nixie

From German Nixe, feminine of Nix, from Middle High German nickes, from Old High German nihhus (“water-elf, crocodile”), from Proto-Germanic *nikwus, *nikwis, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *neygʷ- (“to wash”).
Cognate with Old English nicor (“water-elf, hippopotamus, walrus”), English nicker.

cog

The place seems to have been fashioned as a dwelling for dryads and hamadryads, for nixies and pixies, and all the fabled spirits of forest and stream.

1916, Rex Beach, Rainbow's End, published 2008, page 1:

Bare from her garters up her flesh appears under the sapphire a nixie’s green.

1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

In medieval times, the image of the double fish tailed siren was called a nixie or evil water spirit. Yet, the nixies were more likely daughters of the primordial goddess named Nyx or mother night, who hovered over ancient waters, rather than evil spirits.

2011, Katalin Koda, Fire of the Goddess, page 83:


panther

From Middle English panter, panther, pantere, from Old French pantere, from Latin panthēra, from Ancient Greek πάνθηρ (pánthēr, “panther”).

der

(mythology, heraldry) A creature resembling a big cat, typically incensed (“emitting fire”), and often having a multicolored hide, found in Ancient Greek mythology and in medieval and later heraldry (in which its depiction sometimes approaches that of a horse).


Brahma

Borrowed from Sanskrit ब्रह्मा (brahmā).

(Hinduism) Hindu god (deva) of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva.


séance

From French séance (“sitting, session”).

[B]ut only too often séances degenerate into pure sorcery or necromancy, attracting all kinds of undeveloped and earth-bound entities.

1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 231:

A ceremony where people try to communicate with the spirits of dead people, usually led by a medium.

seancë spiritizmi

a ceremony where people try to communicate with the spirits


ogress

Borrowed in the early 1700s from French ogresse, equivalent to ogre + -ess.

And in the seventh tale of the third day of the same collection, when Corvetto had hidden himself under the Ogre's bed to steal his quilt, "he began to pull quite gently, when the Ogre awoke, and bid his wife not to pull the clothes that way, or she'd strip him, and he would get his death of cold." "Why, it's you that are stripping me," replied the Ogress, "and you have not left a stitch on me." "Where the devil is the quilt?" says the Ogre[.]

1828, Thomas Keightley, Fairy Mythology, volume II, page 237:

Dear me, Mimsey!. . . you are perfectly outrageous! Do you think I'm an ogress ready to eat her up? On the contrary, I mean to be a friend to her.


Fenrir

Fenrir
Fenrir (moon)
Poetic Edda
Prose Edda

Borrowed from Old Norse Fenrir (“fen-dweller”), Fenrisúlfr (“Fenris wolf”).

bor+

Lokasenna, stanzas 37-40, comprise an exchange between Týr and Loki. Loki boasts that Fenrir tore off Týr's arm; Týr responds that although he may be missing his hand, Loki is missing Hródrsvitnir, that is, the famous wolf, Fenrir.

2001, John Lindow, Handbook of Norse Mythology, ABC-CLIO, page 113:

Feared and misunderstood, Fenrir was the bringer of doom to the gods and was known as "an axe-age, a sword-age, a wind-age, a wolf-age before the wrecking of the world."

2009, Sarah Bartlett, The Mythology Bible, Sterling Publishing Co., page 294:

It is my own opinion that the Black Shuck is another manifestation of Fenrir, the large and terrible wolf, who is the eldest child of Loki and the giantess Angrboda.

2011, Nick Redfern, “Phantom Hounds of the Woods”, in Brad Steiger, editor, Real Monsters, Gruesome Critters, and Beasts from the Darkside, Visible Ink Press, page 46:

(Norse mythology) A monstrous wolf, one of Loki's offspring, who bites off Tyr's right hand while being bound by the gods in fear of a prophecy that he will kill Odin, remaining so bound until the events of Ragnarok.


Osiris

(Egyptian mythology) The Egyptian god of the dead and of the underworld.


purgatory

en-adj

purgatory (comparative more purgatory, superlative most purgatory)

more purgatory (comparative)
most purgatory (superlative)

/ˈpɝɡəˌtɔɹi/

/ˈpɜːɡət(ə)ɹi/

From Middle English purgatorie, from Old French purgatore, purgatorie, from Latin purgātōrium (“cleansing”). Cognate to English purge.

Last of all, the prodigie of Siracusa was expiat by a purgatory sacrifice, by direction from the soothsaiers to what gods, supplications and sacrifice should be made.

1600, Philemon Holland, transl., The Roman Historie Written by T. Livius of Padua, London, Book 41, p. 1103:

This purgatory interval is not unfavourable to a faithless representative, who may be as good a canvasser as he was a bad governor.

1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, London: J. Dodsley, page 272:


Golden Fleece

[ˈɡɒʊ̯ɫ.dn̩ ˈfliːs]

(Greek mythology) A magical fleece from a winged ram guarded by the hydra in the tale of Jason and the Argonauts.


Athenian

From Latin athēniēnsis; compare Middle English Athenyensis pl and Old English Athēniense pl. By surface analysis, Athens + ian.

(Greek mythology) Of or related to Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, technology, and skillful warfare.


mythologic

mythologic (comparative more mythologic, superlative most mythologic)

more mythologic (comparative)
most mythologic (superlative)

(mythology) Of or pertaining to mythology


Buffyverse

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS) is a televisual artifact that contains apocalyptic rhetoric in most episodes—apocalyptic in the sense that something is about to end in the Buffyverse, and rhetorical in the sense that something is going to change in the Buffyverse.

2009, Kylo-Patrick R. Hart, Annette Holba, Media and the Apocalypse, page 77:

2009, Kevin K. Durand, It's All about Power, in Kevin K. Durand (editor), Buffy Meets the Academy: Essays on the Episodes and Scripts as Text, Part I: Power and the Buffy Canon, page 46,
In the Buffyverse, we encounter a true representation of shared power, of partnered power. Further, the “bad guys” are not the only paradigms of patriarchy in the Buffyverse that are overcome.

We can hardly be surprised when Buffy and Satsu find what warmth they can, as Willow does with her demon lover, in an intercut sex scene of the kind which typically precedes an apocalypse in the Buffyverse (#15, p. 26). Scenes like this confirm Em McAvan's point that the Buffyverse associates bisexuality with kink (paragraph 15).

2010, Lewis Call, “Slaying the Heteronormative: Representations of Alternative Sexuality in Buffy Season Eight Comics”, in Erin B. Waggoner, editor, Sexual Rhetoric in the Works of Joss Whedon: New Essays, page 115:

(fandom slang) The fictional world, or universe, which serves as the setting for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.


Pleiades

From Latin Pleiades, from Ancient Greek Πλειάδες (Pleiádes). In the astronomical sense, displaced Old English seofonstierre (literally “the seven stars”).

ncog

(Greek mythology) The "seven sisters", companions of Artemis and daughters of the Titan Atlas and the sea-nymph Pleione.


Pollux

From Latin Pollūx, from Ancient Greek Πολυδεύκης (Poludeúkēs).

(Greek mythology) One of the Dioscuri, son of Zeus and Leda, brother of Castor.


Hyades

From Middle English Hyades, Yades, from Latin Hyades, from Ancient Greek Ὑάδες (Huádes), nominative and vocative plural of Ὑ̄̆ᾰ́ς (Hū̆ắs, “one of the Hyades”).

(Greek mythology) Daughters of the Titan Atlas and sisters of the Pleiades.


draconologist

As such, his pamphlet is unlikely to appeal either to serious draconologists and cryptozoologists, or to newcomers to the field, who would probably be better served by any of the many book-length cryptozoological tours available.

1997, Mike Dash, “Water Dragons: A Guide to Lake Serpent Legends Around the World (review)”, in Fortean Times, numbers 102-106, →ISSN:

In the words of one prominent draconologist “No dragon exists — none ever did exist” (Ingersoll 1928: 13).

2000, Robert Blust, “The Origin of Dragons”, in Anthropos, volume 95, number 2, page 522:

The expeditions and adventures described in this book have been performed under the guidance of trained observers, experts and draconologists.

2012 June 26, William O'Connor, Dracopedia The Great Dragons: An Artist's Field Guide and Drawing Journal, Cincinnati: Impact, →ISBN, →OL, page 6:


Pterelas

(Greek mythology) King of the Teleboans in Plautus' Amphitruo.


Hellen

(Greek mythology) the mythological patriarch of the Hellenes, the son of Deucalion (or sometimes Zeus) and Pyrrha, brother of Amphictyon and father of Aeolus, Xuthus, and Dorus


therianthrope

/ˈθɛɹ.i.ənˌθɹoʊp/

From Ancient Greek θηρίον (thēríon, “wild beast”) + Ancient Greek ἄνθρωπος (ánthrōpos, “man”).

af

Among the depictions are a black rhinoceros, the body of an antelope covered by a red line, two white animals with black stripes that may be zebras, and a therianthrope. The therianthrope (Figure 9.11) appears to have a feline body with human hind legs that may have been added after the original legs had faded somewhat (Wendt 1974:27).

2016, Carmel Schrire, Past and Present in Hunter Gatherer Studies, Routledge, →ISBN:

One appears to have a large beak while another has an appendage resembling a tail. In the language of archaeology, these are therianthropes, or characters that embody a mix of human and animal characteristics. […] The otherworldly nature of the therianthropes also raises the possibility that they are mythical beings, or manifestations of “animal spirit helpers” that are common in shamanic beliefs, according to the study.

2019 December 11, Becky Ferreira, “Mythical Beings May Be Earliest Imaginative Cave Art by Humans”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(mythology) Any mythical being which is part human, part animal.

homme-bête

any mythical being which is part human, part animal


Mithras

Learned borrowing from Latin Mithras. Doublet of Mehr, mitre, and Mitra.

A Roman god, cult figure of the 2nd-to-4th-century Roman mystery religion known as the "Mysteries of Mithras" (now colloquially Mithraism)


Shiva

From Sanskrit शिव (śivá, “the auspicious one”).

uder

(Hinduism) The god of destruction and transformation, and together with Brahma and Vishnu, one of the principal deities in Hinduism. Within Shaivism he is viewed as the Supreme deity, whereas in other branches of Hinduism such as the Smarta tradition he is worshipped as one of the six manifestations of the Divine.


Ceto

From Ancient Greek Κητώ (Kētṓ); see also κῆτος (kêtos, “sea monster”). Compare Cetus.

(Greek mythology) A primordial sea goddess, wife of Phorcys and mother of numerous monsters including Echidna and the gorgons.


Cepheus

(Greek mythology) Husband of Cassiopeia, king of Eritrea, father of Andromeda. There may be two mythical kings by this name.


Cassiopeia

kăs′ē-ō-pē′yə

From Latin Cassiopēia, from Ancient Greek Κασσιόπεια (Kassiópeia) or Κασσιόπη (Kassiópē).

(Greek mythology) Proud wife of Cepheus and mother of Andromeda, queen of Ethiopia. When she boasted that her beauty was equal to that of the Nereids, she was punished by Poseidon.


peri

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish پری (peri), from Persian پری (pari).

bor+

He sent a Peri to Chundum Dew with a message: "If you wish to live, release the mortal in your power: if not, every demon in your service will immediately be put to the sword."

January-June 1829, “The Adventures of Hatim-Beni-Tye”, in The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British India and Its Dependencies, volume 27, page 549:

In an hour they hovered above Hampstead Heath, and the peri looked down for a lonely spot where she might alight in the sulphurous gloom of a dog-day sunset too blinding for anyone to look at […]

March 16 1916, Alfred Richard Orage, Arthur Moore, The New Age: A Weekly Review of Politics, Literature and Art, page 473:

The Padishah's son was also there, and he realized that the peri looked very familiar.

