Memphian

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Μέμφῐς (Mémphis) +‎ -an.

Adjective

Memphian (comparative more Memphian, superlative most Memphian)

1. Of or relating to the ancient city of Memphis in Egypt.

   Synonyms: Memphite, Memphitic

   Memphian darkness

   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act IIII, scene ii:

     Now may we ſee Damaſcus lofty towers,
     Like to the ſhadowes of Pyramides,
     That with their beauties grac’d the Memphion fields: […]

   • 1629, John Milton, “On the Morning of Christs Nativity”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, stanza XXIV, page 11:

     Nor is Oſiris ſeen
     In Memphian Grove, or Green,
     Trampling the unſhowr’d Graſſe with lowings loud: […]

2. Of or relating to the city of Memphis in the US, or another city named Memphis.

   Synonym: Memphibian (humorous)

Translations

of or relating to Memphis in Egypt

• Latin: Memphītis
• Spanish: menfita

of or relating to Memphis in the US

• Spanish: memfisiense

Noun

Memphian (plural Memphians)

1. A native or inhabitant of the ancient city of Memphis in Egypt.

   Synonym: Memphite

   • 1608, [Guillaume de Salluste] Du Bartas, “[Du Bartas His First VVeek, or Birth of the VVorld: […].] The First Daie of the First VVeek.”, in Josuah Sylvester, transl., Du Bartas His Deuine Weekes and Workes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Humfrey Lownes [and are to be sold by Arthur Iohnson […]], published 1611, →OCLC, page 21:

     One, in few howers, a fearfull ſlaughter made / Of all the Firſt-born that the Memphians had; […]

   • 1858, Oliver Wendell Holmes [Sr.], chapter VII, in The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson and Company, poem “The Last Blossom”, page 187:

     Tranced in her Lord’s Olympian smile / His lotus-loving Memphian lies,— / The musky daughter of the Nile / With plaited hair and almond eyes.

   • 1892, Clinton Scollard, “Round about Cairo”, in Under Summer Skies, New York, N.Y.: Charles L[uther] Webster & Company, pages 61–62:

     A few moments later we were standing before the Sphinx. In front of this gigantic statue the sand has been excavated, and the paws, brick-built, have been laid bare. Here an altar once stood, and hither we clambered down, and looked up sixty feet at the gigantic scarred face. What name had they of yore for this divinity, those ancient Memphians?

2. A native or inhabitant of the city of Memphis in the US, or another city named Memphis.

   Synonym: Memphibian (humorous)

   • 1977 August 8, Henry Mitchell, “The Night Of the Memphis Sopranos”, in The Washington Post‎^[1], Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-11-13:

     A soft summer downpour greeted the crowd arriving for Memphis Night, with 100 Memphians on hand to holler for their girls, the first of whom was Ruth Welting in the same kind of innocent cotton dress a girl might wear to a dancer at home.

   • 2014 March 18, G. Wayne Dowdy, On This Day in Memphis History, Arcadia Publishing, →ISBN, page 26:

     As Memphians' hearts broke, millions of Americans watched on television when Bill Walton sprained his ankle […] Larry Finch thanked his fellow Memphians “for making us proud to know that we had more people pulling for us […]"

   • 2014 April 15, Zandria F[elice] Robinson, “Post-Soul Blues”, in This Ain’t Chicago: Race, Class, and Regional Identity in the Post-Soul South, Chapel Hill, N.C.: The University of North Carolina Press, →ISBN, page 78:

     Further, this socialization implores black Memphians to strive to challenge the increasingly complex structural inequalities of race and class in the post–civil rights era.

Translations

native or inhabitant of Memphis in Egypt

• Greek:

  Ancient: Μεμφῑ́της m (Memphī́tēs)

• Latin: Memphītēs m

native or inhabitant of Memphis in the US

• Spanish: memfisiense m or f by sense

Further reading

• “Memphian”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.