Week 2 Cady - "Sylph"

 Sylph:

n. slender graceful woman or girl

"“And, Miss Eyre, so much was I flattered by this preference of the Gallic sylph for her British gnome…” (Bronte 214).

This quote is from the book Jane Eyre, and I picked this word to highlight this week because of its history. Sylph was first used by a Swiss German physician and alchemist, Paracelsus, as a name for air spirits. I think it is interesting how that word has evolved from a mystical air spirit to mean a slender, graceful woman. Additionally, I appreciate how Bronte described Mr. Rochester as a gnome which is the earth spirit in Paracelsus's four elements. 

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