2008, A Fire in My Heart: Kurdish Tales, page 75:

(Iranian mythology) A sprite or supernatural being.


pralaya

(Indian mythology) destruction, apocalypse


ghostbuster

From ghost + buster, popularized by the 1984 film Ghostbusters.

Someone who purports to rid a place of ghosts.


Fornax

Named by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille. Originally called Fornāx Chemica,
From the Latin for "chemical furnace".

(Roman mythology) The Roman goddess of ovens.


Apollonian

/æpəˈləʊnɪ.ən/

From Latin Apollō (Apollōn-) + -ian and Apollonius/Apollonia + -an.

You have your lovers - dusky beaus / Not made of the poetic stuff / That sports an Apollonian nose, / And wears a sleek Byronic cuff.

1877, Henry Kendall, “Ode to a Black Gin”, in The Australian Town and Country Journal, page 24:

The forces of nature is a major theme embodied in the two main goddess characters. The "northern woman" is Appollonian ^([sic]) in her nature — cold, reserved, quiet, identified with the moon; the "southern woman" is Dionysian — passionate, a sun goddess.

1979 August 4, Linda Stein, “Stopping Short of Self-Awareness”, in Gay Community News, page 18:

Marty and I often discussed the choice we all have in controlling our cognition. We referred to harnessing this power as "the Apollonian state", after Apollo, the Greek god of the sun and light and truth. In the Apollonian state you could use reason to move away from despairing beliefs―it's never going to change, it's all my fault, there must be something wrong with me―and towards more empowered thinking.

2021, Lisa Miller, The Awakened Brain, Ch.2, at p.37

(Greek mythology) Of or relating to the ancient Olympian Greek God Apollo.


Canopus

(Greek mythology) The pilot of King Menelaus's ship in the Iliad.


Plutonian

en-adj

Plutonian (comparative more Plutonian, superlative most Plutonian)

more Plutonian (comparative)
most Plutonian (superlative)

The adjective is derived from Latin Plūtōnius (“of or relating to Pluto, Greek and Roman god of the underworld”) + -an (suffix forming adjectives). Plūtōnius is from Ancient Greek Πλουτώνιος (Ploutṓnios, “of or relating to Pluto”), from Πλούτων (Ploútōn, “Pluto”) (from πλοῦτος (ploûtos, “riches, wealth”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *plew- (“to fly; to flow; to run”)) + -ων (-ōn)) + -ιος (-ios, suffix forming adjectives). The English word is cognate with Middle French plutonien (modern French plutonien). The noun is derived from the adjective.

plutonien

of, pertaining to, or supporting plutonism — see also Plutonic

[…] he through the midſt unmarkt, / In ſhew Plebeian Angel militant / Of loweſt order, paſt; and from the dore / Of that Plutonian Hall, inviſible / Aſcended his high Throne, […]

1674, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], 2nd edition, London: […] S[amuel] Simmons […], →OCLC, page 264:

["]Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the Nightly shore— / Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!" / Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."

1845 February, — Quarles [pseudonym; Edgar Allan Poe], “The Raven”, in The American Review, volume I, number II, New York, N.Y., London: Wiley & Putnam, […], →OCLC, page 144:

You rise by candle-light or gaslight, swearing / There never was a climate made like ours; / If rashly you go out to take an airing, / The soot-flakes come in black Plutonian show'rs.

1882 December 30, “A London Fog”, in Punch, or The London Charivari, volume 83, London: Published at the office, 85, Fleet Street, →OCLC, page 301, column 1:

Cotopaxi is striking not only because it looks like a science fiction conception of another planet; it also is the least realistic among [Frederic Edwin] Church's paintings of the area. […] Below the fiery sun is a lake with a barren shore. As such, the sun hangs over a Plutonian landscape.

2008, Rodrigo Lazo, “The Ends of Enchantment: Douglass, Melville, and U.S. Expansionism in the Americas”, in Robert S[teven] Levine, Samuel Otter, editors, Frederick Douglass & Herman Melville: Essays in Relation, Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, →ISBN, part I (Literary and Cultural Geographies), page 210:

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) Of or relating to Pluto, the Greek and Roman god of the underworld; demonic, infernal.

Plutoniin liittyvä

of or relating to Pluto, the Greek and Roman god of the underworld


Plutonian

From Pluto (“dwarf planet in the Solar System”) + -n- + -ian (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘from, related to, or like’, or nouns meaning ‘one belonging to, relating to, or like’), probably influenced by Plutonian (“of or relating to Pluto, Greek and Roman god of the underworld”) (see etymology 1).

affix

Another and perhaps more Plutonian view of this would be that David's bondage to his mother and the codes of behaviour which she set for him had extended throughout his life, in both profes[s]ional and personal spheres; and that bondage now had an opportunity of loosening, with all the attendant consequences.

1985, Liz Greene, “Fate and Synchronicity”, in The Astrology of Fate, Boston, Mass.: Weiser Books, Red Wheel/Weiser, →ISBN, page 293:

The notion of toxicity is a useful one in our effort to understand the further implications of Pluto in the USA chart. [...] Factor in what we have learned about the second house and we get another meaning of waste, related but distinctly more Plutonian: debris that poses an elimination problem once its value has been used up.

2006 October 6, Jessica Murray, “Power Madness: Pluto and American Hegemony”, in Soul-sick Nation: An Astrologer’s View of America, Bloomington, Ind., Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire: AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 41:

(astrology) Pertaining to the astrological influence of Pluto, formerly regarded as a planet.

Plutoon liittyvä

pertaining to the astrological influence of Pluto, formerly regarded as a planet

Burl studied the captured Plutonian hand weapons, and was pleased to have one of the Neptunian soldiers pick one up and demonstrate how it was fired. It had apparently simpler controls than most Plutonian products, for it easily blazed forth a bolt of electronic fire that blasted a tall, crystalline tree to shards.

1959, Donald A[llen] Wollheim, “The Museum of Galactic Life”, in Cecile Matschat, editor, The Secret of the Ninth Planet (A Science Fiction Novel), Philadelphia, Pa.: John C. Winston Co., →OCLC; republished in The Tom Corbett, Space Cadet Megapack, [Rockville, Md.]: Wildside Press, 2012, →ISBN:

Roure did not carry his work to completion. He derived only four intermediate orbits of Pluto for the combinations of Pluto and the four outer planets, and determined the inequalities in the Plutonian motion under the effect of Neptune which are dependent on the first degree of Plutonian eccentricity and inclination.

1969 January, Sh. G. Sharaf, “Introduction”, in Theory of Motion of the Planet Pluto: Part One. Plutonian Perturbations of the First Order with Respect to Perturbing Masses: […] (NASA Technical Translations; NASA TT F-490), Washington, D.C.: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, →OCLC, page 4:

[Gerard] Kuiper (1944) searched for spectroscopic evidence of an atmosphere around Pluto as part of the same program that discovered CH₄ on Titan. Because of the difficulty of observing an object as faint as Pluto, no useful results were obtained; however, Kuiper presented arguments in favor of a Plutonian atmosphere based on the stability of the atmosphere against loss to space.

1997, Roger V. Yelle, James L[udlow] Elliot, “Atmospheric Structure and Composition: Pluto and Charon”, in S[ol] Alan Stern, David J[ames] Tholen, editors, Pluto and Charon (Space Science series), Tucson, Ariz.: University of Arizona Press, →ISBN, part IV (Atmospheres), page 347:

[James Walter] Christy also knew that 6.39 days is the exact period of time that it takes Pluto to make one complete turn around its axis—the length of a Plutonian day.

2010, Kristi Lew, “Pluto’s Structure and Features”, in Karen Ang, editor, The Dwarf Planet Pluto (Space!), Tarrytown, N.Y.: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, →ISBN, page 31:

(astronomy) Of or relating to the dwarf planet Pluto.

plutondar

of or relating to the dwarf planet Pluto


Plutonian

If you are a Plutonian and some of these traits emphatically do not fit you, just let them go and take what is helpful and descriptive of you personally. What will be given is a composite picture, based on working with a great many Plutonians over the years. Plutonians who are negatively inclined are often very guarded and rigid, afraid to let others get close. [...] There are Plutonians who operate predominantly on the positive level—healing, transforming, transmuting themselves and those around them.

1986, Donna Cunningham, “The Personality and Character of the Plutonian”, in Healing Pluto Problems, Boston, Mass.: Weiser Books, Red Wheel/Weiser, →ISBN, page 28:

(astrology) A person under the astrological influence of Pluto, formerly regarded as a planet.

The Plutonians, who are almost extinct, once held a superscience that they have largely lost. Early Plutonian visits to Earth survived in folk memory as the devil, since Plutonians are gigantic, with horns, hooves, and tail.

1998, Everett F[ranklin] Bleiler, Richard Bleiler, “[Story Descriptions.] 1423. THE EARTHMAN’S BURDEN. Astounding Stories, June 1931, Ill. Paul.”, in Science-Fiction: The Gernsback Years: A Complete Coverage of the Genre Magazines Amazing, Astounding, Wonder, and Others from 1926 through 1936, Kent, Oh., London: Kent State University Press, →ISBN, page 409, column 1:

(chiefly science fiction) An inhabitant of the dwarf planet Pluto.


Enceladus

From Latin Enceladus, from Ancient Greek Ἐγκέλαδος (Enkélados).

(Greek mythology) A giant in Greek mythology.


Wadjet

Borrowed from Egyptian wAD-t-I12 (wꜣḏt, “Wadjet”, literally “green one”), an allusion to the skin of the cobra. Doublet of Buto.

bor+

<i class="Latn mention" lang="egy">wꜣḏt</i>

(Egyptian mythology) The patron goddess and namesake of the Ancient Egyptian city of Per-Wadjet, known as Buto to the Greeks. Wadjet takes the form of a cobra and is associated with the Eye of Horus.


Shambhala

From Sanskrit शम्भल (śambhala, “Sambhal, a city in India”), from Sanskrit शम्भु (śambhu).

bor

A mythical, mystic sacred realm in Tibetan Buddhism.


Alcmene

From Latin Alcmēnē, from Ancient Greek Ἀλκμήνη (Alkmḗnē).

(Greek mythology) Descendant of Perseus and Andromeda, the wife of Amphitryon, and mother, by Zeus, of Heracles/Hercules.

Ալկմենե

the wife of Amphitryon and mother, by Zeus, of Heracles


Anthea

From Ancient Greek ἄνθη (ánthē, “blossom”).

(Greek mythology) The epithet of the Greek goddess Hera


timestream

By killing his great-grandfather, the time traveller disrupted the timestream.

The slightest excess of effort might upset the balance at any point of the time stream, sending them backward into the past or forward into the future independently of my will.

[1931 December, Eric Temple Bell, “The Time Stream”, in Wonder Stories:

The timestream is littered with these blank areas.

Two different timestreams running parallel but at different speeds. Amy, you're in a faster timestream.

2011, Tom MacRae, “The Girl Who Waited”, in Nick Hurran, director, Doctor Who, season 6, episode 10, spoken by The Doctor (Matt Smith):

(science fiction, mythology) A metaphorical conception of time as a stream, or flowing body of water.


peng

From romanizations of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 鵬 /鹏 (péng).

(Chinese mythology) A legendary enormous bird.


moly

en-noun

moly (countable and uncountable, plural molies)

From Latin mōly, from Ancient Greek μῶλυ (môlu) (probably a loanword).

