river god

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɪvə ˌɡɒd/

river god (plural river gods)

1. (mythology) The tutelary deity of a river.
   • 1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], Adam Bede […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC:

     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.

   • 1969, C. P. Fitzgerald, “The Three Ways”, in The Horizon History of China‎^[1], New York: American Heritage Publishing, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 113, column 2:

     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.

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

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

   • 2011 October 13, Tom Meltzer, The Guardian:

     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 [...].

• naiad

• overgird, river dog