νύμφη

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• νύμφα (númpha) (Doric)

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ným.pʰɛː/ → /ˈnym.ɸi/ → /ˈnim.fi/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ným.pʰɛː/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈnym.pʰe/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈnym.ɸi/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈnym.fi/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈnim.fi/

Noun

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

1. bride, young wife
2. young, nubile woman; marriageable maiden
3. daughter-in-law
4. (epigraphy) young girl
5. nymph
6. (poetry) spring, spring water
7. doll, puppet
8. bee or wasp in pupa stage
9. winged male ant
10. (anatomy, 2nd century) clitoris

Inflection

First declension of ἡ νῠ́μφη; τῆς νῠ́μφης (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ νῠ́μφη hē númphē	τὼ νῠ́μφᾱ tṑ númphā	αἱ νῠ́μφαι hai númphai
Genitive	τῆς νῠ́μφης tês númphēs	τοῖν νῠ́μφαιν toîn númphain	τῶν νῠμφῶν tôn numphôn
Dative	τῇ νῠ́μφῃ têi númphēi	νῠ́μφαιν númphain	ταῖς νῠ́μφαις taîs númphais
Accusative	τὴν νῠ́μφην tḕn númphēn	νῠ́μφᾱ númphā	τᾱ̀ς νῠ́μφᾱς tā̀s númphās
Vocative	νῠ́μφη númphē	νῠ́μφᾱ númphā	νῠ́μφαι númphai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

First declension of νῠ́μφη; νῠ́μφης (Epic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	νῠ́μφη númphē	νῠ́μφᾱ númphā	νῠ́μφαι númphai
Genitive	νῠ́μφης númphēs	νῠ́μφαιν / νῠ́μφαιῐν / νῠ́μφῃῐν númphai(i)n / númphēiin	νῠμφᾱ́ων / νῠμφέ͜ων / νῠμφῶν numphā́ōn / numphé͜ōn / numphôn
Dative	νῠ́μφῃ númphēi	νῠ́μφαιν / νῠ́μφαιῐν / νῠ́μφῃῐν númphai(i)n / númphēiin	νῠ́μφῃσῐ / νῠ́μφῃσῐν / νῠ́μφῃς / νῠ́μφαις númphēisi(n) / númphēis / númphais
Accusative	νῠ́μφην númphēn	νῠ́μφᾱ númphā	νῠ́μφᾱς númphās
Vocative	νῠ́μφη / νύμφᾰ númphē / númpha	νῠ́μφᾱ númphā	νῠ́μφαι númphai
Notes:	Dialects other than Attic are not well attested. Some forms may be based on conjecture. Use with caution.

Descendants

• → Latin: lympha, limpha
  • Catalan: limfa
  • French: lymphe
    • → English: lymph
  • Galician: linfa
  • Italian: linfa
  • Portuguese: linfa
  • Spanish: linfa
• → Latin: nympha
  • Asturian: ninfa
  • Catalan: nimfa
  • Old French: nimphe
    • → Middle Dutch: nymphe
      • Dutch: nimf
    • → Middle English: nimphe
      • English: nymph
    • French: nymphe
  • Italian: ninfa
  • Portuguese: ninfa
  • Sicilian: ninfa
  • Spanish: ninfa
  • Welsh: nymff
• Greek: νύμφη f (nýmfi, “bride, nymph, pupa”), νύφη f (nýfi, “bride”)
• → Russian: ни́мфа f (nímfa)

Further reading

• 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^[1], 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

---

Greek

Etymology

From Ancient Greek νύμφη (númphē).

Noun

νύμφη • (nýmfi) f (plural νύμφες)

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

Declension

declension of νύμφη

	singular	plural
nominative	νύμφη •	νύμφες •
genitive	νύμφης •	νυμφών •
accusative	νύμφη •	νύμφες •
vocative	νύμφη •	νύμφες •

Synonyms

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