indicate the level to which a name has been verified.
Meaning & History
Erinna was a poet (poetess) on the island of Telos near Rhodes, said to have been a friend and contemporary of Sappho (600 BC), but she probably belonged to the earlier Alexandrian Period. Her poems have been compared to Homer's, but only fragments remain. They were reproduced in Bergk's Poetae Lyrici Graeci (published in 1900).Her name is of equally debated origin and meaning. Some scholars link Erinna to Greek êrinos "spring" while others base their theory on "Herinna", a form reconstructed by Italian scholar Camillo Neri, and derive the name from Greek hêrôs "hero" in combination with the feminine suffix -inna.