Narcissus

See also: narcissus

Translingual

Narcissus pseudonarcissus

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Νάρκισσος (Nárkissos, “Narcissus”), a character in Greek mythology, renowned for his beauty and pride.

Proper noun

Narcissus m

1. A taxonomic genus within the family Amaryllidaceae – daffodils.

Hypernyms

• (genus): Eukaryota – superkingdom; Plantae – kingdom; Viridiplantae – subkingdom; Streptophyta – infrakingdom; Embryophyta – superphylum; Tracheophyta – phylum; Spermatophytina – subphylum; angiosperms, monocots – clades; Asparagales – order; Amaryllidaceae - family; Amaryllidoideae - subfamily; Narcisseae - tribe

Hyponyms

• (genus): Narcissus subg. Hermione, Narcissus subg. Narcissus - subgenera
  • Narcissus poeticus (poet's daffodil) - type species; for the numerous other species see Narcissus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies

References

• Narcissus (plant) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Narcissus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Narcissus on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• Narcissus at USDA Plants database
• Narcissus at Tropicos

English

Etymology

From Latin Narcissus, from Ancient Greek Νάρκισσος (Nárkissos, “Narcissus”).

Proper noun

Narcissus

1. (Greek mythology) A youth who spurned the love of Echo and fell in love with his own reflection in a pool: in some versions of the myth, he drowned trying to reach it, while in others he sat fixated until a god took pity and transformed him into a flower.
   • 1982, Carl G. Vaught, The Quest for Wholeness‎^[1], page 25:

     At the beginning of his narrative, Ishmael mentions Narcissus, the legendary character who plunged into the water and was drowned in the attempt to grasp his own essence (p. 14). Narcissus was unwilling to understand the relationship between himself and “the ungraspable phantom of life” in gradualistic terms and sought to bring that relationship to immediate closure, thus annihilating himself.

   • 1994, Ronald Bogue, Mihai Spariosu, The Play of the Self, page 34:

     We may now affirm that Plato's cave is inhabited by Narcissus. He already knows, but the knowledge he possesses is still a bit confused, obscure (this knowledge is situated in the caves of the memory, a dark space much like Narcissus’s place).

   • 1999, Mieke Bal, Quoting Caravaggio: Contemporary Art, Preposterous History‎^[2], page 237:

     Narcissus, as the myth has it, died because, unlike Lacan's child, he did not recognize himself; nor did he perceive the mirror for what it was: a boundary between reality and fiction.¹⁵

Related terms

• narcissism
• Narcissus complex

Translations

mythical youth

• Catalan: Narcís (ca) m
• Czech: Narkissos m
• Dutch: Narcissus m
• French: Narcisse (fr)
• German: Narziss (de)
• Greek: Νάρκισσος (el) m (Nárkissos)

  Ancient: Νάρκισσος m (Nárkissos)

• Inuktitut: ᓇᕐᓯᔅᓱᔅ (narsissos)
• Italian: Narciso (it)
• Polish: Narcyz (pl) m
• Russian: Нарци́сс (ru) m (Narcíss)
• Spanish: Narciso (es)
• Ukrainian: Нарци́с m (Narcýs)

Dutch

Alternative forms

• Narcis (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin Narcissus, from Ancient Greek Νάρκισσος (Nárkissos).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌnɑrˈsɪ.sʏs/
• Hyphenation: Nar‧cis‧sus

Proper noun

Narcissus m

1. (Greek mythology) Narcissus

Related terms

• narcis
• narcist