Alpheios

Derived either from Greek ἀλφή (alphê) meaning "produce, gain, profit" or from Greek ἀλφός (alphos) which meant "whiteness" as well as "white leprosy", a cognate of Albus. In Greek mythology he was a river deity, the personification of the Alpheios, the longest river in the Peloponnese. The son of Oceanus and Tethys, he fell madly in love with the Nereid Arethusa and pursued her under the sea to Sicily. There she pleaded to Artemis who changed her into a fountain. The river Alpheios then worked its way underground to mingle with the waters of Arethusa.