Lorelei
/ˈlɔːɹəlaɪ/ name, noun
name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A siren; a temptress.
"We grew silly, tongue-tied, said foolish things we did not mean to say, shoved one another about in the boat, and finally overturned it. The loreleis laughed musical little laughs."
Proper Noun
- 1 A female given name from German.
Example
More examples"Die Lorelei is a popular German folk song."
Etymology
Etymology 1
From the Lorelei rock on the Rhine, which was haunted by one of these creatures according to German legend.
Etymology 2
Borrowed from German Lorelei (“murmuring rock or lurking rock”), but not used as a given name in Germany. The Lorelei (or Lorelei, Loreleï, Lore Lay, Lore-Ley, Lurley, Lurelei, Lurlei) is an infamous maritime disaster site because of the Rhine's current and the surrounding terrain. The shipwrecks have been subject to mythological explanation attempts since around 900 AD.