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In Greek mythology, an Oread (/ˈɔːriˌæd, ˈɔːriəd/; Ancient Greek: Ὀρειάς, romanized: Oreiás, stem Ὀρειάδ-, Oreiád-, Latin: Oreas/Oread-, from ὄρος, 'mountain'; French: Oréade) or Orestiad (/ɔːˈrɛstiˌæd, -iəd/; Ὀρεστιάδες, Orestiádes) is a mountain nymph. Oreads differ from each other according to their dwelling: the Idaeae were from Mount Ida, Peliades from Mount Pelion, etc. Myths associated the Oreads with Artemis, since the goddess, when she went out hunting, preferred mountains and rocky precipices.
The generic term "oread" itself appears to be Hellenistic (first attested in the Epitaph of Adonis (Greek: Ἐπιτάφιος Ἀδώνιδος) of Bion of Smyrna, fl. c. 100 BCE) .[1]
- ^ Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon s.v. text at Perseus project