It excels Homers moly, cures this, falling sickness, and almost all other infirmities.

1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 4, member 1, subsection iii:

Or, propt on beds of amaranth and moly, / How sweet (while warm airs lull us, blowing lowly,)

1832 December (indicated as 1833), Alfred Tennyson, “The Lotos-Eaters”, in Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 114:

So spoke the Radiant One; then gave me the magic herb, pulling it from the ground and showing me in what form it grew; its root was black, its flower milk-white. Its name among the gods is moly.

1980, Homer, translated by Walter Shrewing, The Odyssey, Oxford, published 1998, page 120:

I would need all the secret herbs of Dicte […] . I would need as well the rest of my moly stores.

2018, Madeline Miller, Circe, Bloomsbury 2019, p. 113

(Greek mythology) A magic herb or plant used by Odysseus to overcome Circe.


Palladian

From Latin Palladius (“of or relating to Pallas”) + -an (suffix forming adjectives from nouns). Palladius is derived from Pallas (from Ancient Greek Παλλάς (Pallás), genitive Παλλάδος (Palládos), an epithet of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom) + -ius (suffix forming adjectives from nouns).

suffix

[I]f in this the moſt conſummat act of his fidelity and ripeneſſe, no years, no induſtry, no former proof of his abilities can bring him to that ſtate of maturity, as not to be ſtill miſtruſted and ſuſpected, unleſſe he carry all his conſiderat diligence, all his midnight watchings, and expence of Palladian oyl, to the haſty view of an unleaſur'd licencer, perhaps much his younger, perhaps far his inferiour in judgement, [...]

1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 21:

I dwell upon this point, in the view of explaining and, as to one letter, correcting a memorable passage of Sophocles concerning the Palladian olive tree; in which he says, that it is a plant, preserved by Jove and Athena, in order to confound the enemies of Athens, and adds "that no man, young or old, (i.e. now or ever,) shall render it vain and of none effect, by pointing it out with his finger to the Persians."

1828, [Algernon Herbert], “Ba-bel”, in Nimrod: A Discourse on Certain Passages of History and Fable, volume I, London: Printed for Richard Priestley, →OCLC, pages 192–193:

She threw forward her arms, as if with spear and buckler. Miss Barfoot was smiling at this Palladian attitude when a servant announced two ladies, Mrs. Smallbrook and Miss Haven.

1893, George Gissing, “A Camp of the Reserve”, in The Odd Women […], volume I, London: Lawrence & Bullen […], →OCLC, page 145:

the figure for Palladian wisdom and chastity

2001, Charles Dempsey, Inventing the Renaissance Putto, University of North Carolina Press, page 176:

Where mentioned at all in historical discussions it [Elizabethan drama] is typically in passing, with the primary focus either on the continuity that Tudor drama has with the medieval folk drama, or simply on that drama itself, as virtually a Palladian birth in the reign of Elizabeth [I], fathered indeed by the great Zeus of the Renaissance [William Shakespeare], as most commentators recognize, but in whose original inspiration the contribution of the discipline of rhetoric specifically is not apparently of special moment.

2004, Trevor McNeely, “Rhetoric, Theater, Poetry, and Shakespeare”, in Proteus Unmasked: Sixteenth-century Rhetoric and the Art of Shakespeare, Bethlehem, Pa.: Lehigh University Press; Cranbury, N.J.; London: Associated University Presses, →ISBN, page 50:

(Greek mythology, rare) Of or relating to Pallas, an epithet of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, and potentially to other female Greek figures such as Pallas the daughter of Triton and granddaughter of Poseidon.


undine

From German Undine, from New Latin undīna, from Latin unda (“wave”).


ushabti

Borrowed from Egyptian w-S-b-t:y-A53 (wšbtj, “ushabti”, literally “answerer”), by folk etymology from earlier SA-wA-b-t:y-A53 (šꜣwꜣbtj), perhaps from S-wA-b-M1 (šwꜣb, “persea (tree)”), which may have been the material they were originally made from. The variant forms shawabti, shabti are borrowed directly from the earlier Egyptian forms šꜣwꜣbtj and šꜣbtj, respectively.

bor

These little images were called in Egyptian “Ushabti,” or “Respondents,” and were in fact supposed to act as servants of the deceased, it being their duty to answer for him and serve as his substitutes when called upon to do labourer's work [...].

1886 September 1, The Times, p.13 col. A:

The air was all at once full of Egyptian and Greek tear-bottles, Ushabti, and Sèvres.

Spectacular objects began to surface throughout the world; […] elaborate ivory powder boxes engraved with peacocks or pictures of lions and unicorns playing draughts, precious ushabtiu figures, the combs of an unknown princess, her red ivory jars of frankincense and eye paint, copper coffers, poison rings, diadems.

1993, Rikki Ducornet, The Jade Cabinet, Dalkey Archive Press, page 121:

In Ancient Egypt, a figurine of a dead person, placed in their tomb to do their work for them in the afterlife.


Hellenism

en-noun

Hellenism (countable and uncountable, plural Hellenisms)

Either via French hellénisme or Latin Hellēnismus or directly from Ancient Greek Ἑλληνισμός (Hellēnismós, “imitation of the Greeks”), from Ἕλλην (Héllēn, “a Greek”).

helénismus

characteristics of ancient Greek culture

hel·lenisme

culture and civilization of the Hellenistic period

The modern-day revival of the polytheistic religious system of Ancient Greece.


Kourotrophos

Ancient Greek κουροτρόφος (kourotróphos, “rearing boys” or “bringing up boys”).

uder

(Greek mythology) Artemis, in her incarnation as the 'nurse of youths'


onocentaur

/ɒnəˈsɛntɔː/

Late Latin onocentaurus, from Ancient Greek ὀνοκένταυρος (onokéntauros, from ὄνος (ónos, “ass”) + κένταυρος (kéntauros, “centaur”)).

uder

ὀνοκένταυρος

A centaur with the body of an ass, instead of a prototypical horse.


cacodemon

From Ancient Greek κακοδαίμων (kakodaímōn, “ill-starred”, from κακός (kakós, “bad”) + δαίμων (daímōn, “genius, divinity”)).

uder

The twelfth astrological House, from which only evil prognostics are alleged to proceed.


Phyllis

From the masculine Ancient Greek Φύλλις (Phúllis) or from the feminine
Φυλλίς (Phullís).

(Greek mythology) A girl who killed herself for love, and was turned into an almond tree.

(Greek mythology) Phyllis (river god) Phyllis (Φύλλις) was the god of the homonymous river in Bithynia.

(Greek mythology) The title character of the tale of ( Phyllis and Aristotle ) in medieval legend

(Greek mythology) Phyllis, mother of the Trojan Alcaeus

(Greek mythology) Phyllis, consort of Ereuthalion


fire and brimstone

Calque of Biblical Hebrew גׇּפְרִ֣ית וָאֵ֑שׁ (gofrit va’esh) and Ancient Greek πυρὸς καὶ θείου (puròs kaì theíou), appearing in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament.

calque

גׇּפְרִ֣ית וָאֵ֑שׁ

πυρὸς καὶ θείου

And the third Angel followed them, ſaying with a lowd voice, If any man worship the beaſt and his image, and receiue his marke in his forehead, or in his hand, / The ſame ſhall drinke of the wine of the wrath of God, which is powred out without mixture into the cup of his indignation, and hee ſhall be tormented with fire and brimſtone, in the preſence of the holy Angels, and in the preſence of the Lambe:

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Revelation 14:9–10:


hellfire

en-noun

hellfire (countable and uncountable, plural hellfires)

/ˈhɛlˌfaɪəɹ/

From Middle English helle fire, helever, from Old English hellefȳr, equivalent to hell + fire. Cognate with West Frisian helfjoer (“hellfire”), Dutch hellevuur (“hellfire”), German Höllenfeuer (“hellfire”).


Alcyone

Latin Alcyonē, from Ancient Greek Ἀλκυόνη (Alkuónē), from Ancient Greek ἀλκυών (alkuṓn), which is considered to be of Pre-Greek origin.

(Greek mythology) One of the Pleiades, daughters of Atlas and Pleione.

(Greek mythology) Daughter of Aeolus and wife of Ceyx.


Eridanus

From Latin Eridanus, from Ancient Greek Ἠριδανός (Ēridanós).

(Greek mythology) A mythical river of northern Europe, rich in amber.


agathodaemon

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀγαθοδαίμων (agathodaímōn).

bor

A benevolent spirit, as opposed to a cacodemon (an evil daemon).


fum

The fum is a bird said to be found in no part of the world but China. It is described as of most admirable beauty, and if at any time absent, or long unseen, it is regarded as an omen of some misfortune to the royal family.

1823, Richard Sickelmore, The history of Brighton from the earliest period to the present time:

(mythology, obsolete) A mythological Chinese bird, the fènghuáng.


mara

Maras have a white patch of fur on the rump that they flash when running, an adaptation they share with several species of deer and antelopes.

1999, Michael A. Mares, editor, Encyclopedia of Deserts, Mara, page 349:

Although only Dolichotis, the Patagonian mara, is strongly cursorial, all caviids have certain features typical of cursorial mammals[…].

2011, Terry A. Vaughan, James M. Ryan, Nicholas J. Czaplewski, Mammalogy, 5th edition, page 228:

Maras (Dolichotis patagonum) are cursorial and prefer open areas with low vegetation for breeding and more barren sites for construction of communal dens (Taber and Macdonald 1992; Baldi 2007).

2013, R. L. Honeycutt, “Chapter 3: Phylogenetics of Caviomorph Rodents and Genetic Perspectives on the Evolution of Sociality and Mating Systems in the Caviidae”, in José Roberto Moreira, Katia Maria P.M.B. Ferraz, Emilio A. Herrera, David W. Macdonald, editors, Capybara: Biology, Use and Conservation of an Exceptional Neotropical Species, page 70:

Any caviid rodent of genus Dolichotis, common in the Patagonian steppes of Argentina.


pooka

From Old Irish púca (“goblin, sprite”), perhaps from a (nearly) identical Old Irish form, ultimately from Old English pūca (“demon”). Doublet of bucca and puck.

The pooka had befriended the kindly old man.

This is certain; Moggy was by no means so great a fool as Betty in respect of hobgoblins, witches, banshees, pookas, and the world of spirits in general. She eat heartily, and slept soundly, and as yet had never seen the devil.

1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:

The Pooka is an animal of which, partly from the darkness of the night, and partly from the darkness that he carries about with him, the precise outline, especially of the head and neck, can never be distinguished.

1833 July, “Laurie on Grand Juries”, in The Westminster Review - Volume 19, page 88:

P-O-O-K-A. Pooka. From old Celtic mythology, a fairy spirit in animal form, always very large. The pooka appears here and there, now and then, to this one and that one. A benign but mischievous creature. Very fond of rumpots, crackpots, and how are you, Mr. Wilson?

A fairy that supposedly appears in animal form, often large.


naga

From an Australian Aboriginal language; cf. Wulna nākā (“dress, covering”)

Boys and many of the men wear the naga, akin to bathing trunks […]

1926 October 30, The Sydney Morning Herald:

[…] a young lubra wearing nothing but a naga of paper-bark rose and came forward shyly.

1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter II, in Capricornia, page 22:

PAUL RUNDLE: Backstage, they were just asking us, "Where are you from," and all that. And they were touching us and all that there, and I was just there with my little naga and, yeah. And plus we had no ochre, so we had to use sunscreen.

