female sprite, female nature spirit
3. (zoology) nymph, larva
4. (zoology) pupa, chrysalis

• (bride): νύφη f (nýfi)
• (chrysalis, pupa): χρυσαλλίδα f (chrysallída)

• νύμφη on the Greek Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^el