nympholept
/ˈnɪmfə(ʊ)lɛpt
/noun
A person affected by nympholepsy.The Cave of Archedemos the Nympholept is a small cave near Vari in Attica, Greece....
- Nabokov also borrowed the term nympholept, a rare, archaic term meaning a person seized by emotional frenzy, as if enchanted by nymphs
Derivatives
nympholeptic
- His father, it transpires, is a ‘nympholeptic’ -- ‘which at least seemed a step up from a pedophile.’
- Humbert carefully distinguishes his nympholeptic sensuality from the standard heterosexual experience, of which he is also capable.
- The Trial takes you on a journey into the mind of Kafka's anti-hero, the nympholeptic Joseph K.
Origin
Early 19th century: from Greek numpholēptos 'caught by nymphs', from numphē 'nymph' + lambanein 'take'.