Laurus nobilis which Apollo fashioned wreaths out of to console himself. Other versions of the myth, including that of the Roman poet Ovid, state that Daphne was transformed directly into a laurel tree. Bay laurel was used to fashion the laurel wreath of ancient Greece, a symbol of highest status. A wreath of bay laurels was given as the prize at the Pythian Games because the games were in honor of Apollo, and the laurel was one of his symbols. According to the poet Lucian, the priestess of Apollo known as the Pythia reputedly chewed laurel leaves from a sacred tree growing
Nymph at the peak of sexual attractiveness, contrasting with "parthenos" () "a virgin (of any age)", and generic "kore" ( < ) "maiden, girl". The term is used by (human) women to address each other, so Iris addressing Helen, or Eurycleia addressing Penelope as "dear "nymph"" ("Il." 3.130, "Od." 4.743). Reduced to , the word remains the regular Modern Greek term for "bride". In Katharevousa, it is still , as in the refrain of the Marian hymn "Agni Parthene" (c. 1880), "hail, unwedded bride". The Doric and Aeolic (Homeric) form is . The "Iliad" (6.420) refers to "mountain nymphs, maidens of