oni

ONI 鬼. Generic name for devils, the representation of which in art is quite a common feature. Onis have claws, a square head with two horns, sharp teeth, and malignant eyes surmounted by big eyebrows; occasionally they wear trousers of tiger skin.

1908, Henri L. Joly, Legend in Japanese Art: A Description of Historical Episodes, Legendary Characters, Folk-lore, Myths, Religious Symbolism, Illustrated in the Arts of Old Japan, pages 263–264:

Across the ocean, in Japan, there once lived curious creatures called Onis. Every Japanese boy and girl has heard of them, though one has not often been caught.

1918, William Elliot Griffis, Dutch Fairy Tales for Young Folks:

"That's no human being playing the instrument," he thought in amazement. "It can only be an oni or some such being."

1979, Marian Ury, Tales of Times Now Past: Sixty-Two Stories from a Medieval Japanese Collection, University of California Press, →ISBN, page 147:

The standing Shoki holds with his left hand an oni on his leg.

1992, Karl M. Schwarz, Netsuke Subjects: A Study on the Netsuke Themes with Reference to Their Interpretation and Symbolism, Böhlau Verlag Wien, →ISBN, page 46:

This is actually a boy bishie in the form of an ogre. It's called an oni in Japanese. Onis have supernatural powers that can command the forces of nature such as wind (to create hurricanes) and lightning (to create thunderbolts).

2005, Christopher Hart, Manga Mania Shoujo: How to Draw the Charming and Romantic Characters of Japanese Comics, →ISBN, page 69:

The oni are a diverse group of evil spirits who take on the form of humanoid creatures so that they can enjoy the pleasures and vices of the flesh.

2011, Mike Shel, “Ecology of the Oni”, in Jade Regent: The Brinewall Legacy, Paizo Publishing, →ISBN, page 69:


Wheel of Fortune

/ˌwiːl‿əv ˈfɔːt͡ʃuːn/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Wheel of Fortune.wav

-ɔː(ɹ)t͡ʃuːn

From wheel + of + Fortune (“the Roman goddess Fortuna”), a calque of Latin rota Fortūnae (literally “Fortuna’s wheel”), from rota (“wheel”) + Fortūnae (the genitive dative singular of Fortūna (“the Roman goddess of fate, fortune, and luck”)).

calque

I hold the Fates bound faſt in yron chaines, / And with my hand turne Fortunes wheel about, / And ſooner ſhall the Sun fall from his Spheare, / Than Tamburlaine be ſlaine or ouercome.

[c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii, signature [A8], verso:

The vvheel of fortune turns inceſſantly round, and vvho can ſay vvithin himſelf I ſhall to day be uppermoſt.

1760, Oliver Goldsmith, “Letter VII. From Lien Chi Altangi, to Fum Hoam, First President of the Ceremonial Academy at Pekin, in China.”, in The Citizen of the World; or Letters from a Chinese Philosopher, […], volume I, London: […] [F]or the author; and sold by J. Newbery and W. Bristow, […]; J. Leake and W. Frederick, […]; B. Collins, […]; and A. M. Smart and Co. […], published 1762, →OCLC, page 22:

I was young enough not to part with hope too easily;—the vague idea I had that my turn would come,—that the ever-circling wheel of Fortune would perchance lift me up some day as it now crushed me down, kept me just wearily capable of continuing existence,—though it was merely a continuance and no more.

1895, Marie Corelli, chapter I, in The Sorrows of Satan: or The Strange Experience of One Geoffrey Tempest, Millionaire […], London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 4:

As a medievalist Ignatius believed in the rota Fortunae, or wheel of fortune, a central concept in De Consolatione Philosophiae, the philosophical work which had laid foundation for medieval thought. […] Was his wheel rapidly spinning downward?

1963 (date written), John Kennedy Toole, chapter 2, in A Confederacy of Dunces, London: Penguin Books, published 1980 (1981 printing), →ISBN, section I, page 27:

(mythology, philosophy) The mythological wheel turned randomly by Fortuna, the Roman goddess of fate, fortune, and luck, to determine people's fortunes which were thus unpredictable.

wheel of fortune

gambling or lottery device consisting of a wheel which is spun horizontally


Uranus

Borrowed from Latin Ūranus, from Ancient Greek Οὐρανός (Ouranós), from οὐρανός (ouranós, “sky, heaven”).

