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| [[Image:Nymphs2.jpg|thumb||330px|[[Hylas]] and the Nymphs by John William Waterhouse]]
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| In [[:Category:Greek mythology|Greek mythology]], a '''nymph''' is any member of a large class of female nature entities, either bound to a particular location or landform or joining the retinue of a god or goddess. Nymphs were the frequent target of lusty [[satyr]]s.
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| "The idea that rivers are gods and springs divine nymphs," Walter Burkert remarks (Burkert III.3.3) "is deeply rooted not only in poetry but in belief and ritual; the worship of these deities is limited only by the fact that they are inseparably identified with a specific locality." Nymphs are personifications of the creative and fostering activities of nature, most often identified with the life-giving outflow of springs. The Greek word νύμφη has "bride" and "veiled" among its meanings: hence, a marriagable young woman. Other readers refer the word (and also Latin ''nubere'' and German ''Knospe'') to a root expressing the idea of "swelling" (according to Hesychius of Alexandria, one of the meanings of νύμφη is "rose-bud"). The home of the nymphs is on mountains and in groves, by springs and rivers, in valleys and cool grottoes. They are frequently associated with the superior divinities, the huntress [[Artemis]], the prophetic [[Apollo]], the reveller and god of trees [[Dionysus]], and with rustic gods such as [[Pan]] and [[Hermes]] (as the god of shepherds).
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| The symbolic marriage with a nymph of a patriarchal leader, often the eponym of a people, is repeated endlessly in Greek origin myths; clearly such a union lent authority to the archaic king and to his line.
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| ==Nymph classifications==
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| The different species of nymph are sometimes distinguished according to the different spheres of nature with which they were connected. However, many of these distinctions may not have existed in popular belief at any time, being late inventions. As <span id="_ref-Rose1959">[[#_note-Rose1959|Rose (1959, p. 173)]]</span> states, "the fact is that all these names are simply feminine adjectives, agreeing with the substantive ''nympha'', and there was no orthodox and exhaustive classification of these shadowy beings." He mentions (pp. 172–3) dryads and hamadryads as nymphs of trees generally, meliai as nymphs of ash trees, and naiads as nymphs of water, but no others specifically.
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| * Land Nymphs
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| ** [[Alpseid]]s (glens, groves)
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| ** [[Napaea]]e (mountain valleys, glens)
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| ** [[Auloniad]]s (pastures)
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| ** [[Leimakid]]s (meadows)
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| ** [[Oread]]s (mountains, grottoes)
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| ** [[Minthe]] (mint)
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| ** [[Hesperides]] (garden)
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| *** [[Aegle]] ("dazzling light")
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| *** [[Arethusa]]
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| *** [[Erytheia]] (or Erytheis)
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| *** [[Hesperia]] (or Hespereia)
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| *** [[Hespera]] (or Hespere)
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| *** [[Hestia]]
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| *** [[Hesperusa]]
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| ** [[Hamadryad]]s (trees)
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| *** [[Dryad]]s (oak tree)
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| *** [[Meliae]] (manna-ash tree)
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| *** [[Leuce]] (white poplar tree)
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| *** [[Epimeliad]] ([[apple]] tree)
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| * Water Nymphs
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| ** [[Helead]] (fen)
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| ** [[Oceanid]]s (daughters of [[Oceanus]] and [[Tethys]], any water, usually salty)
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| ** [[Nereids]] (daughters of [[Nereus]], the Mediterranean Sea)
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| ** [[Naiad]]s (usually fresh water)
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| *** [[Crinaeae]] (fountains)
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| *** [[Limnades]] or [[Limnatides]] (lakes)
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| *** [[Pegaeae]] (springs)
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| *** [[Potameides]] (rivers)
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| *** [[Eleionomae]] (marshes)
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| * Wood Nymphs
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| **Nate Cost
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| ** "[[Corycian Nymphs]]" (Classical [[Muses]])
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| ** [[Lampades]] ([[underworld]])
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| ==Foreign adaptations==
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| [[Image:Nymph with morning glory flowers.jpg|thumb|Nymph with morning glory flowers by Jules Joseph Lefebvre]]
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| The Greek nymphs were spirits invariably bound to places, not unlike the Latin ''[[genius loci]],'' and the difficulty of transferring their cult may be seen in the complicated myth that brought Arethusa to Sicily. Among the Greek-educated Latin poets, the nymphs gradually absorbed into their ranks the indigenous Italian divinities of springs and streams ([[Juturna]], [[Egeria]], [[Cavmentis]], [[Fontus]]), while the [[Lympha]]e (originally Lumpae), Italian water-goddesses, owing to the accidental similarity of name, could be identified with the Greek Nymphae. The mythologies of classicizing Roman poets were unlikely to have affected the rites and cult of individual nymphs venerated by country people in the springs and clefts of Latium. Among the Roman literate class their sphere of influence was restricted, and they appear almost exclusively as divinities of the watery element.
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| ==Depictions in popular culture==
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| Unlike [[mermaid]]s, few nymphs have been depicted on film, in television, or in other forms of mass media and [[:Category:Popular culture|popular culture]]. Among them are:
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| * ''Lady in the Water'' (2006), a film by M. Night Shyamalan, which features a water nymph (called a Narf) of a mythology he created for the movie.
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| ==See also==
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| *[[Houri]]
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| *[[Huacas]]
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| *[[Landvaettir]]
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| *[[Melusine]]
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| *[[Ondine]]
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| *[[Slavic fairies]]
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| *[[Sprite]]
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| *[[Succubus]]
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| ==External links==
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| *[http://www.paleothea.com/Nymphs.html Information page]
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| [[Category:Greek mythology]][[Category:Nymphs]]
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