Mythical female names and their meanings. Gods of Ancient Greece - list

The mermaid is one of the most controversial images. Information about him differs significantly in the complex of beliefs of the Russian North (as well as the Urals and Siberia) in comparison with the data of the Ukrainian-Belarusian and South Russian demonological systems.

The first of these complexes is characterized by the following features: firstly, the scarcity of stories about a female character called a mermaid; secondly, the rapprochement of this image with characters more popular for the northern Russian tradition, defined by the terms vodynikha, joker, goblin, devil, etc.; thirdly, there is a noticeably accentuated connection between the “mermaid” and the water element.

Northern Russian materials note the fact of single (and not group) appearance of mermaids; predominantly a terrible appearance, the appearance of a naked woman with saggy breasts or a long-haired, shaggy woman (less often, a woman in white). Here there are stories about their winter appearance in an ice hole or about a mermaid in the form of a naked woman chasing a man’s sleigh as he rode through the forest in winter.

In this tradition, tales about the cohabitation of a mermaid with a man are a development of the plot about an “imaginary wife”: a female werewolf visits a hunter in a forest hut under the guise of his wife, gives birth to a child from him, and when the hunter recognizes evil spirits in the werewolf, the mythical “wife” tears his child in two and throws it into the water (the same plot is typical for the images of the goblin, devil, and forest maiden).

The situation is different with the “mermaid” complex of beliefs characteristic of Ukrainian-Belarusian and South Russian demonology. In many places, the appearance of mermaids is inconsistently described, either as young beauties, or as a neutral female image, or as old, scary-looking women.

The following became mermaids: deceased unbaptized children; brides who did not live to see their wedding; children and girls who died as a result of violent death. When asked about the appearance of mermaids, one often heard that they walked on earth in the same form in which unmarried deceased girls are usually buried: in a wedding dress, with loose hair and a wreath on their heads. This is exactly how, according to folk custom, they dressed dead girls, as if arranging a symbolic wedding for them. It was believed that the souls of people who died before marriage cannot finally pass on to the “other world” and from time to time invade the world of the living.

The second most important feature of the “mermaid” image should be the seasonality of one’s stay on earth. There is a widespread belief that Rusal Week is a “festival of mermaids”; it was then that they allegedly appeared from the afterlife and frolicked all week in fields, forests, and places near water (sometimes they entered the houses of their relatives). At the end of this period, the mermaids returned “to their places” (they went into the water, into the graves, into the “other world”).

According to East Slavic beliefs, mermaids appear in a cereal field during the flowering period of rye; among the southern Slavs it was believed that rusaliyas and rusalians reside in places where the rosen plant blooms abundantly. Apparently, it is this circle of beliefs that clarifies the etymology of the “flower” name of the mermaid (associated with the name of the flower “rose”), since it is known that the ancient holiday rosalia, dies rosae was timed to coincide with the flowering period of roses and was a memorial rite in honor of those who died untimely young people.

Attention should be paid to the significant differences between the folklore mermaid and the literary image of the same name. A list of all the “mermaid” images created in fiction would be a very long list. All of them are depicted as drowned women and inhabitants of waters, endowed with the features of treacherous beautiful maidens, women with fish tails who lure their victims into the water, seeking the love of earthly youths, taking revenge on unfaithful lovers, etc. This standard image has become firmly established not only in fiction, but also in everyday consciousness, and in many scientific dictionaries and encyclopedias. Its source turned out to be not so much authentic data from folk demonology, but similar characters from ancient and European mythology that became popular in the book tradition (nymphs, sirens, naiads, undines, melusines and other mythical water and forest maidens).

Good afternoon, dear movie lovers and readers who just happened to be here. Every blogger knows that it is necessary to keep the blog active as often as possible. But bad luck - today is the most boring day in the world of cinema. On July 13, 2013, nothing happens in the world of cinema. Due to such a boring and also rainy day, I will move a little away from the topic. If you noticed, my blog has articles about mystical films. As part of the "" section, today we will remember mythology and list the top female mythical creatures.

The most interesting thing is that the word " Banshee“The translator translated it for me as “a spirit whose groans foretell death.” In principle, Google translation has already revealed the intrigue of this creature. It is better not to anger such a lady, otherwise her cry promises you a short life.

Banshees are cool because they belong to Irish myths, and Irish women have cool accents. If there were real banshees, they would have a louder cry than Nuki from the Slot group (if anyone is in the know).

Dryads are the souls of trees. This leads to two pieces of news. First, trees have souls. I just remember I said something like this to my teacher in the 3rd grade, and she said that trees don’t have souls and gave me two points. I hope the dryads will take revenge on my mythologically ignorant teacher, or the Banshee will scream in her ear.