2006, Message Stick, ABC1, Friday, 30 June, 2006

2008, Derrick Tomlinson, "Too white to be regarded as Aborigines: An historical analysis of policies for the protection of Aborigines and the assimilation of Aborigines of mixed descent, and the role of Chief Protectors of Aborigines in the formulation and implementation of those policies, in Western Australia from 1898 to 1940" (Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)). University of Notre Dame Australia.
They doesn’t dress like people doing the Law this time, walking in shirt and tie, they used to have naga and really truly paint up, real tribal way, you know?


naga

Borrowed from Sanskrit नाग (nāga, “serpent, snake”). Doublet of snake.

The five-coned towers form a quincunx, and their flanks are scooped into niches in each of which has been placed a smiling buddha shaded by a nine-headed naga like a big palm fan.

1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 257:

(Indian mythology) A member of a class of semi-divine creatures, often taking the form of a very large snake and associated with water.

ᬦᬵᬕ

a semi-divine mythological creature in the form of a snake


Orphic

en-adj

Orphic (comparative more Orphic, superlative most Orphic)

more Orphic (comparative)
most Orphic (superlative)

Orphic ideology mainly concerned the mysteries of Dionysos, which many Greeks took very seriously.

2004, Stephanie L. Budin, The Ancient Greeks: New Perspectives, ABC-CLIO, page 307:

(Greek mythology) Of or pertaining to Orphism and its doctrines and rituals.


Orphic

In particular, Plato often refers to the “Orphics” and mentions the “Orphic life” (Orphikoi tines legomenoi bioi, Laws 782c). Plato clearly distinguished the Orphics and the Pythagoreans. To speak very generally, the Orphics believed that the soul had a divine beginning but fell from the gods due to an original crime.

2021, Andrea Nightingale, Philosophy and Religion in Plato's Dialogues, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 137:

(Greek mythology) A follower of Orphism.


down under

Refers to the fact that the Australian continent lies south of, colloquially thought of as 'below' or 'under', the equator.


Alcides

From Latin Alcīdes, from Ancient Greek Ἀλκείδης (Alkeídēs), from Ἀλκαῖος (Alkaîos, “Alcaeus”) + patronymic suffix -ίδης (-ídēs).

(Greek mythology, archaic) Synonym of Hercules


muke

Mandarin, perhaps 木客 (mùkè, “tree-lodger”).

2004, Richard von Glahn, The Sinister Way http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0520234081&id=Qyz5I7fi4PQC&pg=PA92&lpg=PA93&printsec=8&dq=muke&sig=JY79_rk9YR_usCiystUTxqVr9RQ
According to the fifth-century Gazette of Nankang, the muke/shanzao likewise resembled humans in form and speech, but instead of hands and feet they had birdlike talons and nested in high trees. The tree-dwelling shandu and muke both seem to have some affinity with a changeling bird known as ye, which nested in the high trees of the remote mountains of southern China.

(Chinese mythology) A kind of tree spirit.


godi

(Germanic paganism) A priest of the modern Norse religion.


Guinevere

From Middle English Gwenyver, from Middle Welsh Gwenhwyfar, from Proto-Brythonic *Gwɨnnohuɨβar. Doublet of Jennifer.

(Arthurian legend) In Arthurian legend, the wife of King Arthur.


Doris

And snowy neckd Doris, and milkewhite Galathæa.

1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 49:

(Greek mythology) The daughter of Oceanus, who married Nereus and bore fifty sea-nymphs or nereids.


Midas

Learned borrowing from Latin Midās, from Ancient Greek Μίδᾱς (Mídās), from Phrygian Μιδας (Midas).

(Greek mythology) A king who sought and was for a while granted the cherished but subtly dangerous magical power to turn anything he touched into gold.


Valhalla

From New Latin, from Old Norse Valhǫll (from valr (“dead warriors”) + hǫll (“hall”)).

der

[S]uch souls as were detruded from the body by any violent method went strait to Valhalla. (Latin original: Nostratibus sane hoc erat infallibiliter persuasum, animas, non vulgares, neque senio morbove, sec cruenta morte & vi corporibus exeuntes, recta ad Vahlallam ferri)

1791 May 1, “Moore's Inquiry into the Subject of Suicide”, in Monthly Review, London, pages 24–25:

In some poems they are envisaged as divine figures, women who serve mead to the dead warriors in Valhall, and who fulfil the will of Odin in overseeing battle and making sure that victory is awarded to the right man.

1996, Carolyne Larrington, The Poetic Edda, Folio Society, published 2016, page xvii:

(Norse mythology) The home of half of all warriors who died gloriously in battle as well as many of the Æsir.

فَالْهُول

in Norse mythology, the home of warriors slain gloriously in battle


Phobos

From Ancient Greek Φόβος (Phóbos, “Fear”).

(Greek mythology) A son of Ares (Mars). Also the Greek god of fear.


Deimos

From Ancient Greek Δεῖμος (Deîmos), from δειμός (deimós, “terror”).

(Greek mythology) A son of Ares (Latin: Mars), god of terror.


Themisto

(Greek mythology) the third and last wife of Athamas


revenant

19th century. From French revenant, the present participle of revenir (“to return”). Compare revenue.

Sometimes […] semi-identifications could be made on the basis of names. Henry VII's son Arthur was hailed as a revenant in this way.

2007, John Burrow, A History of Histories, Penguin, published 2009, page 184:

For granting even that Religion were dead; that it had died, half-centuries ago, with unutterable Dubois; or emigrated lately, to Alsace, with Necklace-Cardinal Rohan; or that it now walked as goblin revenant with Bishop Talleyrand of Autun; yet does not the Shadow of Religion, the Cant of Religion, still linger?

1837, Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, (please specify the book or page number):

Earlier you mentioned a ghost, a revenant with which we may contaminate the Emperor.

1969, Frank Herbert, Dune Messiah, published 2008, →ISBN, page 19:

And to a revenant who had lived in body after body, died death after death, evanescence could seem like a dream of peace. But the chimaera could ill afford to let soldiers go.

2011, Laini Taylor, Daughter of Smoke & Bone, →ISBN:

If reports from the time are to be believed, 17th-century Poland was awash in revenants—not vampires, exactly, but proto-zombies who harassed the living by drinking their blood or, less disagreeably, stirring up a ruckus in their homes.

2023 September 5, Franz Lidz, “Undying Dread: A 400-Year-Old Corpse, Locked to Its Grave”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

A supernatural being that returns from the dead; a zombie or ghost.


Camelot

en:Camelot (disambiguation)
en:Chrétien de Troyes
en:Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart

First attested in Old French as Camaalot in Chrétien de Troyes' Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart
* (US politics, Kennedy administration): From a reference to a contemporary musical of the same name

(Arthurian legend) A mythical location in England. The stronghold of King Arthur in the Arthurian legend.


Bau

(Mesopotamian mythology) A Mesopotamian goddess, initially a life-giving deity sometimes associated with the creation of mankind, later a goddess of healing and medicine.


Æsir

Borrowed from Old Norse æsir, nominative plural of áss, from Proto-Germanic *ansuz (“god”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂énsus, from *h₂ens- (“to engender, beget”); cf. Old English ēse, Sanskrit असुर (ásura).

The principal group of benevolent deities in the Norse pantheon, representing power and war; opponents of the Vanir.


Vanir

Borrowed from Old Norse vanir. Doublet of Wanes.

The principal deities, as a group, of the Norse pantheon that represent chaos, fertility, and cultivation; opponents of the Æsir.


Juno

From Middle English Juno, from Latin Iūnō of uncertain origin. One hypothesis is derivation from Proto-Indo-European *dyúh₃onh₂- (“she of heavenly authority”), from *dyew- (“sky, heaven”) + *-Hō (“burden, authority”), reflecting her role as goddess of rulers. Another is derivation from Proto-Indo-European *h₂yúh₃onh₂- (“the young goddess”), from *h₂eyu- (“long time, lifetime”) + *-Hō (“burden, authority”), making it cognate with Latin iuvenis (“young”). Both would have produced the unattested early Latin form *Iuvō, declined with the root Iūn- and eventually normalized to Iūnō.

(Roman mythology) The queen of the gods, the equivalent of the Greek goddess Hera.


asphodel

en-noun

asphodel (usually uncountable, plural asphodels)

From Ancient Greek ἀσφόδελος (asphódelos). Doublet of daffodil.

Her hand he seis'd, and to a shadie bank,
Thick overhead with verdant roof imbowr'd
He led her nothing loath; Flours were the Couch,
Pansies, and Violets, and Asphodel,
And Hyacinth, Earths freshest softest lap.

1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

(Greek mythology) The flower said to carpet Hades, and a favorite food of the dead.


Canola

Of Celtic origin, a misprint of Irish Cana Cludhmor.

(Celtic mythology) Mythical inventor of the harp.


Merlin

From Middle English Merlyn, from Medieval Latin Merlinus and Old French Merlin, from Proto-Brythonic *Mor-ðin (literally “sea-hill”), from Proto-Celtic *mori (“sea”) + *dūnom (“stronghold, rampart”).

der

census-designated place
census-designated place

Josephine County
Josephine County#English

A census-designated place in Josephine County, Oregon, United States.


Daphne

From Ancient Greek δάφνη (dáphnē, “laurel, bay”).

bor

Run when you will, the story shall be chang'd; / Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase; / The dove pursues the griffin

c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

(Greek mythology) A dryad pursued by Apollo, who was turned into a laurel tree by the river god Peneus.


korrigan

Borrowed from Breton korrigan, from korr (“dwarf”) + -ig (diminutive suffix) + -an (hypocoristic suffix).

A continental Celtic female fairy called a corrigan, malevolent, sometimes seductive.

1945, J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun, HarperCollins, published 2019, →ISBN, page 9:

A long-haired nocturnal and often malevolent Breton fairy princess.


redcap

From red + cap.
In sense of "porter", 1890s US; compare contemporary Japanese 赤帽 (akabou), Chinese 小紅帽 /小红帽 (Xiǎo Hóng Mào). On Labor Day, 1890, John Williams, an African-American railway porter, tied a red ribbon to his black uniform cap to stand out from the crowd at Grand Central Terminal. The strategy was so successful that it was soon adopted by others in the profession, leading to the synecdochic use of redcap as a term for all railway porters.

1876: Porter & Coates (pub.), Reliques of Ancient English Poetry
Lord Soulis he sat in Hermitage Castle,
And beside him Old Redcap sly; —
"Now, tell me, thou sprite, who are meikle of might,
The death that I must die?"

"What's a Brownie?" you say. Oh, it's a kind of a sort of a Bogle, but it isn't so cruel as a Redcap! What! you don't know what's a Bogle or a Redcap!

1890, Joseph Jacobs, English Fairy Tales:

[…] the goblin had aroused the mercenary's ire. This seemed to bring out a formidable and hitherto unrecognized talent in the taciturn young man.
"Why cam' ye by my door?" The redcap brandished his pikestaff menacingly.
Redcap - A malevolent goblin easily distinguishable by their namesake red cap, fiery red eyes, claws and iron boots. They often appear as little old men, but can run very fast despite the boots. They reside in castles and watchtowers along the English-Scottish border, but will move their residence to avoid detection. They have sharp eagle’s talons which they use for weapons, but can easily be repelled simply by reading holy verse. http://www.vf11.com/legendsofvalhal/legendsofvalhal-post-814.html

2002, Cecilia Dart-Thornton, The Ill-Made Mute: The Bitterbynde:

After boggarts, they studied Red Caps, nasty little goblinlike creatures that lurked where there had been bloodshed […]

1999 July 8, J. K. Rowling [pseudonym; Joanne Rowling], Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter; 3), London: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:

(British, folklore) A type of evil goblin or imp.


dryad

From Old French driade (“wood nymph”), from Latin Dryas, Dryadis, from Ancient Greek Δρυάς (Druás, “dryad”), from δρῦς (drûs, “oak”), from Proto-Indo-European *derew(o)- (“tree, wood”); cf. Proto-Indo-European *dóru (“tree”).

der

Coordinate term: Meliai

There it had stood for years, close beside a mighty oak, under which sat often the kindly old priest, who told stories to the listening children. The young chestnut tree listened with them: the Dryad inside it, who was still a child, could remember the time when the tree was so small that it only reached a little higher than the ferns and long blades of grass.

