23 January 2015

sylph

[silf]

noun
1. a slender, graceful woman or girl.
2. (in folklore) one of a race of supernatural beings supposed to inhabit the air.

Origin
Latin, Greek
1650-1660; < New Latin sylphēs (plural), coined by Paracelsus; apparently blend of sylva (variant spelling of Latin silva forest) and Greek nýmphē nymph

Related forms

sylphic, adjective
sylphlike, adjective

Synonyms
2. Sylph, salamander, undine (nymph), gnome were imaginary beings inhabiting the four elements once believed to make up the physical world. All except the gnomes were female. Sylphs dwelt in the air and were light, dainty, and airy beings. Salamanders dwelt in fire: “a salamander that … lives in the midst of flames”(Addison). Undines were water spirits: By marrying a man, an undine could acquire a mortal soul.(They were also called nymphs, though nymphs were ordinarily minor divinities of nature who dwelt in woods, hills, and meadows as well as in waters.) Gnomes were little old men or dwarfs, dwelling in the earth: ugly enough to be king of the gnomes.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for sylph
– We always think of fat people as heavy, but he could have danced against a sylph.
– As a rule, the nimble sylph depends entirely upon its pinions for support.

Today’s aphorism

If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl. But whatever you do – you have to keep moving forward.

– Martin Luther King Jr

On this day

23 January 1803 – death of Sir Arthur Guiness, Irish brewer and founder of the Guinness brewery. Born 24 September 1725.

23 January 1989 – death of Salvador Dali, Spanish surrealist painter. Born 11 May 1904.