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Nymph in Greek mythology transformed into a bindweed shrub
In
Greek mythology Smilax (; Greek pronunciation:
[zmîːlaks] ;
Greek : Σμῖλαξ ,
translit. Smílax ,
lit. "bindweed"
[1] ) was the name of a
nymph who was in love with
Crocus
[2] and was turned into the
plant bearing her name (the bindweed). Ancient sources with information about her and her tale are few and far in between.
Etymology
Variants of the word σμίλαξ include μῖλαξ , milax , and (σ)μῖλος , (s)milos , which point to a
pre-Greek origin for the noun according to
Robert Beekes .
Mythology
Details of her story are vague and sparse.
Pliny writes that Smilax was turned into bindweed shrub for loving the young
Crocus .
[4]
Ovid writes that the smilax and
crocus both tell a love story,
[5] and
Nonnus also mentions Crocus' love for Smilax, the "airgarlanded girl".
[6]
See also
Notes
References
Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010). Lucien van Beek (ed.).
Etymological Dictionary of Greek . Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series. Vol. ΙΙ. Leiden, the Netherlands:
Brill Publications .
ISBN
978-90-04-17419-1 .
Publius Ovidius Naso ,
Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More (1859-1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922.
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Publius Ovidius Naso ,
Metamorphoses . Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892.
Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library .
Pliny the Elder , Pliny – Natural History, 10 volumes. Translated by Rackham, H.; Jones, W. H. S.; Eichholz, D. E. Loeb Classical Library. 1938–1962.
Nonnus of Panopolis ,
Dionysiaca translated by William Henry Denham Rouse (1863-1950), from the Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1940.
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Smith, William ,
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology , London (1873).
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library .
External links
Animals
Base appearance Humanoids Inanimate objects Landforms Opposite sex Plants Voluntary Other False myths