nymphaea

See also: Nymphaea and nymphæa

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɪmˈfiːə/

Etymology 1

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin nymphaea, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Ancient Greek νυμφαῖα (numphaîa), feminine singular form of νυμφαῖος (numphaîos, “sacred to the nymphs”), from νύμφη (númphē, “nymph”).

Noun

nymphaea (plural nymphaeas)

1. (botany) Originally, the European white water lily; later also, a species of the genus Nymphaea.
   • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 5, member 1, subsection v:

     Guianerius, cap. 8, tract. 15, would have them used twice a day, and when they come forth of the baths, their backbones to be anointed with oil of almonds, violets, nymphæa, fresh capon-grease, etc.

Etymology 2

Inflected forms.

Noun

nymphaea

1. plural of nymphaeum

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Latin

nymphaea (water lily)

Etymology

From Ancient Greek νυμφαία (numphaía).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /nymˈpʰae̯.a/, [nʏmˈpʰäe̯ä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /nimˈfe.a/, [nimˈfɛːä]

Noun

nymphaea f (genitive nymphaeae); first declension

1. water lily

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	nymphaea	nymphaeae
Genitive	nymphaeae	nymphaeārum
Dative	nymphaeae	nymphaeīs
Accusative	nymphaeam	nymphaeās
Ablative	nymphaeā	nymphaeīs
Vocative	nymphaea	nymphaeae

Related terms

• nympha

Descendants

• Translingual: Nymphaea

References

• “nymphaea”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• nymphaea in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “nymphaea”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly