ephydriad

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English

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Etymology

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From Ancient Greek ἐφυδριάς (ephudriás), from ἐπί (epí, upon) + ὕδωρ (húdōr, water).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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ephydriad (plural ephydriads)

  1. (rare) A dryad, a water nymph.
    • 1832, Leigh Hunt, The Ephydriads:
      'Tis there the Ephydriads haunt;—there, where a gap / Betwixt a heap of tree-tops, hollow and dun, / Shews where the waters run, / And whence the fountain's tongue begins to lap.
    • 1928, Edmund Blunden, Undertones of War, Penguin, published 2010, page 107:
      in the golden dusty summer [we] tramped down into the verdant valley, even then a haunt of every leafy spirit and the blue-eyed ephydriads, now Nature's slimy wound with spikes of blackened bone […].