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Young Brunette Girl Outside In The Nature Like A Nymph
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Nymphs are personifications the creative and fostering activities nature, most ten identified with the life-giving outflow springs: as Walter Burkert (Burkert 1985:III.3.3) remarks, "The idea that rivers are gods and springs divine nymphs is deeply rooted not only in poetry but in belief and ritual; the worship these deities is limited only by the fact that they are inseparably identified with a specific locality."
The Greek word νύμφη has "bride" and "veiled" among its meanings: hence a marriageable young woman. Other readers refer the word (and also Latin nubere and German Knospe) to a root expressing the idea "swelling" (according to Hesychius, one the meanings νύμφη is "rose-bud").
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