(Greek mythology) The Greek god who personified the sky and heavens and fathered the Titans. Roman counterpart: Caelus.


Neptune

From Middle English Neptune, Neptunus, a borrowing from Latin Neptūnus, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *nébʰ-tu-s (“damp, cloudy”) (source of Ancient Greek νέφος (néphos), Sanskrit नभस् (nábhas), etc.), with the sense of "wet, moist."
Puhvel, however, connects it with Proto-Italic *nepōts from Proto-Indo-European *népōts by analogy to Portūnus, cognate with Vedic Apām Napāt and Avestan Apąm Napāt, Child (cf: neve, nephew) of the Water as part of an Indo-European 'Fire in the Water' myth.

der

Neptune
Neptune (disambiguation)#Places
Neptune (god)

(Roman mythology) The god of the ocean and of earthquakes, equivalent to Poseidon in Greek mythology.


Pluto

From Latin Plūtō, from Ancient Greek Πλούτων (Ploútōn, “god of the underworld”). Venetia Burney is often credited as having suggested the name for the celestial body.

bor

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) Greco-Roman god of the underworld.


Thor

Representing Old Norse Þórr. Cognate with Old English Þunor, Swedish Tor.

So likewise a day comes when the Runic Thor, with his Eddas, must withdraw into dimness; and many an African Mumbo-Jumbo and Indian Pawpaw be utterly abolished.

1831, Thomas Carlyle, “Symbols”, in Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, 3rd book, page 155:

(Norse mythology and paganism) A hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, and the protection of mankind.

A male given name from the Germanic languages occasionally borrowed from Scandinavia.


deva

Transliteration of Sanskrit देव (deva, “deity, god”). Doublet of daeva.

translit

Coordinate term: devi

A god in Vedic mythology, Hinduism and Buddhism.


demigod

From demi- + god. Calque of the Latin semideus (“half-god”), which is probably a coining by the Roman poet Ovid for less important gods such as dryads.

(mythology) A half-god or hero; the offspring of a deity and a mortal.


bogie

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-bogie.wav

All of a sudden he heard a terrible scream ahead, and he thought it must be the bogie singing his dirge.

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 47:

A ghost, goblin, or other hostile supernatural creature.


bogey

Probably related to or alteration of bogle, akin to or from a variant of Middle English bugge (“frightening specter, scarecrow”) (whence partly bug), of uncertain origin: perhaps from obsolete Welsh bwg (“ghost, hobgoblin”) (compare Welsh bwgwl (“threat”, older “fear”), Irish bagairt (“threat”)), from Proto-Celtic [Term?], or from Proto-Germanic *bugja- (“swollen up, thick”) (compare Norwegian bugge (“big man”), dialectal Low German Bögge and Alemannic German Böögg (“goblin”, “snot”)); see also Proto-Germanic *pūkô (“a goblin, spook”), whence obsolete English puck. Perhaps the Middle English and Welsh words come from a word related to buck and originally referred to a goat-shaped specter. Compare also booger.
The golf sense is from the devil as an imaginary player.


bogey

Alternative spelling of bogie (“one of two sets of wheels under a locomotive or railcar; also, a structure with axles and wheels under a locomotive, railcar, or semi which provides support and reduces vibration for the vehicle”)

bogie

Alternative spelling of bogie (“hand-operated truck or trolley”)

Upgrading the tram bogeys to air-conditioned bogeys costs the State Government approximately INR 25,00,000/- per bogey.

2020 January 30, “Upgrading Kolkata's Tram Network”, in C40 Cities, archived from the original on 2024-02-25:

(British, dated, India, rail transport) Alternative spelling of bogie (“railway carriage”)


cyclops

en-noun

cyclops (plural cyclops or cyclopes or cyclopses)

cyclops (plural)
cyclopes (plural)
cyclopses (plural)

Borrowed from Latin cyclōps, from Ancient Greek Κύκλωψ (Kúklōps, “Cyclops”).

der

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) A one-eyed giant from Greek and Roman mythology.

(zoology) Any copepod in the genus Cyclops.


Aeneas

From Latin Aenēās, from Ancient Greek Αἰνείας (Aineías).

