Also ondine. [ad. mod.L. Undina (Paracelsus, De Nymphis, etc., Wks. 1658, II. 391), f. L. unda wave. Hence also G. undine, F. ondine (whence the α-forms), ondin.] A supernatural female being, imagined as inhabiting the water; a nymph. Also attrib.
(The following early instance is based upon the variant Undena also employed by Paracelsus:—
1657. Pinnell, trans. Crollius Philos. Reformed, i. 26. To the Water there belongs Nimphs, Undens, Melosyns.)
α. 1821. Tales Landlord, Fair Witch Glas Llyn, III. 207. The ondines rich in the spoils of pearls and coral from the deep bed of ocean.
1865. Lecky, Ration. (1878), I. i. 42. The Cabalists believed in the existence of spirits of nature, embodiments … of the four elements, sylphs, salamanders, gnomes, and ondines.
β. 1837. Hallam, Hist. Lit., I. vii. § 19. Nature … is peopled with spiritual beings,… the silvains (sylphs), undines, or nymphs, gnomes and salamanders.
1867. Augusta Wilson, Vashti, vi. Their foaming cataracts braided glittering spray into spectral similitude or Undine tresses and Undine faces.
