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The awe in which the Nereids are held is partially responsible, without doubt, for the many adulatory by-names by which they are known. Now and again indeed a peasant, when he is suffering from some imagined injury at their hands, may so far speak his mind concerning them as to call them ‘evil women’ (κακαὶς or ἄσχημαις γυναῖκες): but in general his references are more diplomatic and conciliatory in tone. He adopts the same attitude towards them as did his forefathers towards the Furies; and, though the actual word ‘Eumenides’ is lost to his vocabulary, the spirit of his address is unchanged. ‘The Ladies’ (ᾑ κυρᾶδες), ‘Our Maidens’ (τὰ κουρίτσι̯α μας), ‘Our good Queens’ (ᾑ καλαὶς ἀρχόντισσαις), ‘The kind-hearted ones’ (ᾑ καλόκαρδαις), ‘The ladies to whom we wish joy’ (ᾑ χαιράμεναις), or most commonly of all ‘Our good Ladies’ (ᾑ καλοκυρᾶδες or καλλικυρᾶδες)[302],—such is the wonted style of his adulation, in which the frequent use of the word κυρᾶδες (the plural of κυρά, i.e. κυρία) is a heritage from his ancestors who made dedications ‘to the lady nymphs’ (κυρίαις νύμφαις). Yet it may be questioned whether these by-names are wholly euphemistic; for mingled with the awe which the Nereids inspire there is certainly an element of admiration and, I had almost said, of affection in the feelings of the common-folk toward them.