#tree nymphs

[twinkfeetsocksandtickling]

Looks like someone wandered into the Enchanted Forest and got caught by the Sock Stealing Tree Nymphs who decided to see if he was ticklish too!

[shadowcaststudio]

I learned that sometimes when two trees have some parts cut off, and they grow into each other and become one, it's call "inosculation". And in latin that means "to kiss". Now I can't not think about two tree nymphs kissing each other when I hear that word.

[poeticnorth]

Do you have any information about the wood nymphs or the nymphs of the air??

Wood nymphs, yes. Air nymphs, not so much.

So with air nymphs, beyond possibly Aura (daughter of the North Wind), I haven't read a great deal that's concrete about air nymphs. I have seen some brief mentions of "aurai" or "aurae", who are apparently wind or breeze nymphs but the translations I've seen cited that I've checked don't actually state them and have typically just referred to Aura, as opposed to an actual group of wind/breeze/air nymphs. Among Satyrs and Nymphs, a devotional to Hellenic spirits and gods, edited by Zachariah Shipman, has a section of poems and prayers dedicated to spirits of the sky and sea, so there might be something in there that could point you in the right direction — I can't say for certain because I've only really read the ones dedicated to the sea spirits and gods since water (and death) related stuff is more in my area of interest. Jennifer Larson in her book, "Greek Nymphs: Myth, Cult, Lore" doesn't mention anything about Aura or the aurai/aurae, which is interesting given that she mentions every other form of nymph in that book near enough.

Wood nymphs, on the other hand, aren't something I've read a great deal about, but I have come across some stuff about them when I've been researching water nymphs.

So, to start with, the wood nymphs are typically called dryads or hamadryads, both names coming from the Greek word "drus", meaning "oak". Dryad was originally used to mean an oak tree nymph, whereas hamadryad, which came into use much later, referred to tree nymphs whose lifespan was connected to the tree that they were connected with or living in. However, much later on, they both became interchangeable with each other, as well as for other tree nymphs.

There's an account in the Argonautica where Paraebius' father, in "Youthful pride" cuts down a tree where a naiad¹ dwelled, and and ignored her pleas to not do so. The naiad went onto curse Paraebius' descendants. The idea of a nymph's life being connected with a tree appears much earlier, in the Fifth Homeric Hymn (The Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite):

at their birth pines or high-topped oaks spring up with them upon the fruitful earth, beautiful, flourishing trees, towering high upon the lofty mountains (and men call them holy places of the immortals, and never mortal lops them with the axe); but when the fate of death is near at hand, first those lovely trees wither where they stand, and the bark shrivels away about them, and the twigs fall down, and at last the life of the Nymph and of the tree leave the light of the sun together.

Jennifer Larson in Greek Nymphs writes that the cutting down of the finest trees was the most dangerous as they were more likely to harbour "nereaïdes".

Ovid's Fasti also mentions naiads being connected with trees, stating that a naiad dies due to the wounds inflicted on a tree, as her fate is tied up that tree.

Callimachus' Hymn to Demeter mentions nymphs connected with a poplar tree that cried out when struck by woodcutters.

There are other "classifications" of tree and wood nymphs such as the meliae (ash tree nymphs), and pteleades (elm tree nymphs), as well as nymphs associated with nut and fruit trees.

Much like how mortals could become naiads, there's an account of Dryope, who bore a son to Apollo, being so favoured by hamadryads that they made her one. Similarly, the Oceanid², Leuke, became a white poplar tree in Elysium after her death as she was so beloved by Hades. I'm not sure if that makes her a tree nymph as well, though. There's also the Heliades, who grieved so much for their brother, that in death they became poplar trees (similar to how the Hyades became stars).

The Epimeliads, also known as Epimelides or Maliades, who were apple tree nymphs, appear to have had some importance on Lesbos. They also cared for goats and sheep. This lines up with Orphic Hymn 51 (The Orphic Hymn to the Nymphs) that mentions dryads or hamadryads protecting fruit trees and herds of goats.

The most famous of the Epimeliads are most likely the Hesperides, the nymphs of evening and the west, who were also guardians of the tree or garden where the golden apples grew.

Athenaeus mentions in Deipnosophistae 8 hamadryads and the tree they're each associated with:

— Aigeiros (black poplar)

— Ampelos (wild grapefruit)

— Balanis (Oak or acorn)

— Carya (Walnut, chestnut, or hazelnut)

— Crania (cornel or cherry)

— Morea (mulberry tree)

— Ptelea (elm)

— Syce (fig tree)

Other notable tree nymphs include Eurydice (she was either a tree nymph or a mountain nymph, and yes, the Eurydice who Orpheus went to the Underworld for), and Daphne, who was a naiad and became a laurel tree. From her name, we have the Daphnae, iirc, who are laurel tree nymphs. Daphne also had a cultic following in Syria.

From what I can gather of what I have read about tree nymphs, they had similar functions and roles to that of water nymphs: protection, nurturing, fertility, etc.

I hope this helps, and my DMs are always open if you want to chat more about nymphs (preferably water nymphs since I'm still working on my book about them)

¹Naiads are freshwater nymphs but based on this account, some could also be tree nymphs.

²Oceanids are water nymphs that are the daughters of Oceanus

[anthonyspage]

🌞🍂🧝‍♀️🌳🧝‍♂️🍃🌛✨

[queenofglassbeliever]

Isn't Alice part dryad? Or I guess tree nymph, but that's the same thing really. From what we know she can't glamour into a dryad form (turquoise skin and green hair), but she does seem to have nature based magic.

[jinae-escape]

[conchbirth-blog]

what if everything about greek mythology was the same but instead of tree nymphs, they were called lettuce ladies

[herrmione]

Greek Mytholody: Dryads - nymphs of the trees

Trees love to toss and sway; they make such happy noises.