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In Greek mythology Smilax (/smɪ.lɑːks/; 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 between.
Etymology
[edit]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.[3]
Mythology
[edit]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
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, "σμῖλαξ"
- ^ William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology Crocus
- ^ Beekes 2010, p. 1368.
- ^ Pliny the Elder, Natural History 16.63.1
- ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.283
- ^ Nonnus, Dionysiaca 12.86
References
[edit]- 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
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