(Greek mythology) A Trojan hero and the legendary ancestor of Romans.


Amazon

From Middle English, from Latin, from Ancient Greek Ἀμαζών (Amazṓn); perhaps Ionian Greek pronunciation of Old Persian *hamazan- (“warrior”), as the Amazon women were known warriors. A popular folk etymology, of Ancient Greek provenance, claims that the word derives from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + μαζός (mazós, “breast”), referencing the belief that Amazons cut off their right breast so that it would not hinder their ability to fire a bow or throw a spear.

When, therefore, one envisions a matriarchy, one should not conjure up visions of a gang of Amazons lopping off breasts and testicles to rule by force of arms.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 149:

(Greek mythology) A member of a mythical race of female warriors inhabiting the Black Sea area.


golem

bor

גולם \ גֹּלֶם

(mythology) A humanoid creature made from clay, animated by magic.

(by extension, fantasy) A humanoid creature made from any previously inanimate matter, such as wood or stone, animated by magic.


ghoul

Portuguese: ghoul

From Persian غول (ğul) from Arabic غُول (ḡūl). Compare French goule, of the same origin.

The other chamber had shown a pack of ghouls and witches over-running the world of our forefathers, but this one brought the horror right into our own daily life!.

From my laboratory in the Castle east
To the master bedroom, where the vampires feast
The ghouls all came from their humble abodes
To get a jolt from my electrodes
They did the Mash
They did the Monster Mash.

1962, “Monster Mash”, Bobby "Boris" Pickett and Lenny Capizzi (lyrics), performed by Bobby (Boris) Pickett and The Crypt-Kickers:

(mythology) A demon said to feed on corpses.

(derogatory, slang) A person with a callous or uncaring attitude to human life and suffering, particularly when prioritizing economic concerns.


vampire

desc

ভ্যাম্পায়ার

→ Bengali: ভ্যাম্পায়ার (bhêmpaẏar)

→ Irish: vaimpír

→ Japanese: ヴァンパイア (vanpaia), バンパイア (banpaia)

→ Marathi: व्हॅम्पायर (vhĕmpāyar)

→ Thai: แวมไพร์ (wɛm-paai)

→ Scottish Gaelic: bhampair

→ Swahili: vampiri

→ Turkish: vampir

→ Welsh: fampir

From French vampire, from German Vampir, via Hungarian from a Slavic word, probably Serbo-Croatian вампир (vàmpīr), proposed to be a variant of unattested *upir, from Proto-Slavic *ǫpyrь, q.v. Compare Russian упы́рь (upýrʹ), Polish upiór, Polish wąpierz, etc. Doublet of oupire.

[I]n the Village of Medreyga in Hungary, certain dead Bodies (call'd there Vampyres) had kill'd several Persons by sucking out all their Blood: That Arnold Paul, an Heyduke, having kill'd four Persons after he was dead, his Body was taken up 40 Days after, which bled at the Nose, Mouth and Ears: That, according to Custom, they drove a Stake thro' his Heart, at which he gave horrid Groan, and lost a great deal of Blood. And that all such as have been tormented or kill'd by Vampyres, become Vampyres when they are dead.

1732 May 20, The London Journal, page 76, column 1:

The universal belief is, that a person sucked by a vampyre becomes a vampyre himself, and sucks in his turn.

1819, John William Polidori, The Vampyre, London: Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, page xxi:

I'm a vampire, baby, sucking blood from the earth / Well, I'm a vampire, baby, sell you twenty barrels worth

1974, Neil Young (lyrics and music), “Vampire Blues”, in On the Beach:

A mythological creature (usually humanoid and undead) said to feed on the blood or life energy of the living.

مَصَّاص دِمَاء

maṣṣāṣ dimāʔ

(colloquial) A person with the medical condition Porphyria cutanea tarda, colloquially known as vampirism, with effects such as photosensitivity and brownish-red stained teeth.

(figurative, derogatory) A person who drains one's time, energy, money, etc.

