A Chymical Dictionary

Nymphæ

Spirits celestial influences and signs · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. Embodied spirits or spiritual persons associated with water.

In the book. Nymphidica has an expressly metaphorical use for spirits of dissolving waters in spagyric art.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 35; facsimile PDF page 363.

Historical Definition

Nymphæ, or Nymphidicæ, are spiritual men or women, or corporeal spirits dwelling in waters; Melusina was one such being.

Meaning

The definition deliberately holds bodily and spiritual language together. It includes men as well as women, and identifies the dwelling as waters. The category therefore cannot be reduced to the familiar image of an exclusively female poetic nymph without losing part of the compiler’s explanation.

Melusina supplies an example, not a further description of the whole class. The entry does not recount her history or establish that every being named here shares all the features of a separate narrative about her.

Use in the Book

Nymphidica has an expressly metaphorical use for spirits of dissolving waters in spagyric art. Lemures and Penates locate other spirits within air and fire. Comparing these entries preserves the difference between an elemental dwelling, a named example and a technical metaphor.

Places to Read

Nymphidica. A stated metaphor applying water-spirit names within spagyric practice.

Lemures. Aerial spirits with a reported identification as the human dead.

Penates. Fire-element spirits described as familiars.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 35; facsimile PDF page 363 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymical Dictionary 1650, 1650 dictionary, facsimile PDF page 363, Nymphæ

See also. Nymphidica; Lemures; Penates