What is an undine?
An undine is a spirit of water. One of the four elementals described by the 16th-century physician Paracelsus, undines are said to live in lakes, springs and rivers and to take the form of beautiful women. In French they are called “ondines.” They stand alongside the sylph of air, the gnome of earth and the salamander of fire.
Marriage to a human and the soul
According to Paracelsus, the four elementals have no souls but can gain one by marrying a human. However, there was said to be a rule: if her husband reviled the undine near water, she would return to the world of water, and if he was unfaithful, she would have to take his life. In 1811, the German writer Friedrich de la Motte Fouque wrote the novel Undine based on this tradition, and it became widely known as a tragic love story between a knight and a water spirit.
Undines in works and words
The story of the undine became the subject of Jean Giraudoux’s play Ondine, as well as ballets and operas. A condition in which breathing stops during sleep is sometimes called “Ondine’s curse,” said to come from the story of an ondine who cursed her unfaithful husband. Undines are also discussed alongside the nymphs of Greek mythology.
