sylph
English
editEtymology
editFirst attested in 1657. From New Latin sylphes, coined by Paracelsus in the 16th century. The coinage may derive from Latin sylvestris (“of the woods”) and nympha (“nymph”). Ultimately from the root silva (“woods, forest”). Related to sylvan.
More at Wikipedia.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editsylph (plural sylphs)
- (mythology) An invisible being of the air.
- Synonym: sylphid
- 1811, Mary Brunton, Self-Control:
- Her heart fluttered with expectation—her step was buoyant with hope, and she sprung into the carriage with the lightness of a sylph.
- 1941, Rupert Gleadow, Magic and Divination, page 125:
- Necromancy meant originally the conjuring up the souls of the dead, and later included the conjuring of all sorts of inhuman spirits such as sylphs, giants, and djinn.
- The elemental being of air, usually female.
- (by extension) A slender woman or girl, usually graceful and sometimes with the implication of sublime station over everyday people.
- (ornithology) Any of the mainly dark green and blue hummingbirds (genus Aglaiocercus), the male of which has a long forked tail.
Related terms
editTranslations
editThe elemental being of air
A slender girl
References
edit- 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
Further reading
editCategories:
- English terms derived from New Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɪlf
- Rhymes:English/ɪlf/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Mythology
- English terms with quotations
- en:Ornithology
- en:Hummingbirds
- en:Mythological creatures
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *swel-