1914, Hans Christian Andersen, “The Dryad”, in William Alexander Craigie, transl., Fairy tales and other stories:


Midas touch

From the Greek legend of King Midas, related in chapter XI of Ovid’s Metamorphoses (8 C.E.), whom Dionysus (the god of, among other things, wine and winemaking) gave the power to turn things to gold by touching them.

Midaan kosketus

ability to gain financial reward or success from one’s actions easily and consistently

(Greek mythology, literally) The ability to turn everything one touches into gold.


selkie

(Celtic mythology) A seal which can magically transform into a human by shedding its skin.


Penelope

From Ancient Greek Πηνελόπη (Pēnelópē), possibly from πηνέλοψ (pēnélops, “duck”).

You would be another Penelope; yet, they say, all the yarn she spun in Ulysses' absence did but fill Ithaca with moths.

c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

(Greek mythology) The faithful wife of Odysseus.


mandrake

en-noun

mandrake (countable and uncountable, plural mandrakes)

From Middle English mandrake, mandroke, an alteration of mandragora with the ending -dragora reinterpreted as related to dragon and replaced with native drake, from Old English mandragora, from Medieval Latin mandragorās.

(mythology) A mandragora, a kind of tiny demon immune to fire.

Any plant of the genus Mandragora, certain of which are said to have medicinal or aphrodisiac properties; the root of these plants often resembles the shape of a small person, hence occasioning various mythic, magical, or occult uses.


Proteus

Derived from Ancient Greek Πρωτεύς (Prōteús).

der+

(Greek mythology) A sea god who could change his shape at will.


hungry ghost

(Buddhism, Chinese folk religion) A type of supernatural being, condemned to desire more than it can consume; often depicted with large belly and tiny mouth.

ပြိတ္တာ

in Buddhism, a type of supernatural being


draugr

(Norse mythology) An undead creature from Norse mythology, an animated corpse that inhabits its grave, often guarding buried treasure.


geas

Borrowed, like English geis, from Irish geis (“injunction; taboo, prohibition, spell”). The pronunciation resembles Irish geis, though the spelling matches its synonymous but heterophonous alternative form geas.

bor

It can send us where it will with a task laid upon us—a geas, if you like.

Galaad stood up again and turned to Mrs. Whitaker. 'Gracious lady, keeper of the Holy of Holies, let me now depart this place with the Blessed Chalice, that my journeyings may be ended and my geas fulfilled.'

1992, Neil Gaiman, "Chivalry", republished in 1998, Smoke and Mirrors

The geas is the last effective enchantment we shall consider. A geas is a restriction or compulsion laid upon a person by a druid or a bard. To break a geas is to forfeit one's share of luck and possibly one's life.[…]Geasa are not curses, but recognitions of individual needs given to protect and help an individual succeed at life.

2003, Arthur Rowan, The Lore of the Bard: A Guide to the Celtic and Druid Mysteries, Llewellyn Worldwide, page 126:

A geas is a powerful binding spell that binds its subject to a particular task or restriction. Frequently in Irish legends, the playing out of a geas laid upon a hero reminds one of the playing out of fate in the Greek tragedies.

2012, Alferian Gwydion MacLir, Wandlore: The Art of Crafting the Ultimate Magical Tool, Llewellyn Worldwide, →ISBN, page 37:

The Sorcerer Royal's servants had formerly been bound by a geas against disclosure of any detail of his household affairs, breach of which was visited by the most terrible revenge.

2016, Zen Cho, Sorcerer to the Crown, Penguin, →ISBN, page 181:

I recognized the self-geas against telling a falsehood in the particular conversation. Our courts still haven't adopted it—Fifth Amendment—but I'd seen it used in trials abroad. The demon recognized it, too.

2018, Poul Anderson, Operation Chaos and Operation Luna, Open Road Media, →ISBN:

“No one knows why?” “No one will talk about it. The older ones give each other looks if the subject comes up—which it almost never does. I heard a rumor there was a geas against speaking of what happened.” My eyebrows shot up.

2019, Jennifer Blackstream, The Blood Trails Series, Books 1-3: Deadline, Monster, and Taken, Skeleton Key Publishing

If you have a geas against eating a particular food or foods, it is unlikely you will ever have to break it. You may have to skip some tasty looking dishes, and in certain circumstances may end up with a rather meager meal.

2019, John Beckett, Paganism In Depth: A Polytheist Approach, Llewellyn Worldwide, →ISBN:

Most likely Concordance's geas against artificial modification was left over from some earlier age when the tech was unreliable, dangerous. Or maybe they feared those with amped-up transhuman abilities.

2020, Simon Kewin, The Triple Stars Trilogy: the complete box set, Stormcrow Books:

(originally in ancient Irish religion and mythology) A (generally magical) vow, obligation or injunction placed upon someone to do or not do something, which typically brings harm if violated and blessings if obeyed.


Meru

2003, J. Dina Bagdel, John C. Huntington Buddhist Cosmology: Environment of Meditative Transformation: Mount Meru, John C. Huntington, Dina Bangdel, Robert A. F. Thurman, The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art, page 66,
Buddhist realizations and transformations take place in a sacred meditational space known as Mount Meru, or Sumeru. In Western-language literature, the Mount Meru system is often construed as the "Buddhist universe," but this description is misleading as it implies a singular phenomenon. The Mount Meru system is indeed an expression of Buddhist cosmology, but it describes structure of the cosmos.

2013, Eric Huntington, Portrait of a Landscape: Depictions of the Meru Cosmos in Buddhist Art & Culture, Dissertation, University of Chicago.

(mythology, religion, usually with "Mount") The abode of the gods at the center of the universe in Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist traditions.

Mount Meru

mountain abode of gods in Buddhist, Hindu and Jainistic traditions


Inari

(Japanese mythology, Shinto) The god of harvests, fertility, rice, agriculture, foxes, industry, and worldly success.


Norn

(Norse mythology) Any of the three goddesses of fate or destiny.

Norno

any of the three goddesses of fate or destiny


Chinese dragon

(mythology) A legendary creature, usually depicted as long and snake-like, with many claws, common in several East Asian cultures.

চীনা আজদাহা

legendary creature common in several East Asian cultures

(mythology) A large snake-like monster with the eyes of a hare, the horns of a stag, and the claws of a tiger; known for its benevolent behavior in ancient Oriental mythology.


shapeshifter

/ˈʃeɪpʃɪftə/

The shapeshifter Lisa Bowalk, unable to shed the guise of a black panther, had gone onto the plain as a prisoner but was not now to be found among the dead above or the Captured down below.

Like the teller of shapeshifter stories—who conjures a shifting world of perceptions and expectations for his or her audience that is strikingly similar to the worlds created by the shapeshifter for its victims—the cultural practice of imagination...is an inherently shifty enterprise....

2003, Michael Bathgate, The Fox's Craft in Japanese Religion and Folklore: Shapeshifters, Transformations and Duplicities:

There have also been verified reports of fire-starters and ice-makers and a shapeshifter so powerful she was able to frame another Smallville citizen for a bank robbery!

Granted, Grace is talking about actual transformation, but she's a shapeshifter. For her, growing a couple inches taller is like an alternative to wearing high heels.

2015 January 30, Dan Shive, “Comic for Friday, Jan 30, 2015”, in El Goonish Shive - EGS:NP, archived from the original on 2022-08-13:

“The Jem'Hadar? You fought the Dominion? Ah. The shapeshifters sent many warriors to Sto-vo-kor. I wish I could have seen it.” “No, you do not. There was no honor, just massacres.” “But in the end you were victorious.” “Starfleet is supposed to be about puzzling together the mysteries of life, not fighting wars. I don't want to be a general. I don't, I don't want to send my friends off to die. I just want to be an ensign. If it was good enough for Sito, then it's good enough for me.”

2023 October 26, Mike McMahan, “The Inner Fight” (16:32 from the start), in Star Trek: Lower Decks, season 4, episode 9, spoken by Ma'ah (Jon Curry):

“Oh, no! That house belongs to shapeshifters. [spits]” “Fuck.” “You're kidding me, right?” “Shapeshifters are... extremely freaky.” “They are awful, abhorrent creatures that use the most ancient of sorcery to transform into whatever murderous, all-powerful shape their wicked hearts desire. And now, they have infiltrated out street.” “I have had horrible experiences with shapeshifters in the past. I was once in a relationship with a woman for four years who then transformed into a possum. I stayed with her for six more months, but then I just had to end it.”

2024 November 11, Jake Bender & Zach Dunn, “Laszlo's Father” (1:34 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 6, episode 6, spoken by Nadja of Antipaxos (Natasia Demetriou):

(fantasy, mythology, science fiction) A person or creature capable of changing their appearance or form at will.

canviaformes

creature capable of changing its appearance


Heathenry

The old Germanic (Norse, Anglo-Saxon, etc.) religion(s).


gigantomachy

en-noun

gigantomachy (countable and uncountable, plural gigantomachies)

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek Γιγαντομαχία (Gigantomakhía), from Γίγας (Gígas, “giant”) + μάχη (mákhē, “battle”) + -ια (-ia). Compare Titanomachy, Typhonomachy, centauromachy.

lbor

Γιγαντομαχία

Giants (Greek mythology)#The Gigantomachy

Here we will examine Amazonomachies, Gigantomachies, and Centauromachies; the Trojan War will be discussed in Chapter 7.

1995, Susan B. Matheson, Polygnotos and Vase Painting in Classical Athens, University of Wisconsin Press, page 234:

You often see the Gigantomachy in the sculptural decoration of Archaic temples: the statement of the authority of the gods, made by the temple itself, is reinforced by the myth told upon it.

2006, Ken Dowden, Zeus, Taylor & Francis (Routledge), page 38:

First, beginning in the 5th cent. BC, the line between religious and commemorative-political art became blurred as traditional subjects were blurred to convey political meanings (e.g. the Amazonomachy, the Gigantomachy; see AMAZONS, GIANTS).

2014, J. J. Pollitt, “Art, ancient attitudes to”, in Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth, Esther Eidinow, editors, The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, page 83:

(Greek mythology) The battle of the Giants (offspring of Gaia, according to Hesiod conceived from the spilt blood of Uranus) against the Olympian gods.

gigantomakhia

uprising of the Giants against the Olympian gods


Fates

"Oh, no!" said he, with a most imperturbable air, "I always make allowance for feminine weakness; I do not expect your mind to follow mine!"
"Now, the Fates forbid that it should!" thought Henrietta.

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Influence of an Invitation”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 17:

1944, Ralph Blane, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, Meet Me in St. Louis, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Through the years we all will be together / If the Fates allow

(Greek mythology) Atropos, Clotho, and Lachesis; supernatural beings who controlled the destiny of men and of the gods.