Oh yes, second news. Dryads are only women - does that mean all trees are women? In a bit of a rush of information, I found the answer to this question. Dryads take the form of hot chicks, and the souls themselves are genderless.

The disadvantage of relations with Dryads is that they are rooted to the ground and you don’t see them in the movies. But they are immortal as long as their tree is alive.

8. Mystical creature: centaur

I would like to note right away that female centaurs are practically not mentioned in movies or books - what kind of sexism is there towards these creatures? The ancient Greeks did not say that Centaurs were only men - and how would they reproduce then?

Centaurs are famous enough to talk about, but anyone can read this post, so: Centaurs are half-human/half-horse. It would be difficult for centaurs to live in our time. There are cars all around, and people smoke here and there. And a drop of nicotine...

Gargona is a very ancient creature. According to the description, she looks like a woman, except for snakes instead of hair...

The most famous Gargon was Medusa-Gargon, well, the one who fell at the hands of the hero Perseus. I previously thought that Gargona was the name of a jellyfish, but no - take a bite, this is the name of the creature.

The Gargons became extinct a long time ago, probably due to the fact that they turned everything into stone. Or because of the popularization of mirrors, because Gargona can turn herself into stone if she sees a reflection. One more thing about snake hair, what is going on with these creatures in the bikini area? o.O

A very interesting character closes the top five of female mystical creatures. Harpies are winged beauties who love to steal children like witches. I don't know why in so many movies the Harpies are shown as monsters with sharp teeth when the Greeks imagined them as graceful girls?

Harpies usually had long, luxurious hair. The harpy, in principle, might not have stolen the young boy, since he himself could happily wish to go to visit such a lady.. The most negative thing about a relationship with a harpy is its sharp bird claws. Your back will be scratched, be healthy.

If we analyze the proportions of their wings and body, we can conclude that the harpy's wings are not capable of lifting a woman's body. In fact, harpies turned out to be more like chickens, which is probably why they became extinct.

Snake? This is what my mother-in-law looked like when she was young! Just kidding, how can she care about the grace of this mystical snake...

All Lamia are female, and they are all demonic creatures with a snake tail instead of legs. These evil creatures are able to take the form of an ordinary woman. If you have ever met real bitches in your life, maybe they were Lamia?

Like the harpies, these cold girls are greedy for young boys. But they’re not interested in sex (remind me of the snake’s tail?), they prefer to literally devour a young guy.

These creatures usually attract the male population, seducing them. So, if you are seduced by a girl, think twice, maybe she will turn out to be that snake. (Damn, how vital - the Greeks are great.)

We continue the snake theme. They are often confused with the creatures described above, but although both species have a snake tail, Naga Not demonic creatures. Another difference: Nagas can also be men - this is a full-fledged biological species, and it also reproduces biologically, therefore there are both males and females. To be honest, I don’t know exactly how snakes reproduce... I’m a lousy biologist.

Nagas, unlike Lamia, also have 4 arms. Although the Nagas were always friendly to people, people probably exterminated them because they mistook them for Lamia.

Sirens seem to have an unrealistically wide range of voices, as they lure sailors from far away. An interesting fact is that you can easily confuse a female siren from a male siren (oh yes, my dears, there are such ones). It turns out that sirens look like Korean prostitutes...

So the attempt to present boring mythology in a fun, entertaining style has come to an end. The first place in the top goes to Succubus.

Succubi are a typical type of girl who gets anything for sex. These demonesses completely immorally and shamelessly seduce men and make them slaves in hell. According to legend, the slaves of the Succubus mine hellish gold by working in hellish mines (Well, at least they don’t cook in a cauldron, as Catholicism promises us...).

Succubi love to have fun and are only female. Temptress demonesses usually have small horns, hooves and wings. The wings do not allow them to fly, but rather cushion their fall as the Succubi jump from rock to rock in Hell.

Don’t look for logic in the distribution of places - there is none, it’s just a psychological technique to attract attention. Let's look at more posts.

Jezebel

The name of this woman became synonymous with everything unclean and vicious, and in the 16th century Catherine de Medici herself was compared to Jezebel. The daughter of King Ethbaal inherited from him despotic arrogance, unyielding perseverance, bloodthirsty cruelty and, most of all, fanatical devotion to the cult of Astarte, of which her father was once a priest. Having become the queen of the Israeli people, she tried to convert them to her religion. Any disobedience was punishable by death. The Jewish religion was on the verge of collapse, but at some point Jezebel overflowed the patience of the people she ruled - during the uprising she was thrown out of a window and trampled to death by horsemen.

