Of a mythological nymph, at least. She was the namesake of the word, in fact.
Lovely
Echo was a mountain nymph, an Oread to be precise.
Zeus asked to pester his wife
Hera constantly by endlessly talking, so that
Hera would be took preoccupied with
Echo to bother
Zeus while he was philandering.
Hera eventually caught onto the ruse, however, and in vengeance cursed
Echo so that she was only able to speak by repeating what others said.
Alternately,
Echo wasn't cursed by
Hera but rather fell in love with the beautiful
Narcissus. But he loved only himself, reflected in a pond.
Echo, heartbroken, pined away until only her voice remained, to endlessly repeat others' words.
A third story tells how
Echo was a great singer and dancer, so great that the god Pan became jealous of her. He therefore ordered his followers to kill her.
Echo was accordingly torn to pieces, and her body was scattered all over the Earth.
Gaia, the earth goddes, received the pieces of
Echo, whose voice remains repeating the last words of others the way sounds echo off of canyons and other such large natural formations. Some say
Echo and Pan had a daughter first: Iambe.
Miranda