Ariadne

en-proper noun

Ariadne (countable and uncountable, plural Ariadnes)

(Greek mythology) The daughter of King Minos of Crete and his queen, Pasiphae.


daimon

A modern romanization of Ancient Greek δαίμων (daímōn, “the one who divides, dispenser, tutelary deity”), intended to distinguish its ancient Greek sense from later conceptions of demons. Compare Ancient Greek Λᾰκεδαίμων (Lăkedaímōn, “Laconian dispenser”).

cog

Phang Nga Bay
daemon (classical mythology)
spirit house

All at once, my daimōn—that other Me over whom I button my waistcoat when I button it over my own person—put it into my head to look up the story of Madame Saqui.

1890 January, Oliver Wendell Holmes [Sr.], “Over the Teacups”, in The Atlantic Monthly: A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics, volume LXV, number CCCLXXXVII, Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company; The Riverside Press, Cambridge, →OCLC, page 121:

The object which first appears is adopted as the personal mystery, guardian spirit, or tutelary daimon of the entranced, and is never mentioned by him without first making a sacrifice.

1891, W[alter] J[ames] Hoffman, The Mide’wiwin or “Grand Medicine Society” of the Ojibwa, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 163:

Marcus Aurelius is persuaded that God gives every man a special daimon as his guide – a belief which reappears in the Christian guardian angel.

1945, Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy: And its Connection with Political and Social Circumstances from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →OCLC, book I, chapter 27:

He will release his pent-up rage and fear no evil, for his genius is with him, and his daimon bids him violate all the taboos of the literary marketplace.

1960, Charles I. Glicksberg, “Norman Mailer: The Angry Young Novelist in America”, in Wisconsin Studies in Contemporary Literature, volume 1, number 1, Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, →OCLC:

(Greek mythology) A tutelary deity or spirit that watches over a person or place.


Arachne

From Latin Arachnē, from Ancient Greek ἀράχνη (arákhnē, “spider”).

der

(Greek mythology) A woman famous for her skill at weaving. She was changed into a spider by the goddess Athena.

Arachné

(Greek mythology) woman famous for her skill at weaving


Fountain of Youth

(mythology) A legendary spring of water with the magical property of restoring youth and health to those who bathe or drink from it.

nuoruuden lähde

legendary spring of water that restores youth


Ys

(mythology) A mythical sunken city in Brittany.


Rhode

(Greek mythology) In Greek mythology, the oldest Oceanid, a daughter of Tethys and Oceanus


strix

From Latin strix, from Ancient Greek στρίξ (stríx, “screecher”).

What was distinctive about the strix was that […] it resembled an owl, or (to a lesser extent) a bat, being a winged, clawed creature, which flew by night and had a hideous screeching cry.

2017, Ronald Hutton, The Witch, Yale University Press, published 2018, page 69:

(mythology) A bird-like demon feeding on human flesh and blood.


Ammon

From Latin Ammōn, from Ancient Greek Ἄμμων (Ámmōn), itself from Egyptian i-mn:n-A40 (jmn).

<i class="Latn mention" lang="egy">jmn</i>

Here, over five hundred years before, had come the founder of Alexandria, Alexander the Great, to visit the oracle of Ammon, the god figured to be like a man having the head and horns of a ram.

1898, Mary E. Bamford, Out of the Triangle:

(Egyptian mythology) Alternative form of Amun


Dysnomia

From Ancient Greek Δυσνομία (Dusnomía, literally “lawlessness”), from δύσνομος (dúsnomos, “lawless”).

bor

(Greek mythology) The daemon (minor deity) of lawlessness, listed by Hesiod among the daughters of Eris.


ambrosial

en-adj

ambrosial (comparative more ambrosial, superlative most ambrosial)

more ambrosial (comparative)
most ambrosial (superlative)

/æmˈbɹoʊʒəl/

Partly from ambrosia and partly from Latin ambrosius, + -al.

And whilst he slept she [Venus] over him would spred / Her mantle, colour’d like the starry skyes, / And her soft arme lay underneath his hed, / And with ambrosiall kisses bathe his eyes [...]

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

(Greek mythology) Pertaining to or worthy of the gods.


nepenthes

Borrowed from Latin nēpenthes (“a drug bringing relief from grief”), from Ancient Greek νηπενθές (nēpenthés), neuter of νηπενθής (nēpenthḗs, “sorrow-banishing”), from νη- (nē-, “not”) + πένθος (pénthos, “grief”) (from πάσχειν (páskhein), present active infinitive of πάσχω (páskhō, “to be ill or injured in a certain way; to suffer”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷendʰ- (“to endure, to suffer”)). Compare French népenthès (“a plant from which a drug supposedly bringing relief from grief may be obtained; such a drug”).

cog

Helen of Troy
Naples National Archaeological Museum
Villa of the Papyri

nepenthaceous

belonging to the Nepenthaceae family of plants

And how marvellous were the shapes of the nepenthes, how beautiful the colour, how delicate in form!

1863, Spenser [Buckingham] St. John, “Introduction”, in Life in the Forests of the Far East; or Travels in Northern Borneo. … With Numerous Illustrations. In Two Volumes, 2nd rev. edition, volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., page 11:

NEPENTHA′CEÆ, Nepenths, a natural order of Exogenous Plants inhabiting the damper and warmer parts of Asia, and having, in the place of leaves, large hollow bodies furnished with a lid, and containing water secreted from a peculiar glandular apparatus with which they are lined. […] [T]he adherent ovary of Birthworts, their highly developed calyx, axile placentation, and hermaphrodite flowers, are serious difficulties in the way of a close contact between them and Nepenths, unless the peculiar structure of the wood, the consideration of which I for the present abandon, should lead to the final establishment of the class of Homogens, in which case Nepenths and Birthworts will be brought into contact or at least a near neighbourhood.

1867, “NEPENTHA′CEÆ”, in Charles Knight, editor, Natural History or Second Division of “The English Cyclopædia”, volume III, London: Bradbury, Evans, & Co., 11, Bouverie St., Fleet St., E.C.; New York, N.Y.: Scribner, Welford, & Co., 654, Broadway, →OCLC, column 1080:

When studying the nepenthes, I was puzzled to see the use of the channel which exists on the back of the pitchers, and which is formed by two ridges furnished with spikes in most of the nepenthes, but not in all, which run up to the margin of the lip of the pitcher.

1875 July 29, Lawson Tait, “Insectivorous Plants”, in Nature: A Weekly Illustrated Journal of Science, volume XII, number 300, London, New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., page 252, column 2:

Different techniques in plant tissue culture may offer certain advantages over traditional methods of propagation which include […] Production of plants from seeds that have very low chances of germinating and growing, i.e.: orchids and nepenthes.

2013, Anwar Shahzad, Taiba Saeed, “In Vitro Conservation Protocols for Some Rare Medicinal Plant Species”, in Mohd. Shahid, Anwar Shahzad, Abida Malik, Aastha Sahai, editors, Recent Trends in Biotechnology and Therapeutic Applications of Medicinal Plants, Dordrecht: Springer, →DOI, →ISBN, page 265:

A Southeast Asian carnivorous plant of the genus Nepenthes; a monkey cup or tropical pitcher plant.


spiritual world

en-noun

spiritual world (plural spiritual worlds)

(religion, mythology) A metaphysical plane of existence parallel to the material world and occupied by spirits and other unearthly forces.

mundo espiritual

a metaphysical plane occupied by spirits and other unearthly forces


jinn

jinn (plural jinns or jinn or jawan or jinnan or jinnah)

jinns (plural)
jinn (plural)
jawan (plural)
jinnan (plural)
jinnah (plural)

From Arabic جِنّ (jinn, collective noun) (singular جِنِّيّ (jinniyy)).

(Arabic culture) A human-like spiritual or immaterial being, as opposed to al-ins (people), often invisible but able to manifest in form and also inhabit people or animals; origin of the genie of Western literature, film etc.


harrowing of hell

harrowing of hell (plural harrowings of hell)

Not the direct vision of the harrowings of hell as reported, for example, by many Christian visionaries, but accounts given by the departed souls themselves are more frequent and typical features of Jewish moralist writing.

1977, Raphael Werblowsky, Joseph Karo: lawyer and mystic, 2nd edition, page 44:

Of the four harrowings of hell that are cornerstones of Western literature […], we can eliminate the oldest.

2003, Robert J. Andreach, Drawing upon the Past: Classical Theatre in the Contemporary American Theatre, page 36:

[…] the Hero Twins go on to defeat Xibalba and its ghastly denizens, a true Harrowing of Hell.

2007, Sophie & Michael Coe, The True History of Chocolate, page 39:

(mythology, theology) A raid into the underworld by a heroic figure.


netherworld

From nether- (“beneath, lower”) + world.

The missionary was motivated by a sincere desire to rescue souls from eternal torment in the netherworld.

Specifically, a location of punishment in the afterlife; a hell.


Sidhe

From an ellipsis of Irish aos sídhe (people of the fairy mound).

1906, Augusta, Lady Gregory, A Book of Saints and Wonders, Columcille: The Friend of the Angels of God,
Even Nera from the Sidhe could not do it; he is not made much of now; our learned one is not the light of our life now he is hidden away from us.

Mythical hills of Irish and Scottish folklore, home of the sidhe race; fairyland, faerie.


sidhe

A supernatural creature of Irish and Scottish folklore, living in Sidhe; a fairy.


houri

From French houri, from Persian حوری (hurî), from Arabic حُورِيّ (ḥūriyy) and Arabic حُورِيَّة (ḥūriyya), adjective and feminine singulative of حُور (ḥūr) from Classical Arabic حُورٌ عِينٌ (ḥūrun ʕīnun, “fair maidens, black-eyed ones”). See أَحْوَر m (ʔaḥwar), حَوْرَاء f (ḥawrāʔ) for the base adjective.

We cannot go into the technical details of his methodology but it allows Luxenberg, to the probable horror of all Muslim males dreaming of sexual bliss in the Muslim hereafter, to conjure away the wide-eyed houris promised to the faithful in suras XLIV.54; LII.20, LV.72, and LVI.22. Luxenberg's new analysis, leaning on the Hymns of Ephrem the Syrian, yields "white raisins" of "crystal clarity" rather than doe-eyed, and ever willing virgins - the houris.

2002 January 12, Ibn Warraq, “Virgins? What virgins?”, in The Guardian:

The repetition of material about the houri suggests that the popularization of that figure occurred as early as the ninth century and continued well into the twelfth century. By then, the houri had become a kind of metonymy for the Garden, as well as an accepted object. A new role of the houri as the superlative being of the Garden emerged through the use of traditions, and most of all the structure of the text. Al-Qadi's text provides an excellent example of the importance of the houri.

2009, Nerina Rustomji, The Garden and the Fire: Heaven and Hell in Islamic Culture, Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 114:

What if in paradise there are no houris waiting? / What if but all you get are grapes, succulent grapes? / What if it's all just a mistake in the translation?

2013, “What If…?”, in Still Smiling, performed by Teho Teardo and Blixa Bargeld:

Although the beauty of houris is described in terms of cosmic pureness and sumptuary materials, the qiyan are understood through attributes and affects. Yet, the houris have one constitutive attribute. They are fair and they have big eyes. Is the houri based on any particular model of beauty or a kind of female slave? Ibn Butlan, in his Risalafi shira'al-raqiq wa-taqlib al-abid, offers a rubric for female slaves; however, the descriptions of houris do not align with other descriptions of slaves.

2017, Matthew S. Gordon, Kathryn A. Hain, Concubines and Courtesans: Women and Slavery in Islamic History, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 274:

(Islam) A beautiful virgin girl supposed to dwell in Paradise for the enjoyment of the faithful.

حَوْرَاء

(Islam) a nymph in the form of a beautiful virgin

I would not exchange this one little English girl for the Grand Turk’s whole seraglio; gazelle-eyes, houri forms and all!