Cleopatra

They say that rumors about the phenomenal beauty of the Egyptian queen are greatly exaggerated. One way or another, the wayward queen got everything she wanted. Including the throne. The fact is that her brother Ptolemy XIII overthrew the legally reigning queen by cunning. She did not let go of this insult to her brother - there is a rumor that it was she who organized the conspiracy against him, which ended in the murder of Ptolemy. Later, a commonality of interests brought Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, who conquered Egypt, closer together, and after some time the queen bore him a son. After the murder of Caesar at the hands of the conspirators, she became close to Mark Antony, who was in opposition to the then government. At some point, he found himself in Alexandria, besieged by Octavian (the current emperor of Rome), and was forced to commit suicide. Cleopatra followed suit a few days later.

Delilah

The unfaithful wife of the Old Testament hero Samson, who became famous as an incredible strongman and protector of the entire Jewish race. For boundless love and devotion, she repaid her husband with betrayal - she betrayed to Samson’s worst enemies the source of his heroic strength, which was contained in his hair, which the hero should not have cut under any circumstances. When Samson fell asleep, she cut his hair, thereby depriving him of his strength. The hero's enemies captured him, but his hair grew back overnight, and when he was taken to the center of the hall to make fun of him, Samson brought down the columns, bringing down the house, under the rubble of which he buried himself along with his enemies.

Sirens

These half-women, half-birds (in some sources half-fish, half-bird) were bitches! According to ancient Greek mythology, they lived near the island of Sicily, where they lured sailors passing by directly into shallow waters, where ships were wrecked, and travelers went to feed on bloodthirsty creatures. The Argonauts, sailing nearby, were saved by the magnificent playing of Orpheus on the harp, which drowned out the singing of the mythical creatures. When Odysseus returned from Troy, his path also lay through the domain of the Sirens. He ordered his crew to cover their ears with wax, and tied himself to the mast. This was the only way he managed to resist the charming singing of the beautiful maidens to death.

Sphinx

For the crimes of the Theban king Laius, Hera sent a winged monster, the Sphinx, to the border of his domain. The Sphinx was the daughter of the Chimera and Ortra and was a creature with the head of a man and the body of a lion. She asked everyone who tried to get into Thebes a riddle to which no one knew the answer. The Sphinx devoured everyone who answered incorrectly. Only Laius's son Oedipus was able to solve the riddle, which sounded like this: “Who walks on four legs in the morning, on two in the afternoon, and on three in the evening?” Having heard the correct answer, the Sphinx threw herself off the cliff in despair.

Cali

The cult of this goddess is depicted in the second part of the adventures of Dr. Indiana Jones. Bloodthirsty multi-armed Hindu goddess of chaos and destruction. Human blood oozes from her eyes, poisonous snakes are wrapped around her neck, and her blue body is covered with the skulls of her victims. She is ruthless and merciless. So much so that when her husband Shiva went to bed, she suddenly took it into her head to cut off his head and dance a dance on his body. Which is exactly what she did!

Elena the beautiful

Men began to do stupid things for the sake of this legendary woman long before the events described in the Illiad. When Helen was only 10 years old, Theseus - the same hero who killed the Minotaur in the labyrinth - kidnapped a beautiful young girl. Her brothers later brought her back home to Sparta. She later became the wife of Prince Menelaus of Sparta, who after the death of his father became her king. Prince Paris, who was visiting Menelaus, kidnapped Helen and made him his wife, which was the reason for the start of the Trojan War. What happened next - no one knows. According to some sources, after the victory of the Danaans, Helen returned to Sparta, where she lived with Menelaus until old age. According to other sources, Helen was killed by her friend's maids on the island of Rhodes.

These days it is very popular to give children original and unusual ones. Often, myths and tales of ancient peoples serve as a source of inspiration for parents. Thus, newborns receive sonorous ancient Roman, ancient Greek, Scandinavian, ancient Egyptian and Slavic names. The article lists the most common mythical female names and gives their brief meaning.

Mythical names of other peoples

• Lada. Slavic goddess who cares about family happiness and love, patroness of spring. Ladas are very feminine, kind and flexible. Her success is hampered by frivolity and instability, as well as selfishness and gullibility.
• Mara or Morena. The Slavs considered her the goddess of death. Girls named Mara are born leaders with a strong character and unfeminine perseverance. They can be dangerous, as they will not hesitate to remove from the road anyone who dares to interfere with their plans.
• Isis, or Isis. One of the most powerful goddesses of Ancient Egypt, the ancestor of Egyptian rulers. The deity of fertility, motherhood, the personification of the feminine principle. The main thing in the life of a woman named Isis is service to the ideal. They have an unbending will, vigorous energy and a keen sense of justice.

Undoubtedly, a girl with a beautiful rare name will always attract attention. But parents need to remember that the name has a huge impact on the formation of the child’s character, and therefore his future destiny. female names carry powerful energy and shape a person’s life purpose, so before naming your daughter one of them, you need to study its meaning, origin and associated myths.