From the book
A Chymical Dictionary
Gerhard Dorn and John French · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordEmbodied spirits or spiritual persons associated with water.
- In the bookNymphidica has an expressly metaphorical use for spirits of dissolving waters in spagyric art.
- A place to readThe 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
- NymphæRead the complete historical definition and its commentary.
- NymphidicaA stated metaphor applying water-spirit names within spagyric practice.
- LemuresAerial spirits with a reported identification as the human dead.
- PenatesFire-element spirits described as familiars.
Source note
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