Lymphe

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An old spelling for the pale, watery fluid that circulates through the body's vessels ; a minor nymph of springs and fresh water in Greek mythology
2. The colourless bodily liquid carried through tissue vessels, shown in older texts ; a female spirit of clear water in ancient Greek legend
3. A pale, clear fluid of the body, recorded in earlier writing ; a nymph inhabiting springs and streams in Greek mythology

Etymology: "Lymphe" is a rare and archaic spelling of "lymph," the clear fluid that circulates through the body's vessels. The surprising link is with "nymph." Both descend from the ancient Greek "nymphē," which meant "bride" as well as "spring water," so the same word gave English both a figure of myth and a bodily fluid. Words that split from a single source in this way are called doublets. The path to the modern sense runs through Latin. The Romans borrowed the Greek term as "lympha," meaning clear water, and English took the word in the sense of clear, watery fluid, though its later medical use for the body's lymph system is a specialised extension of that original meaning.