indicate the level to which a name has been verified.
Meaning & History
Latinized form of Greek Σαλμακίς (Salmakis). This was the name of a fountain and nymph at Halicarnassus, featured in Ovid's Metamorphoses. The nymph Salmacis fell in love with Hermaphroditus. When he rejected her, she attempted to rape him and prayed to the gods to be bound with him forever. As a result their bodies fused together to create the Hermaphrodite. The fountain Salmacis was said to cause men who drank its waters to be weak and effeminate.