1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter IX, in Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 242:

“The town is full of temptations, sir,” continued Pen. The old gentleman thought of that houri, Mrs. O’Leary.

1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 74, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:

(by extension) Any voluptuous, beautiful woman.


money tree

(Chinese mythology) A kind of holy tree believed to bring money and good fortune.


mythologize

en-verb

mythologize (third-person singular simple present mythologizes, present participle mythologizing, simple past and past participle mythologized)

mythologizes (present singular third-person)
mythologizing (participle present)
mythologized (participle past)
mythologized (past)

/mɪˈθɒlədʒʌɪz/

From mythology + -ize, after Middle French mythologiser.

(intransitive) To construct a myth or mythology.


hobgoblin

From hob (“elf”, from Hob, a variant of Rob, short for Robin Goodfellow, an elf in German folklore) + goblin.

af

a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds

A M. Berbiguier lately published an elaborate work, in three huge volumes, in which he demonstrated the existence of hobgoblins, described the proper manner of capturing and securing them, and took credit to himself for his zeal for the benefit of mankind, in allowing no day to pass without imprisoning, with his own hands, at least thirty hobgoblins. A writer of biographical notices of contemporary authors, who believed neither in M. Berbiguier's manner of catching hobgoblins nor in the existence of hobgoblins did not scruple to say that M. Berbiguier was mad, and upon this M. Berbiguier brought his action for libel; but unluckily, together with his action, he brought himself into Court, and established in a very few words the truth of the libel.

1837, Albany Fonblanque, England Under Seven Administrations, volume 1, page 98:

The eyes blinked out and he heard a faint grunt, followed by the sounds of the Hobgoblin scrambling further back into the tunnel, away from the faint sunlight and the Ur'hunglav's domain.

2005, Scott Harper, Winter's Rite, page 142:

The monster goes unrecognized because he looks like a harmless, pudgy nobody rather than like a hobgoblin. But he reveals his hobgoblin nature through music.

2007, “Introduction: Phonoplay: Recasting Film Music”, in Daniel Goldmark, Lawrence Kramer, Richard D. Leppert, editors, Beyond the Soundtrack: Representing Music in Cinema, page 1:

A small, ugly goblin that makes trouble for humans.


sandman

E.T.A. Hoffmann
The Sandman (short story)
sandman

From sand + -man. The mythological sense may be from German Sandmann, Sandmännchen, as it is apparently first attested in English in the context of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s novella The Sandman (1816). The German is attested in the relevant sense since at least the mid-18th century.

This then was the Sandman; but what was his occupation, and what was his purpose ? The nursery-maid being applied to, gave a nursery-maid's explanation, that the Sandman was a bad man, who flung sand in the eyes of little children who did not go to bed.

1827, “On the Supernatural in Composition; and particularly on the Works of Ernest Theodore William Hoffman”, in Museum of Foreign Literature and Science, volume 11, page 458:

(folklore) A figure that brings sleep and dreams by sprinkling magical sand into people's eyes.

Used as a symbol of the passage of time toward death.

1811, Arabian Nights' Entertainments, Consisting of One Thousand and One Stories, Told by the Sultaness of the Indies, Henry Mozley (publ.), page 114.
While I was out, a sandman, who sells scouring sand, which women use to clean the baths with, passed through our street, and called, Any sand ho !


giantess

From Middle English geauntesse, geaunesse, from Old French; equivalent to giant + -ess.

He spide far off a mighty Giauntesse / Fast flying, on a Courser dapled gray […]

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

In the corner lay against the wall a stringed instrument not unlike a dulcimer, which, as people believe, the Giantesses used to play on.

1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 218:

The giantess picked him up and gave him such a squeeze that he felt he was going to choke.

1926, Enid Blyton, The Book of Brownies:

The giantesses lift arms like the trunks of sycamores, each finger tipped with an amaranthine talon.

1981, Gene Wolfe, chapter VIII, in The Claw of the Conciliator (The Book of the New Sun; 2), New York: Timescape, →ISBN, page 72:


Last Judgment

Kill not the moth nor butterfly, / For the last judgement draweth nigh.

c. 1801–3, William Blake, “Auguries of Innocence”, in The Pickering Manuscript:

Do not wait for the Last Judgment. It takes place every day.

1956, Albert Camus, La Chute [The Fall]:


the other place

According to Christianity, when someone dies, they go to either Heaven or the other place.


Polyphemus

From Latin Polyphēmus, from Ancient Greek Πολύφημος (Polúphēmos, from πολύ (polú) + φήμη (phḗmē) + -ος (-os), literally “many-voiced”, “much spoken of”, or “abounding in songs and legends”).

der

(Greek mythology) A cyclops in Homer's Odyssey.


Agamemnon

/ˌæɡəˈmɛmnɒn/

/ˌæɡəˈmɛmnən/

From Ancient Greek Ἀγαμέμνων (Agamémnōn, “very resolute”).

bor

(Greek mythology) One of the most distinguished heroes of Greek mythology. He is the son of King Atreus of Mycenae and Queen Aerope and the brother of Menelaus. He is famous for rallying the Greeks in the Trojan War, yet infamous for the sacrifice of his daughter Iphigenia at the commencement of the war.


Alsvid

In Norse mythology, one of the two horses drawing the chariot bearing the sun.


Sigurd

From Old Norse Sigurðr, from sigr (“victory”) + varðr, vǫrðr (“guard”). This is the name of the legendary Eddaic character corresponding to Siegfried, the hero of the Nibelungenlied, but the names are not exact cognates. Sigfrid is a saint's name in Scandinavia.

(Norse mythology) The principal hero of the Volsungasaga and of the Elder Edda's Niflung cycle, who slew a dragon.


Siegfried

(Germanic mythology) Hero of the Nibelungenlied who defeated the Icelandic queen Brunhild.


Pallas

From Ancient Greek Παλλάς (Pallás) (f.) or Πάλλας (Pállas) (m.), from πάλλω (pállō, “to poise, sway, or swing”), but explained here by the ancients as more specifically meaning to brandish something. In Athena's conventional iconography, she was often depicted with a spear or a shield. Thus the epithet was explained as referring to her brandishing these things.

(Greek mythology) Any of several people in Greek mythology:

An epithet for Athena, always used together with the name, as Pallas Athena, rather than alone.

One of the Titans, according to Hesiod the son of the Titans Crius and Eurybia.

A female given name from Ancient Greek of mythological origin; rare in English.


Pandora's box

(Greek mythology) A box given to Pandora by Zeus, whose instructions stated that it must not be opened, and were then ignored, leading to disastrous consequences.


Lakshmi

From Sanskrit लक्ष्मी (lakṣmī, “mark, sign”).

The Hindu goddess of wealth, the consort of Vishnu and married to Rama (in her incarnation as Sita) and Krishna (as Radha and Rukmini).


Dhanalaxmi

On the following day, the woman-folk worship Goddess Dhanalaxmi for prosperity.

1980, T. Vedantam, J. K. Barthakur, Census of India, 1971: Series 2: Andhra Pradesh, India Office of the Registrar General, page 138:

2004, http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/nov112004/deep2.asp
Goddess Dhanalaxmi is propitiated on the Amavasya night in Hindu homes. Goddess Laxmi is said to have emerged from the ocean during the 'samudra manthan'. Her birth is celebrated with pujas, illuminations and crackers and festivity in every Hindu home.

(Hinduism) A Hindu goddess, one of the eight forms of Laxmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth, fortune and prosperity.


Percival

From Old French Perceval, name of a knight in a twelfth century Arthurian romance by the French poet Chrétien de Troyes. Shaped like Old French percier (“pierce”) + val (“valley”), but probably representing some Gaulish or Old Welsh name, possibly related to Welsh Peredur, from ber (“spear, lance”) (from Middle Welsh ber, from Proto-Brythonic *ber, from Proto-Celtic *beru (“spit”)) + dur (“hard metal, steel”) (see Latin durus).
Cognate with German Parzival and Parsifal.

An unincorporated community and census-designated place in Fremont County, Iowa, United States.


satori

en-noun

satori (usually uncountable, plural satoris)

Borrowed from Japanese 悟り (satori, “understanding; (Buddhism) enlightenment, satori”), from 悟る (satoru, “to perceive; to comprehend, understand; to come to enlightenment”), from Middle Chinese 悟 (nguH, “to become aware, apprehend, realize; to awaken”) (modern Mandarin 悟 (wù)), used to translate Pali bodhi (“supreme knowledge”) or its etymon Sanskrit बोधि (bodhi, “perfect knowledge or wisdom by which a person becomes a buddha or jina; enlightened or illuminated intellect of a Buddha or jina”).
Sense 3 (“mutant gene of Drosophila that causes homosexual behaviour in males”) was coined by the Japanese scientist Daisuke Yamamoto in a 1991 paper, based on the Japanese term.

coinage

We have isolated a new Drosophila mutant, satori (sat), the males of which do not court or copulate with female flies. […] We have screened about 2000 fly lines with single P-element insertions for altered sexual behavior, yielding a mutant named satori (sat; nirvana in Japanese), the males of which do not court or copulate with females. Instead, sat males exhibit homosexual courtship.

1996 September, Hiroki Ito, Daisuke Yamamoto [et al.], “Sexual Orientation in Drosophila is Altered by the Satori Mutation in the Sex-determination Gene Fruitless that Encodes a Zinc Finger Protein with a BTB Domain”, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, volume 93, number 18, Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences, →DOI, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, →PMID, archived from the original on 2024-09-30, page 9687, column 1:

[T]he primary site of action of the fru gene should be in the neural cells. satori,^([sic]) one of the P-insertion alleles of fru which we isolated, carried the lacZ gene of E. coli as a reporter, and β-galactosidase expression was found in a subset of brain cells including those in the antennal lobe in the satori mutant.

1996 October, Daisuke Yamamoto, Hiroki Ito, Kazuko Fujitani, “Genetic Dissection of Sexual Orientation: Behavioral, Cellular, and Molecular Approaches in Drosophila melanogaster”, in Neuroscience Research: The Official Journal of the Japan Neuroscience Society, volume 26, number 2, Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, abstract, page 95:

In Drosophila the satori (sat) mutants of males do not court or copulate with females but have sexual interest in males.

1998, George P. Rédei, “HOMOSEXUAL”, in Genetics Manual: Current Theory, Concepts, Terms, Singapore; River Edge, N.J.: World Scientific, published 1999, →ISBN, page 484:

(countable, biochemistry) A mutant gene of Drosophila, a genus of fruit flies, that causes homosexual behaviour in males (specifically, courtship directed to other males).


satori

Borrowed from Japanese 覚 (satori), from Middle Chinese 覺 (kaewk, “to become aware, awaken to, dawn on”) (modern Mandarin 覺 /觉 (jué); referring to the creature’s mind-reading ability).

der

The Satori appears in [Toriyama] Sekien's Konjyaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki as a hairy, ape-like, mountain-dwelling creature that can read people's minds[…].

2010, Zilia Papp, “Art History Meets Gegegeno Kitaro”, in Anime and Its Roots in Early Japanese Monster Art, Folkstone, Kent: Global Oriental, →ISBN, page 112:

Satori is a ghost that can read people's thoughts and haunts the mountains. The hairy Satori appears in an Edo-period book titled Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki. According to the book, Satori can read people's minds, but will not harm them. Even if a frightened person plans to kill him or her, Satori reads his or her mind and simply runs away before he or she can do any harm.

