Meanings
myrrha1
- archaicuncountablemedicinemyrrh
Myrrha2
- Greekhuman sciencesThe daughter of Cinyras, king of Cyprus, who tricks her father into having sexual intercourse with her and escapes the king's wrath by being transformed into a myrrh tree, later giving birth to Adonis.
In the succeeding book, Ovid depicts another woman tortured by abnormal but not impossible passion: Myrrha, in love with her father, Cinyras.
2006, David M. Robinson, Closeted Writing and Lesbian and Gay Literature: Classical, Early Modern, Eighteenth-Century, page 1752 more examples
Byblis lies motionless in mute desperation and her transformation is told only briefly, whereas Myrrha herself asks for her metamorphosis, gives a speech (10.483-7), and Ovid leads us step by step through her transformation (10.489-502).
1975, Karl Galinsky, Ovid's Metamorphoses: An Introduction to the Basic Aspects, page 89The resemblance between this Myrrhina and the Myrrha who seduces her father is all the greater in that in one of the versions of the myth of Adonis, his mother is transformed by metamorphosis into not a myrrh tree but a sprig of myrtle.
1977, Marcel Detienne, The Gardens of Adonis: Spices in Greek Mythology, page 63Synonyms: Smyrna
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounThe daughter of Cinyras, king of Cyprus, who tricks her father into having sexual intercourse with her and escapes the king's wrath by being transformed into a myrrh tree, later giving birth to Adonis.
Origin
- Ancient GreekΜύρρα
- LatinMyrrha
- EnglishMyrrha
From Latin Myrrha, from Ancient Greek Μύρρα (Múrrha).
More words from Latin, Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
myrrha. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/myrrha
“myrrha.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/myrrha. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “myrrha,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/myrrha.
Source: myrrha on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.