Oriaʹna

The beloved of Amʹadis of Gaul, who called himself Belteneʹbros when he retired to the Poor Rock. (Amʹadis de Gaul, ii. 6.)

Queen Elizabeth is sometimes called the “peerless Oriana,” especially in the madrigals entitled the Triumphs of Oriaʹna (1601).

Oriaʹna. The nurseling of a lioness, with whom Esplandian, son of Oriaʹna and Amʹadis of Gaul, fell in love, and for whom he underwent all his perils and exploits. She is represented as the fairest, gentlest, and most faithful of womankind.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.