Vampire. Vampire. Vampire. Battle stations.

anti-ship missile
anti-ship missile#English

(US naval jargon) Synonym of anti-ship missile (ASM), particularly an incoming hostile one.


zed

en-verb

zed (third-person singular simple present zeds, present participle zedding, simple past and past participle zedded)

zeds (present singular third-person)
zedding (participle present)
zedded (participle past)
zedded (past)

From Middle English zed, zedde, zede, from Old French zede, from Late Latin zeta, from Ancient Greek ζῆτα (zêta), from Hebrew ז (zayin) with influence from beta, eta and theta. Letter had rare nonstandard usage in Old English, such as in bezt, where it represented "ts" (compare the German, Italian, and Finnish pronunciation of Z). For the sleep sense, see zzz. The zombie sense comes from the initial letter. Doublet of zeta. Cognate to Spanish zeta, German Zett, French zède, Italian zeta, and perhaps Portuguese zê.

Zedding hogs. Sleep sippers and spitters. Look at 'em cooking in their own snoring heat. One nose after another.

I guess I must have zedded, for I find a police officer, the same one that nicked me, shaking me.

1992, David Robins, Tarnished vision: crime and conflict in the inner city:

"Zedding away." "God, I was having the most awful dream. That you'd got lost by the sea and I couldn't find you and something was chasing me, me and Evie."

(intransitive, informal) To sleep or nap. (Compare zzz, catch some z's.)


aegis

Borrowed from Latin aegis, from Ancient Greek αἰγίς (aigís, “goatskin; shield of Athena”), probably from αἴξ (aíx, “goat”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyǵ- (“goat”).
The plural form aegides (IPA⁽ᵏᵉʸ⁾: /ˈiːd͡ʒɪdiːz/) is borrowed from Latin aegides, from Ancient Greek αἰγῐ́δες (aigĭ́des).

IPA

IPA⁽ᵏᵉʸ⁾: /ˈiːd͡ʒɪdiːz/

покровителство

endorsement, sponsorship — see also endorsement, sponsorship

The goat Amalthea, which had suckled Jove, being dead, that god is said to have covered his buckler with the skin thereof, whence the appellation Aegis, from αιξ, αιγις, a she-goat. Jupiter afterwards restoring the goat to life, covered it with a new skin, and placed it among the stars. This buckler, which was the work of Vulcan, he gave to Minerva, who having killed the Gorgon Medusa, nailed her head to the middle of the Aegis, which henceforth possessed the faculty of converting to stone all who beheld it, as Medusa herself had while alive.

1790, “AEGIS”, in Bell’s New Pantheon; or, Historical Dictionary of the Gods, Demi-gods, Heroes, and Fabulous Personages of Antiquity: … In Two Volumes, volume I, London: Printed by and for J[ohn] Bell, […], →OCLC, page 20, column 1:

Herodotus, as proof of this origin of Minerva, says, that the Greeks had taken from the Libyan women, the dress and the ægis with which her statues were represented: this dress was of leather: the ægis, as its name implies, was simply a goatskin died red and worn over the shoulders like a mantle: the extremity of it was cut into shreds or tassels, which the lively fancy of the Grecian artists converted into serpents.

1822, James Millingen, Painted Greek Vases, from Collections in Various Countries: […] (Ancient Unedited Monuments; series 1), London: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 3:

The robe and aegides of the statues of Minerva the Greeks have made in imitation of the Lybians, for except that the robe among the Lybians is of leather and the fringes of the aegis are not serpents but strips of leather, the adorning is entirely the same. And the very name is an acknowledgement that the vesture of the palladium is derived from Lybia, for the Lybian women put around the robe their goat skins tasselled and stained with madder (ἐρευθεδάνω) and from these goat skins, (ἐχ δὲ τῶν αἰγἑων τουτἑων) the Greeks have taken the word aegis.

1837, F. M. Hubbard, quoting Herodotus, “Article III. An Inquiry into the Commerce of Ancient Egypt.”, in B[ela] B[ates] Edwards, editor, The American Biblical Repository, volume X, number 27, New York, N.Y.: Gould & Newman, publishers and printers, Boston, Mass.: Perkins & Marvin and Crocker & Brewster, Cincinnati, Oh.: Truman & Smith, →OCLC, page 49:

In her right hand Minerva bore a beaming lance, and in her left a buckler, called the Egis. The Egis of Minerva had embossed upon it the head of Medusa.

