a little woman
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary
DAMARIS.A convert at Athens (Act_17:34). As women of the upper classes were kept more in the background there than in Macedonia or Asia Minor, she was probably not of noble birth (cf. Act_17:4; Act_17:12). The name is perhaps a corruption of Damalis, a heifer. The Bezan MS omits it.
A. J. Maclean.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
An Athenian woman converted by Paul's preaching (Act_17:34.). When most "mocked" or deferred, she and Dionysius the Areopagite "clave unto Paul and believed."
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.
Dam'aris. (a heifer). An Athenian woman converted to Christianity, by St. Paul's preaching. Act_17:34. (A.D 48). Chrysostom and others held her to have been the wife of Dionysius, the Areopagite.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863
dam?a-ris (Δάμαρις, Dámaris, possibly a corruption of δάμαλις, dámalis, ?a heifer?): The name of a female Christian of Athens, converted by Paul's preaching (Act_17:34). The fact that she is mentioned in this passage together with Dionysius the Areopagite has led some, most probably in error, to regard her as his wife. The singling out of her name with that of Dionysius may indicate some personal or social distinction. Compare Act_17:12.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
Dam?aris, a woman of Athens, who was led to embrace Christianity by the preaching of St. Paul (Act_17:34). Some suppose she was the wife of Dionysius the Areopagite, who is mentioned before her; but the construction in the Greek will not sanction this conclusion.
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.
Damaris
(Δάμαρις) an Athenian woman converted to Christianity by Paul's preaching (Act_17:34), A.D. 48. Chrysostom (de Sacerdotio, 4:7) and others held her to have been the wife of Dionysius the Areopagite, but apparently for no other reason than that she is mentioned together with him in this passage. Grotius and Hemsterhuis think the name should be Damalis, Δάμαλις (signifying heifer), which is frequently found as a woman's name; but the permutation of λ and ρ was not uncommon both in pronunciation and writing (Lobeck on Phrynichus, p. 652).
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.