Handel's lost Hamburg operas Daphne while the other would-be lovers manoeuvre for position. Lycoris assures Apollo that Daphne's abandonment of the wedding was a signal that she favours him. Lycoris also steals Daphne's cloak and, wearing it as a disguise, makes advances to Damon, having first ensured that Florindo overhears. Florindo is enraged by what he believes is Daphne's duplicity, and denounces her. Damon confirms the story. Daphne, bewildered, pleads with her father Peneus to prove her innocence; he responds by transforming her into a laurel tree. Cupid blames Apollo's pride for the fiasco, but gives him the laurel as his "special tree". Florindo
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