earth fire wind water … el-e-ments
*wed- (1)
Proto-Indo-European root meaning "water; wet."
It forms all or part of: abound; anhydrous; carbohydrate; clepsydra; dropsy; hydra; hydrangea; hydrant; hydrargyrum; hydrate; hydraulic; hydro-; hydrogen; hydrophobia; hydrous; Hydrus; inundate; inundation; kirsch-wasser; nutria; otter; redound; redundant; surround; undine; undulant; undulate; undulation; vodka; wash; water (n.1); wet; whiskey; winter.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Hittite watar, Sanskrit udrah, Greek hydor, Old Church Slavonic and Russian voda, Lithuanian vanduo, Old Prussian wundan, Gaelic uisge "water;" Latin unda "wave;" Old English wæter, Old High German wazzar, Gothic wato "water."
…. Undines you say?
Undines are almost invariably depicted as being female, and are usually found in forest pools and waterfalls. The group contains many species, including nereides, limnads, naiades and mermaids. Although resembling humans in form, they lack a human soul, so to achieve mortality they must acquire one by marrying a human. Such a union is not without risk for the man, because if he is unfaithful, then he is fated to die.
Oh … fucking fairies? oh the irony of that…
so spitballing… soulless creatures resemble humans in form, but don't have a soul ( I've imagined.. soulless things here.. golems, serial #s, serial products )
Undines:
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"almost invariably female": would imply a % is male?
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resembles humans in form
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lacks human soul
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to achieve "mortality" they must marry a human
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cheat penalty seems to only apply to male half of the union
……….. i can see where this is going and how all the cultures got to its current state…
so elementals can look like humans, and we've got to figure out how to hone our senses to detect them.
we've just been calling a spade a spade
but a spade can be a suit of playing cards, A shovel, david…. so many kinds of spades.
interdasting <- confounding of any relationship to the "interest" you might accrue with debt.