Lorelei

Name of the tall rock on the right bank of the river Rhine, near St. Goar, Germany, that is noted for its remarkable echo. It has given rise to the legend of the lorelei water nymph, whose siren song lures sailors to their doom. In turn, this story has affinity with the legend of Holda, queen of the elves, who fascinates men, who become doomed to wander with her forever. The lorelei legend is of comparatively recent origin, a creation of the writer Klemens Brentano in his ballad story Lore Lay (1800) and retold in Heine's famous poem "Die Lorelei."

Lorelei in German legend, a beautiful woman with long blonde hair who sat on the Lorelei rock on the bank of the Rhine, in the Rhine gorge near Sankt Goarshausen, and with her singing lured boatmen to destruction. The name is often used allusively.

Lorelei is also the name of the gold-digging heroine of Anita Loos's comic novel Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1925).

Lorelei Large rock in the River Rhine near Sankt Goarshausen, w Germany. According to legend, a beautiful maiden called Lorelei drowned herself in despair over her faithless lover, only to rise as a siren to lure fishermen to their doom on the rock.