1849, [Eliza Robbins], “Minerva”, in Elements of Mythology; or, Classical Fables of the Greeks and Romans: […], 11th improved edition, Philadelphia, Pa.: Published and for sale by Hogan & Thompson […], →OCLC, page 57:

Cattle grazed where now is the Forum Romanum, and the Capitol, now glittering with gold, was covered then with brambles; nevertheless a god already dwelt there, even Jupiter himself, whose right hand had oft been seen to shake the aegis and summon the storm-clouds.

1934 November, Theodor Haecker, “Leader and Mission”, in A[rthur] W[esley] Wheen, transl., Virgil, Father of the West (Essays in Order; no. 14), London: Sheed & Ward, →OCLC, page 65:

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) A mythological shield associated with the Greek deities Zeus and Athena (and their Roman counterparts Jupiter and Minerva) shown as a short cloak made of goatskin worn on the shoulders, more as an emblem of power and protection than a military shield. The aegis of Athena or Minerva is usually shown with a border of snakes and with the head of Medusa in the center.


catoblepas

en-noun

catoblepas (plural catoblepae or catoblepones)

catoblepae (plural)
catoblepones (plural)

Borrowed from Latin catōblepās, from Ancient Greek κᾰτῶβλεψ (kătôbleps), κᾰτωβλέπων (kătōblépōn), κᾰτώβλεπον (kătṓblepon, “down-looker”), from κᾰτᾰβλέπω (kătăblépō, “to look downwards”, from κᾰτᾰ́ (kătắ) + βλέπω (blépō)).

af

κᾰτᾰ́ (kătắ) + βλέπω (blépō)

Behind them, blindfolded and muzzled, came catoblepones.

2019, Joel Puga, The Journeys of the Sorcerer:

The most obvious curseinflicting monsters that came to mind were Basilisks, Cockatrices, and Catoblepones.

2022, Patora Fuyuhara, In Another World With My Smartphone:

A legendary creature from Ethiopia, said to have the body of a Cape buffalo, scales on its back, and the head of a wild boar, which always points downward because of its weight.


Keb

(Egyptian mythology) Alternative form of Geb


draconic

en-adj

draconic (comparative more draconic, superlative most draconic)

more draconic (comparative)
most draconic (superlative)

From Latin Dracō (stem Dracōn-) + -ic, after the Athenian lawmaker Draco, known for making harsh laws.

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

[…] they no land / Doomed to bewail the blasphemy of laws / Making kings' rights divine, by some Draconic clause.

1818, Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto 3, Stanza 64:

The sexual instinct can hardly be changed by prescriptions; I doubt whether all laws against homosexual intercourse, even the most draconic, have ever been able to extinguish the peculiar desire of anybody born with homosexual tendencies.

1932, Edvard Westermarck, chapter VIII, in Ethical Relativity, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co, page 248:

In the first months after the October Revolution Lenin was already demanding "the most decisive, draconic measures to tighten up discipline."

1974, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, translated by Thomas P. Whitney, The Gulag Archipelago, Harper & Row, published 1973, Vol. 2, Part III, pp. 9-10:

(rare, dated) Very severe or strict; draconian.


cyclopean

cyclopean (comparative more cyclopean, superlative most cyclopean)

more cyclopean (comparative)
most cyclopean (superlative)


wyvern

Alteration of Middle English wyver (“viper”), borrowed from Old Northern French wivre, from Latin vīpera (“viper; snake, serpent”). Doublet of weever and viper.

The jargon of heraldry, its griffins, its moldwarps, its wyverns, and its dragons.

1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC:

Notions of freedom are tied up in drink / Our ideal life contains a tavern / Where man may sit and talk of or just think / All without fear of the nighted wyvern, / Or yet another tavern where it appears.

