Smilax (mythology)
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InGreek mythologySmilax(/smɪ.lɑːks/;Greek pronunciation:[zmîːlaks];Greek:Σμῖλαξ,translit.Smílax,lit."bindweed"[1]) was the name of anymphwho was in love withCrocus[2]and was turned into theplant bearing her name(the bindweed). Ancient sources with information about her and her tale are few and far between.
Etymology[edit]
Variants of the wordσμίλαξincludeμῖλαξ,milax,and(σ)μῖλος,(s)milos,which point to apre-Greekorigin for the noun according toRobert Beekes.[3]
Mythology[edit]
Details of her story are vague and sparse.Plinywrites that Smilax was turned into bindweed shrub for loving the youngCrocus.[4]Ovidwrites that the smilax andcrocusboth tell a love story,[5]andNonnusalso 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 MythologyCrocus
- ^Beekes 2010,p.1368.
- ^Pliny the Elder,Natural History16.63.1
- ^Ovid,Metamorphoses4.283
- ^Nonnus,Dionysiaca12.86
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.ISBN978-90-04-17419-1.
- Publius Ovidius Naso,Metamorphosestranslated 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,Dionysiacatranslated 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[edit]
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