E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Pamphyle (3 syl.).
A sorceress who converted herself into an owl (Apuleius). There was another Pamphyl, the daughter of Apollo, who first taught women to embroider with silk.
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“In one very remote village lives the sorceress Pamphyl, who turns her neighbours into various animals… Lucius, peeping … thro’ a chink in the door [saw] the old witch transform herself into an owl.”—Pater: Marius the Epicurean, chap. v.
, the daughter of Apollo, who first taught women to embroider with silk.
