Νυμφαι εισι εν τῳ φρεατι. Artemidorus Oneirocrit. l. 2. c. 23.
[829] Νυμφων εστιν ἱερον επι τῃ πηγῃ.—-λουομενοις δε εν τῃ πηγῃ καματων τε εστι και αλγηματων παντων ἱαματα. Pausanias. l. 6. p. 510.
[830] Νυμφικα, and Λουτρα, are put by Hesychius as synonymous.
Omnibus aquis Nymphæ sunt præsidentes. Servius upon Virgil. Eclog. 1.
Thetis was styled Nympha, merely because she was supposed to be water. Thetidem dici voluerunt aquam, unde et Nympha dicta est. Fulgentij Mytholog. c. viii. p. 720.
[831] Pausanias. l. 8. p. 670.
Young women were, by the later Greeks, and by the Romans, styled Nymphæ; but improperly. Nympha vox, Græcorum Νυμφα, non fuit ab origine Virgini sive Puellæ propria: sed solummodo partem corporis denotabat. Ægyptijs, sicut omnia animalia, lapides, frutices, atque herbas, ita omne membrum atque omnia corporis humani loca, aliquo dei titulo mos fuit denotare. Hinc cor nuncupabant Ath, uterum Mathyr, vel Mether: et fontem fœmineum, sicut et alios fontes, nomine Ain Omphe, Græce νυμφη, insignibant: quod ab Ægyptijs ad Græcos derivatum est.—Hinc legimus, Νυμφη πηγη, και νεογαμος γυνη, νυμφην δε καλουσι κτλ. Suidas.
Παρ' Αθηναιοις ἡ του Διος μητηρ, Νυμφη. Ibidem.
[832] Naptha is called Apthas by Simplicius in Categoric. Aristotelis. Και ὁ Αφθας δεχεται ποῤῥωθεν του πυρος ειδος. The same by Gregory Nyssen is contracted, and called, after the Ionic manner, Φθης: ὡσπερ ὁ καλουμενος Φθης εξαπτεται. Liber de animâ. On which account these writers are blamed by the learned Valesius. They are, however, guilty of no mistake; only use the word out of composition. Ain-Aptha, contracted Naptha, was properly the fountain itself: the matter which proceeded from it was styled Apthas, Pthas, and Ptha. It was one of the titles of the God of fire, called Apha-Astus, the Hephastus of the Greeks; to whom this inflammable substance was sacred.
See Valesij notæ in Amm. Marcellinum. l. 23. p. 285.