rinatrixEtymologyFrom Late Latin rinatrix (in Bartholomaeus Anglicus), apparently a misreading of Lucan 9.720 et natrix (“and the water snake”).nounA type of water snake formerly thought to poison water.“Rinatrix is a Serpent which with enuenoming poysoneth ye water, so that into what cleare Fountaine or Riuer he swimmeth, he infecteth it.”