1940-54 The Collected Poetry of Malcolm Lowry, "WE SIT UNHACKLED DRUNK AND MAD TO EDIT", UBC Press,1992, p.222

(heraldry, mythology, fantasy) A draconian creature possessing wings, only two legs and usually a barbed tail.


hippocampus

en-noun

hippocampus (plural hippocampi or hippocampuses)

hippocampi (plural)
hippocampuses (plural)

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

From Late Latin hippocampus, from Ancient Greek ἱππόκαμπος (hippókampos, from ῐ̔́ππος (hĭ́ppos, “horse”) + κάμπος (kámpos, “sea-monster”)). The anatomy sense is so named from its resemblance to the seahorse.

der

(mythology) A mythological creature with the front head and forelimbs of a horse and the rear of a dolphin.


werewolf

From Middle English werwolf, from Old English werewulf, from Proto-West Germanic *werawulf, from Proto-West Germanic *wer (“man”) + *wulf (“wolf”). By surface analysis, were- + wolf. Cognate with Dutch weerwolf, Low German Warwulf, German Werwolf, Danish varulv, Swedish varulv, and even possibly Finnish vironsusi.
Compare also French garou, in loup-garou, French dialectal gairou, varou (“werewolf”), Medieval Latin gerulphus, garulphus (“werewolf”), all from Germanic, probably Frankish *werawulf.

Near-synonym: dogman

(mythology) A person who is transformed or can transform into a wolf or a wolflike human, often said to do so during a full moon.


lycanthrope

From Ancient Greek λυκάνθρωπος (lukánthrōpos).

More generally, any sort of werecreature.


ouroboros

en-noun

ouroboros (plural ouroboroi or ouroboroses)

From Ancient Greek οὐροβόρος (ourobóros, “tail-devouring”, a compound of οὐρά (ourá, “tail”) + -βόρος (-bóros, “-devouring”, which is derived from the verb βιβρώσκω (bibrṓskō, “to eat up”))).

af

which is derived from the verb <i class="Polyt mention" lang="grc">βιβρώσκω</i> (bibrṓskō, “to eat up”)

bor

The alchemists were fond of picturing their opus as a circulatory process, as a circular distillation or as the uroboros, the snake biting its own tail, and they made innumerable pictures of this process.

1968 [1951], R. F. C. Hull, transl., Aion […] (The Collected Works of C. G. Jung), 2nd edition, volume 9.2, Princeton University Press, translation of original by C. G. Jung, →ISBN, page 264:

Khepera eating his own seed is a model of Romantic creativity, where the self is isolated and sexually dual. Khepera bent over himself is a uroboros, the serpent eating its own tail, a magic circle of regeneration and rebirth. The uroboros is the prehistoric track of natural cycle, from which Judaism and Hellenism make a conceptual break.

1990, Camille Paglia, Sexual Personae, Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 41:

One myth speaks of Ouroboros, a serpent-like creature that survived and regenerated itself by eating only its own tail. By neither taking from nor adding to its environment, this creature was said to be completely environmentally benign and self-sufficient.

2004, Adrian Bejan et al., Porous and Complex Flow Structures in Modern Technologies, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 121:

First, the snake has not caught its tail—the ouroboros figure is uncompleted. Blake executed fully formed ouroboros figures for the verso of this Night Thoughts page and for a later passage (6:690-92), and was familiar with numerous full ouroboros figures from contemporary and earlier sources […]

2013, Jackie DiSalvo, G. A. Rosso, Christopher Z. Hobson eds., Blake, Politics, and History, Routledge, →ISBN:

(mythology) A serpent, dragon or worm that eats its own tail, a representation of the continuous cycle of life and death.

أوربوروس

a serpent, dragon or worm that eats its own tail


undead

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-undead.wav

From Middle English undede, equivalent to un- + dead. The first attestation is from around 1400. The term was revived, popularized, and imbued with supernatural connotations by its usage in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula.

Pertaining to a corpse, though having qualities of life.

When Anna and John finally break out of their self-centered bubbles to the shock that they must battle to the death an undead neighbor in a giant snowman costume, it plays like a poignant comment on movie teenagers' tendency to indulge their inner lives, ignorant of the world around them.

2018 November 27, April Wolfe, “Anna And The Apocalypse is a Holiday-horror Cocktail of Singing, Maiming, and Clichés”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2019-11-04:

(horror fiction) Being animate, though non-living.


undead

en-noun

undead (plural undead or (rare) undeads)

In the zombie movie, an army of the undead accosted some unsuspecting teenagers.

"You will do me a service," the undead said to him.

Innocent VIII lent credibility to the actual existence of undeads, an action that perpetuated, and even stimulated, vampire hysteria.

