Oenone

English

Illustration to Tennyson's "Œnone" by W. E. F. Britten (1901)

Alternative forms

• Œnone

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin Oenōnē, from Ancient Greek Οἰνώνη (Oinṓnē).

Proper noun

Oenone

1. (Greek mythology) The first wife of Paris of Troy, whom he abandoned for Helen.
   • 1832, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Forget Me Not 1833, Giulietta—A Tale of the Forteeenth Century:

     They went to that fair villa by the sea; and pleasantly did many a morn pass in the large hall, on whose frescoed walls was painted the story of Œnone, she whom the Trojan prince left, only to return and die at her feet.

2. (rare) A female given name from Ancient Greek.
   • 2012, Sophie Hannah, Kind of Cruel: Culver Valley Crime, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

     'Dinah and Oenone Lendrim.'
     'I-now-ny? What the fuck kind of name's that?'
     'Greek mythological.' Sam smiled, knowing Gibbs would assume he knew this because his father was Greek. 'She's Nonie for all practical purposes. She and her sister Dinah are the children of Sharon Lendrim.'

Further reading

• Oenone (poem) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia