paranymph

[par-uh-nimf]

noun

1. a groomsman or a bridesmaid.

2. (in ancient Greece)

   1. a friend who accompanied the bridegroom when he went to bring home the bride.

   2. the bridesmaid who escorted the bride to the bridegroom.

paranymph

/ ˈpærəˌnɪmf /

noun

1. archaic,  a bridesmaid or best man

Word History and Origins

Origin of paranymph¹

1585–95; < Late Latin paranymphus < Greek paránymphos (masculine and feminine) groomsman, bridesmaid, literally, person beside the bride. See para- ¹, nymph

Word History and Origins

Origin of paranymph¹

C16: via Late Latin from Greek paranumphos, from _para- ¹ + numphē bride (literally: person beside the bride)

Example Sentences

Paranymph, par′a-nimf, n. a friend of the bridegroom who escorted the bride on the way to her marriage: a bride's-man: one who countenances and supports another.

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In the evening, the "fiancee" is conducted to her new home in a flowered chariot between her husband and the paranymph, escorted by torch-bearers and flute-girls.

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And so, as with fire and thunder—“thunder of thought, and flames of fierce desire”—is this Marriage of Heaven and Hell at length happily consummated; the prophet, as a fervent paranymph, standing by to invoke upon the wedded pair his most unclerical benediction.

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The function of the bridegroom’s friend, or paranymph, was to ask the hand of the bride for the bridegroom, and to arrange the marriage.

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These crowds you complain of are evidence that I have not discharged the function of paranymph in vain.

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