2023, Masami Kinoshita, “Super Scary Yokai”, in The Japanese Yokai Handbook: A Guide to the Spookiest Ghosts, Demons, Monsters and Evil Creatures from Japanese Folklore, Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing, →ISBN, page 29:

This is most likely a type of Yokai called a Satori. They have the ability to read people's minds. And like with Satori, the only way to get rid of them is with a sudden, unexpected attack. […] The ability to read minds is dangerous, but it doesn't give the ability to predict sudden actions.

2023, Kenji Murakami, “Yokai Countermeasures and Weaknesses”, in Zack Davisson, transl., Strange Japanese Yokai: A Guide to the Weird and Wonderful Monsters, Demons and Spirits, North Clarendon, Vt.: Tuttle Publishing, →ISBN, page 89:

(Japanese mythology) A yokai (“supernatural monster”) having the form of a mind-reading monkey-like creature said to dwell in the mountains of the historical Japanese provinces of Hida and Mino (present-day Gifu Prefecture).

覺 /觉

yokai having the form of a mind-reading monkey-like creature


-cula

Denoting things associated with, or compared to, Dracula: Count Chocula, Bunnicula etc.


ferryman

(Greek mythology, usually preceded by the) Charon.


nahualism

From nahual + -ism. The first element is from Nahuatl nahualli (“sorcerer, spirit, animal form a person may take”).

uder

(folklore, mythology) The Mesoamerican belief that certain human beings can transform into animals.


merfolk

Mythical creatures that are human from the waist up and fish from the waist down.


thunderbird

A man there was, grim his expression, just like a Thunderbird his features were frightening.

1999, Andrew George, transl., Gilgamesh, section VII:

(mythology) A mythological bird, often associated with stormy weather, especially in various indigenous North American mythologies.


Aeolic

From Latin aeolicus, from Ancient Greek αἰολικός (aiolikós) or Αἰολικός (Aiolikós, “like the Aeolians”).

(Greek mythology) Of Aeolus, the Ancient Greek god of the wind.

Of, finding its or their origin in, or borne on winds; aerial.

(geology) Owing its creation, formation, or deposition chiefly to the effects of air currents.


Pasiphae

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Πασιφάη (Pasipháē).

(Greek mythology) The daughter of Helios and the sister of Circe. She was raised as a princess at Cholchis, and then given in marriage to King Minos of Crete. With Minos, she was the mother of Ariadne, Androgeus, Glaucus, Deucalion, Phaedra, and Catreus. She was also the mother of the Minotaur.


Götterdämmerung

/ˌɡɒtəˈdæməɹʊŋ/

/ˌɡɑtɚˈdæmɚ.ʊŋ/

[ˌɡɑɾɚˈdɛə̯mɚ.ʊŋ]

Borrowed from German Götterdämmerung (“twilight of the gods”), which see.

bor+

(Norse mythology) The myth of the destruction of the gods in a final battle with the forces of evil; the apocalypse.


Theseus

From Ancient Greek Θησεύς (Thēseús). His name comes from the same root as θεσμός (thesmós), Greek for “institution”.

A legendary Ancient Greek hero most famous for defeating the minotaur in the labyrinth of Crete.


Radha

(Hinduism) Hindu goddess of love and devotion, Grand Consort of god Krishna, Avatar of Lakshmi.

A female given name from Sanskrit used in India.


shinigami

/ˌʃɪn.ɪˈɡɑːmi/

Borrowing from Japanese 死に神 (shinigami).

(Japanese mythology) A deity and/or personification of death.


couatl

Borrowed from Classical Nahuatl cōātl (“snake”); influenced by Quetzalcoatl.

So rare as to be considered almost legendary, the couatl is one of the most beautiful creatures in existence.

1993, Doug Stewart, Gary Gygax, Monstrous Manual, page 46:

Winged, feathered serpents of considerable size and power, the couatl seeks to defend its territory against all invaders. Couatls are not malicious by nature, and frequently appoint themselves the guardians of humanoids within their domain, provided said humanoids are willing to offer it the occasional tribute.

2012, Timothy Groves, The Book Of Creatures, page 44:

For this reason, a couatl probably won't use it except to save a seriously wounded ally from imminent death, and in that case, it follows up with a sanctuary spell on its next turn, then spends the remainder of combat closely defending that ally.

2019, Keith Ammann, The Monsters Know What They're Doing:

(fantasy, mythology) A feathered flying serpent with psionic abilities.


burn in hell

en-verb

burn in hell (third-person singular simple present burns in hell, present participle burning in hell, simple past and past participle burned in hell or burnt in hell)

burns in hell (present singular third-person)
burning in hell (participle present)
burned in hell (participle past)
burned in hell (past)
burnt in hell (participle past)
burnt in hell (past)

Ted could die and burn in hell as far as I was concerned.

2011, Joyce Turner, Pain Through A Child's Eyes, →ISBN, page 136:

For some people, salvation is little more than fire insurance— they don't care about this life, they just don't want to burn in hell.

2011, Max Lucado, 3:16 Participant's Guide: The Numbers of Hope, →ISBN:

I was only about eight years old but the message was loud and clear, “If you die without knowing Jesus as your savior, you will burn in hell for eternity!”

2012, Bill Petite, A Rose in the Desert, →ISBN:

(literally) To spend the afterlife suffering in hell.


Thoth

Via Latin Thōth from Ancient Greek Θώθ (Thṓth), from Egyptian ḏḥwtj (“Thoth”, literally “he who is like the ibis”). Compare Coptic Ⲑⲱⲟⲩⲧ (Thōout).

der

(Egyptian mythology) The ancient Egyptian moon god of wisdom, learning, and magic, usually depicted as an ibis or baboon.


Tantalus

From Latin Tantalus, from Ancient Greek Τάνταλος (Tántalos). Doublet of tantalus.

(Greek mythology) A Phrygian king who was condemned to remain in Tartarus, chin-deep in water, with fruit-laden branches hanging above his head; whenever he tried to drink or eat, the water and fruit receded out of reach.


vampirism

en-noun

vampirism (usually uncountable, plural vampirisms)

(mythology) The state of being a vampire.


Aesculapius

Learned borrowing from Latin Aesculāpius.

lbor

(Roman mythology) The god of medicine and healing. Greek counterpart: Asclepius.


Eos

From Ancient Greek Ἠώς (Ēṓs, “Greek goddess of the dawn”), from ἠώς (ēṓs, “dawn, daybreak; morning; day; east”). Doublet of Aurora.

der

(Greek mythology) The Greek goddess of the dawn; daughter of Hyperion and Theia, sister of Helios and Selene, wife of Astraeus (god of the dusk), and mother of the four Anemoi ("Winds"), and the five Astra Planeta ("Wandering Stars/Planets"). Her Roman counterpart is Aurora.


Anubis

From Latin Anūbis, from Ancient Greek Ἄνουβις (Ánoubis), from Egyptian jnpw, i-n:p-w-E16

(Egyptian mythology) In the mythology of ancient Egypt, the god of the dead and tombs, commonly depicted with the head of a jackal.


firefox

Calque of Finnish tulikettu or Finnish tulirepo.

A mythical creature in Finnish folklore, a fox with fiery or radiant fur, the reflection of which produces the northern lights.


kingdom come

en-noun

kingdom come (countable and uncountable, plural kingdoms come or kingdom comes)

kingdoms come (plural)
kingdom comes (plural)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-kingdom come.wav

From the phrase “Thy kingdom come” from the Lord’s Prayer which is recorded in Matthew 6:9–13 and Luke 11:2–4 in the Bible: see, for example, Matthew 6:10 in the King James Version (spelling modernized): “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, in earth, as it is in heaven.” By these sentences, Jesus seeks the establishment of the rule of God the Father over the Earth in the future.

оня свят

place that one will go to after one's death — see also afterlife

(uncountable, colloquial) The place that one will go to after one's death; the afterlife.

(figuratively) Death; also, a state of complete annihilation.

"And where are all these brothers and sisters?" demanded the stranger. / "Dead! dead as herrings—gone to kingdom come a precious long time ago.["]

1843, Alfred Crowquill [pseudonym; Alfred Henry Forrester], “The ‘Plummy’”, in Bentley’s Miscellany, volume XIII, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, part I, page 624:

(Christianity, specifically) Heaven or paradise.

(uncountable, Christianity) The rule of God over the world in the future; especially, according to those believing in millenarianism, during a period of peace beginning with the second coming of Jesus Christ and lasting a millennium.


Ægir

(Norse mythology) A giant and king of the sea, personifying the power thereof. He is the son of Fornjótr, and the brother of Logi and Kári. He has nine daughters — the billow maidens — by his wife, Rán, namely: Bára, Blóðughadda, Bylgja, Dúfa, Hefring, Himinglæva, Hrönn, Kólga, and Unnr.


groundling

From ground + -ling. Compare Old English grundling (“a groundling fish, grundel”).

cog

The poor plodding groundling, helpless and impotent, is swooped upon at will, day and night, completely wiped out at the whim of the low- flying plane, which soars off leaving complete and utter destruction behind it!

1937, Field Artillery Association (U.S.), The Field Artillery Journal - Volume 27, page 342:

He then enlisted in the air force and served as a groundling in North Africa, Sicily, and England.

2010, Erin Bried, How to Build a Fire: And Other Handy Things Your Grandfather Knew, →ISBN:

Present at the Battle of Jutland, he had been recalled for the duration of this war and, being in the area, he had come to see how his little lad was faring in the sky. I was given permission to fall out and join him, gladly setting aside my groundling's bayonet.

2012, Pat Cunningham, The Fear in the Sky: Vivid Memories of Bomber Aircrew in World War Two, →ISBN:

One who is confined to the ground, especially:

(military, slang) A soldier who fights on the ground or serves as ground crew, as opposed to a seaman, pilot, etc.


oupire

Borrowed from Polish upiór. Doublet of vampire.


labrys

From Ancient Greek λάβρυς (lábrus, “axe”), from Lydian 𐤩𐤠𐤡𐤭𐤧𐤳 (lapryš).

(mythology) A double-headed axe in Minoan mythology.


Maia

(Greek mythology) Daughter of Atlas and mother of Hermes.

(Roman mythology) The goddess of growth after whom the month May (Latin maius) was named.


Atlantean

With Atlantean shoulders fit to bear / The weight of mightiest Monarchies.

Of or like the Greek titan Atlas, who carries the heavens on his shoulders, as in Atlantean strength

1940, WHD Rouse, trans. of Nonnus, Dionysiaca
I [Elektra] shall pass from the earth to the stars’ Atlantean vault, and dwell in heaven

(figuratively) Of the celestial spheres carried by Atlas


Atlantean

Indeed, Okrand's goal in inventing Atlantean was to recreate Indo-European, and it thus borrows from several languages yet contains no recognizable words from these linguistic systems.

2006, Tim Conley, Stephen Cain, Encyclopedia of Fictional and Fantastic Languages:

constructed language
constructed language

A constructed language invented for the 2001 animated film Atlantis: The Lost Empire.


vampiress

Here, the vampiress personifies righteous indignation, a one-woman lynch mob.

1975, Angela Carter, “The Art of Horrorzines”, in Shaking a Leg, Vintage, published 2013, page 551:


Mjollnir

Borrowed from Old Norse Mjǫllnir, from Proto-Germanic *meldunjaz, from Proto-Indo-European *meldʰ-n- (“lightning”). Compare Old Norse mjuln (“fire”), Welsh mellt, Slovene mółnja, Russian мо́лния (mólnija).

(Norse mythology) The hammer of the Norse god Thor.


demoness

In Judaism, Lilith abandoned heaven and became the first demoness on Earth.