Lorelein.
/ˈlɒrəlʌɪ/, /ˈlɔːrəlʌɪ/, U.S. /ˈlɔrəˌlaɪ/ In German legend, a beautiful woman with long blonde hair who sat on the Lorelei rock and with her fine singing distracted boatmen, so that they drowned when their ships foundered on the rock. Also transferred. Cf. siren n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > supernatural being > mythical creature or object > [noun] > fabulous or mythical human > miscellaneous (types of)
walkyrieeOE
woodwosea1100
mugglingc1275
Sciapodes1568
Arimasp1579
acephali1600
hyperborean1601
Arimaspian1667
golem1732
Lorelei1878
menehune1895
1878 Chambers's Encycl. VIII. 745/1 The Loreley of the Rhine is only a river-siren, though a more exquisite enchantress than ever Greek fancy conceived.
1908 ‘O. Henry’ Strictly Business in Hampton's Broadway Mag. Aug. 147/1 Instead of being motoring bacchanalians and diamond-hungry loreleis they are businesslike folk.
1927 N. Wainwright tr. ‘M. Dekobra’ Madonna of Sleeping Cars ix. 125 My little Lorelei had unfastened her hair, which fell in a blonde cascade.
1965 ‘A. Gilbert’ Passenger to Nowhere iii. 42 Probably thought you were the original Lorelei.
1971 R. Sale Man who raised Hell iii. vii. 249 She..evolved into the most devastating Lorelei of Mayfair, with an utterly intriguing contempt for the men she could so easily fetter.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1976; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1878