1997, Carol Margaret Davison, Paul Simpson-Housley, Bram Stoker's Dracula: sucking through the century, 1897-1997:

"Were another of the Un-Dead, like him, to try to do what he has done, perhaps not all the centuries of the world that have been, or that will be, could aid him."

1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, New York: Doubleday & McClure, published 1899, page xxiv. 319:

Harley got devoured by the undead / Lurking down in some old wizard's tomb / You can say there's no such thing as zombies / But that's how Harley Warren met his doom

2006, The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society, “Harley Got Devoured by the Undead”, in An Even Scarier Solstice:

It’s an episode of characters returning to their own pasts as different people. They can retrench like Cersei, back on her bullshit, I mean, warpath. Or they can adapt, like The Hound. Neither way necessarily ensures success, but we know the archmaester isn’t unequivocally right. We’ve seen dragons reborn and armies of the undead. I wouldn’t be so sure that Wall will stand forever.

2017 July 16, Brandon Nowalk, “Chickens and dragons come home to roost on Game Of Thrones (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club:

(horror and fantasy fiction) A creature that is undead; that is, dead but still animate.

nemrtvý

those creatures which are dead but still animate


einherjar

From Old Norse einherjar (plural, literally “lone fighters”) (rarely attested singular einheri).

bor

(Norse mythology) The warriors who died fighting bravely and were brought by valkyries to Valhalla, where they feast and prepare for Ragnarok.


giant

/ˈd͡ʒʌɪ.ənt/

[ˈd͡ʒəɪ̯(ə)nt]

From Middle English geaunt, geant, from Old French geant, gaiant (Modern French géant) from Vulgar Latin *gagās, gagant-, from Latin gigās, gigant-, from Ancient Greek γίγας (gígas, “giant”) Cognate to giga- (“1,000,000,000”). Displaced native Old English ent. Compare Modern English ent (“giant tree-man”).

Any of the gigantes, the race of giants in the Greek mythology.

(mythology, fantasy) Specifically:
A jotun.


haunted

en-adj

haunted (comparative more haunted, superlative most haunted or hauntedest)

more haunted (comparative)
most haunted (superlative)
hauntedest (superlative)

The hotel was haunted by a disembodied spirit.

Of a location, frequented by a ghost or ghosts.


roc

Spanish rocho, ruc, from Arabic رُخّ (ruḵḵ), from Persian رخ (rox).

The Arabian Nights Entertainment. Tale 4. Sinbad. The Second Voyage.
"By this time the sun was about to set, and all of a sudden the sky became as dark as if it had been covered with a thick cloud. I was much astonished at this sudden darkness, but much more when I found it occasioned by a bird of a monstrous size, that came flying toward me. I remembered that I had often heard mariners speak of a miraculous bird called Roc, and conceived that the great dome which I so much admired must be its egg. In short, the bird alighted, and sat over the egg. As I perceived her coming, I crept to the egg, so that I had before me one of the legs of the bird, which was as big as the trunk of a tree. I tied myself strongly to it with my turban, in hopes that the roc next morning would carry me with her out of this desert island. After having passed the night in this condition, the bird flew away as soon as it was daylight, and carried me so high, that I could not discern the earth;

An enormous mythical bird in Eastern legend.


specter

From Middle French spectre, from Latin spectrum (“appearance, apparition”). Doublet of spectrum.

der

A specter haunted the cemetery at the old Vasquez manor.

Nevertheleſſe, they which ſhould ſee thoſe Iſles thus to moove in this manner, not knowing before that the ſame were naturall: they would entertaine many and diverſe apprehenſions in their fantaſie, & would imagine that they ſawe a thing very ſtrange and prodigious, and ſuch as did very neere approach to the nature of ſome Specter [translating spectre] and viſion.

1605, Peter de Loier [i.e., Pierre Le Loyer], translated by [Zachary Jones], “The many things being meerely Naturall are taken by the Sight or Hearing being deceived, for Specters and things prodigious”, in A Treatise of Specters or Straunge Sights, Visions and Apparitions Appearing Sensibly vnto Men. […], London: […] Val[entine] S[immes] for Mathew Lownes, →OCLC, folio 62, verso:

A ghostly apparition, a phantom. [from 17th c.]


kitsune

(Japanese mythology) A Japanese fox spirit, often but not exclusively female, said to have powers such as shape-shifting, and whose power is symbolized by increase in number of tails.


tanuki

Borrowed from Japanese 狸(たぬき) (tanuki, “raccoon dog”).

