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ArchivesOndine - etymology and history
Wonderful time today researching this. Pavlos gave me some info earlier this month that made a good springboard.
When I first heard the name Ondine, I assumed it was a name invented for a story. Upon further searching I found the name used all over the place - a music publishing company, a waterfront restaurant in California, a shower components company, and a character in the recent re-do of the Jack and the Beanstalk story.
In response to my post Pavlos mentioned Ravel's piano pieces Gaspard de la nuit which led me to the story behind those beautiful sounds. Aloysuis Bertrand's poem “Ondine” (from Gaspard de la nuit, 1836) was based on the story “Undine” (1811) by Friedrich de la Motte Fouque. Then I couldn’t leave well enough alone and wanted to know where HE got the name. To make a long story a bit shorter, it was a name invented by none other than Paracelsus (a famous medieval scholar/alchemist, 1493-1541). He published a book in 1566 theorizing about “elemental sprites.” An undine was his name for a water nymph - from the Latin “unda” for wave. The French word for wave, “onde,” comes from the Latin.
Time-line of the name usage:
Undine – 1566 word invented by Paracelsus in his Treatise on Elemental Sprites*
Undine – 1811 story of a water nymph by Friedrich de la Motte Fouque
Ondine – 1836 Aloysuis Bertrand’s poem from Gaspard de la nuit
Undine – 1845 opera by Albert Lortzing
Undine – 1904 Undine Smith Moore (1904-1988), famous African-American composer
Ondine – 1908 Gapsard de la nuit, Maurice Ravel
Undine – 1928 novel by Olive Schreiner
Ondine – 1958 ballet by Frederick Aston
Ondine – 1996 play by Ruth Reilly (Carnegie Mellon University website info)
Ondine – character in the 2002 TV movie Jack and the Beanstalk: the Real Story [new story with some weak points and acting, very good production from Jim Henson’s shop]
*"Undine." Encyclopedia Mythica. http//www.pantheon.org/articles/u/undine.html
and
E. Cobham Brewer (1810–1897). Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
When I first heard the name Ondine, I assumed it was a name invented for a story. Upon further searching I found the name used all over the place - a music publishing company, a waterfront restaurant in California, a shower components company, and a character in the recent re-do of the Jack and the Beanstalk story.
In response to my post Pavlos mentioned Ravel's piano pieces Gaspard de la nuit which led me to the story behind those beautiful sounds. Aloysuis Bertrand's poem “Ondine” (from Gaspard de la nuit, 1836) was based on the story “Undine” (1811) by Friedrich de la Motte Fouque. Then I couldn’t leave well enough alone and wanted to know where HE got the name. To make a long story a bit shorter, it was a name invented by none other than Paracelsus (a famous medieval scholar/alchemist, 1493-1541). He published a book in 1566 theorizing about “elemental sprites.” An undine was his name for a water nymph - from the Latin “unda” for wave. The French word for wave, “onde,” comes from the Latin.
Time-line of the name usage:
Undine – 1566 word invented by Paracelsus in his Treatise on Elemental Sprites*
Undine – 1811 story of a water nymph by Friedrich de la Motte Fouque
Ondine – 1836 Aloysuis Bertrand’s poem from Gaspard de la nuit
Undine – 1845 opera by Albert Lortzing
Undine – 1904 Undine Smith Moore (1904-1988), famous African-American composer
Ondine – 1908 Gapsard de la nuit, Maurice Ravel
Undine – 1928 novel by Olive Schreiner
Ondine – 1958 ballet by Frederick Aston
Ondine – 1996 play by Ruth Reilly (Carnegie Mellon University website info)
Ondine – character in the 2002 TV movie Jack and the Beanstalk: the Real Story [new story with some weak points and acting, very good production from Jim Henson’s shop]
*"Undine." Encyclopedia Mythica. http//www.pantheon.org/articles/u/undine.html
and
E. Cobham Brewer (1810–1897). Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
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