nenuphar

See also: nénuphar

English

Nymphaea alba

Nuphar lutea

Etymology

From Medieval Latin nenuphar, from Arabic نِلُوفَر (nilūfar), نِينُوفَر (nīnūfar), from Middle Persian nylw(k)pl (nīlōpal, “lotus, water-lily”), from Sanskrit नीलोत्पल (nīlotpala, “blue lotus”), from नील (nīla, “blue”) + उत्पल (utpala, “lotus, water-lily”). Compare French nénufar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnɛnjʊfɑː/

Noun

nenuphar (plural nenuphars)

1. A water lily, especially the European white water lily (Nymphaea alba) or the yellow water lily (Nuphar lutea).
   • 1920, Natalie Clifford Barney, “A Parisian Roof Garden in 1918”, in Poems & poèmes:

     We'll try the «lunar waltz» while floats afar / Upon the liquid night — night's nenuphar.

   • 1923, Powys Mathers, transl., The Thousand Nights and One Night:

     Arrived at the stall of a fruiterer, she bought Syrian apples, Osmāni quinces, peaches from Uman, jasmine of Aleppo, Damascene nenuphars, cucumbers from the Nile, limes from Egypt, Sultānī citrons, myrtle berries, flowers of henna, blood-red anemones, violets, pomegranate bloom, and the narcissus.

   • 1962, Charles Kinbote [pseudonym; Vladimir Nabokov], Pale Fire, New York, N.Y.: Berkley Books, published November 1985, →ISBN:

     Somewhere an iron curtain had gone up, baring a painted one, with nymphs and nenuphars.

Further reading

• Nuphar on Wikispecies.Wikispecies