nymphaeum

Meaning

Noun

• An ancient Greek or Roman shrine consecrated to water nymphs, often with a fountain.

Origin

• The root word is Greek nymphē, which anciently, from prehistory, could mean "bride" or a special type of "goddess:" of mountains, trees, springs or meadows. Its appearance in Latin nymph- is a Hellenization, although Latin had its own derivatives from the Indo-European: nupta "bride", nurus, "daughter-in-law." In classical Greek referred to the goddess, becoming Latin -ae-, while an -ei- form referred to the bride, becoming Latin -ē-, but the Greek-speaking Romans, such as Pliny the Elder, confused the two. Thus Latin nymphaeum is from Greek nymphaion but Latin nymphēum is from nympheion, although they could be understood to have the same meaning.