I know of offerings to Nereids in modern Greece honey is expressly mentioned, and seems indeed to be essential; and it is probably from their known preference for this food that at Kastoria in Macedonia they have even received the by-name, [Greek: hê meliteniais], the honeyed ones[1].' And if we look back over many centuries we may find a hint of the same belief in Homer's description of the cave of the Naiads in Ithaca, wherein 'are bowls for mixing and pitchers of stone, and there besides do bees make store[2].' For it is well established that honey was the special offering made to the indigenous deities of Greece before the making of wine such as Homer's heroes quaff had yet been discovered[3]. Perchance then even in distant pre-Homeric days men vowed, as now they vow, honey and milk to the nymphs whose swift passing was the whirlwind, and felt secure.
The memory of the tree-nymphs is still green throughout Greece. From Aegina their ancient name [Greek: dryades] is recorded as still in use[4]; and in parts of Epirus, Thessaly, Macedonia, and Thrace, as well as in several islands of the Aegean Sea, Chios, Cimolos, Cythnos, and others, there is a word employed which is, I believe, formed from the same root and once denoted the same class of beings. This word is found in the forms [Greek: drymais][5], [Greek: drymiais][6], [Greek: drymnais][7], [Greek: drymniais][8] and, in Chios, in a neuter form [Greek: drymata][9].
It has been suggested indeed by one writer[10] that this word has nothing to do with Dryads, but that its root is [Greek: drym-] (better perhaps written [Greek: drim-] as in the ancient [Greek: drimys], since, so far as the sound of the vowel in modern Greek is concerned, the philologist may write [Greek: ê, i, u, ei, oi], or [Greek: ui], as seemeth him best), in the sense of 'fierce,' 'bitter'; and support for this derivation is sought in a somewhat vague statement of Hesychius who explains the word [Greek: drymious] by the phrase [Greek: tous kata tên chôran kakopoious], 'the, p. 768.], [Greek: Kythniaka], p. 131 and [Greek: Skarlatos], [Greek: Lexikon tês kath' hêmas Hellênikês glôssês], S.V. [Greek: drimais].], in [Greek: Pandôra], XI. p. 472; cf. Bern. Schmidt, op. cit. p. 130.], [Greek: Ethn. Hêmerol.] 1863, p. 55. This reference I have been unable to verify.], [Greek: Chiaka Analekta], p. 359.]
- ↑ Kindly communicated to me by Mr Abbott, author of Macedonian Folklore.
- ↑ Hom. Od. XIII. 105-6.
- ↑ See Miss Harrison, Prolegomena to the study of Greek Religion, p. 423.
- ↑ [Greek: Oikonomos, Peri prophoras
- ↑ [Greek: Ant. Ballêndas
- ↑ [Greek: Skordilês
- ↑ Cited by Bern. Schmidt, ibid. from [Greek: Bretos
- ↑ In Macedonia.
- ↑ [Greek: Kônst. Kanellakês
