In Greek mythology, Echo (Greek ???) was an Oread (a mountain nymph) who loved her own voice. Zeus loved consorting with beautiful nymphs and visited them on Earth often. Eventually, Zeus's wife, Hera, became suspicious, and came from Mt. Olympus in an attempt to catch Zeus with the nymphs.

Hera eventually interrupted Echo and went into the field where Zeus and the nymphs had been making love (Zeus had been in the form of a duck and his feathers still fall from the sky to this day). When she saw the field was empty, Hera realized what Echo had done and punished her.

Ovid's version of events states that Zeus employed Echo to occupy Hera whilst he continued with his adulteries. Hera soon saw through this ruse and punished her so that she could say only the last words of other people's sentences (echolalia). She could not speak of her own accord and so was deprived of the thing she loved the most.