river god

plural river gods

1. human sciencesThe tutelary deity of a river.

   From then on the people of Ye never again dared speak of the River God taking a wife.

   1995, Jeannete Faurot, Asian-Pacific Folktales and Legends, Touchstone, published 1995, page 219

   3 more examples

   It was as if she had been wooed by a river-god, who might any time take her to his wondrous halls below a watery heaven.

   1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], Adam Bede […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC

   Although human sacrifice was discontinued in ancient times, the idea continues that the river god claims as his own any man who falls into the stream.

   1969, C. P. Fitzgerald, “The Three Ways”, in The Horizon History of China, New York: American Heritage Publishing, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 113, column 2

   Some weeks, alas, we return to camp with six dead minnows and a dripping hemp bag full of dodgy clams, but this week, praise be, the river god has smiled on us [...].

   2011 October 13, Tom Meltzer, The Guardian

   Synonyms: naiad