(Japanese mythology) A folkloric figure in the form of a tanuki, regarded as a shapeshifter and renowned for its enormous scrotum and testicles.


lycanthropy

en-noun

lycanthropy (usually uncountable, plural lycanthropies)

From Ancient Greek λυκανθρωπία (lukanthrōpía), from λυκάνθρωπος (lukánthrōpos, “wolfman”). By surface analysis, lycanthrope + -y.

uder

(mythology) The state of being a lycanthrope (or werewolf), a person who can shapeshift between the form of a human being and a wolf, often said to happen involuntarily during a full moon; werewolfdom.


Ahti

(Finnic mythology) The god of depths, water, and fishing in Finnish mythology.

(Egyptian mythology) A goddess in Egyptian mythology.


orc

From Middle French orque, Italian orca, and their source, Latin orca (“type of whale”). Doublet of orca.

(archaic) Any of several large, ferocious sea creatures, now especially the killer whale.


orc

→ Catalan: orc

→ Czech: ork

→ Danish: ork

→ Dutch: ork

→ Estonian: örk

→ Finnish: örkki

→ French: orc

→ Georgian: ორკი (orḳi)

→ Greek: ορκ (ork)

→ Hungarian: ork

→ Icelandic: orki

→ Japanese: オーク (ōku)

→ Korean: 오크 (okeu)

→ Latvian: orks

→ Lithuanian: orkas

→ Marathi: ऑर्क (ŏrka)

→ Norwegian: ork, orc

→ Polish: ork

→ Portuguese: orc

→ Romanian: orc

→ Russian: орк (ork)

→ Serbo-Croatian: ork / орк

→ Swedish: ork

→ Ukrainian: орк (ork)

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
J. R. R. Tolkien
orc

Probably from Italian orco (“man-eating giant”); later revived by J. R. R. Tolkien, partly after Old English orc, which he took to mean "demon". Both are from Latin Orcus (“the underworld; the god Pluto”). Doublet of ogre and Orcus.
Sense 2 is a semantic loan from Ukrainian орк (ork, “evil monstrous humanoid creature; orc”) or Russian орк (ork), both from the English word and possibly under the influence of Russian у́рка (úrka, “criminal”, prison slang). Popularized in English in 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

m+

Who at one stroke didst pare away three heads from off the shoulders of an Orke, begotten by an Incubus.

1656, Samuel Holland, Don Zara del Fogo, I.1:

The chief exploit of the hero, Beowulf the Great, is the destruction of the two monsters Grendel and his mother; both like most of the evil beings in the old times, dwellers in the fens and the waters; and both, moreover, as some Christian bard has taken care to inform us, of "Cain's kin," as were also the eotens, and the elves, and the orcs (eótenas, and ylfe, and orcneas).

1834, "The National Fairy Mythology of England" in Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country, Vol. 10, p. 53

There was a flash like flame and the helm burst asunder. The orc fell with cloven head.

1954, JRR Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring:

(fantasy, mythology) A mythical evil monstrous humanoid creature, usually quite aggressive and often green.

Ukrainians themselves, including those on the right, preferred to call the events the 'Revolution of Dignity', depicted not in terms of ethnicity or class, but in simple civic black and white – a revolution of the people against Yanukovych's 'Mordor' and his 'Orcs'.

2015, Andrew Wilson, The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation, page 354:

And now we must watch the old world go up in flames, in the mad spectacle of Putin’s orcs descending upon Kyiv to execute his macabre plan.

2022 March 1, Bruno Maçães, “Europe’s Illusion of Peace Has Been Irrevocably Shattered”, in Time:

Plenty of Belarusian exiles have gone to Europe, but if you run West, then the Orcs [a Ukrainian slang term for "Russian soldiers"] will just follow you there. It's better to risk your life as a free person than to keep running.

2022 July 25, Michael Wasiura, “Belarusian Exiles Join Ukrainians in Taking Up Arms Against Russia”, in Newsweek, retrieved 2022-07-25:

(slang, derogatory) A Russian soldier or gangster.


Charon

Charon
Charon (disambiguation)
Charon (moon)
Edmond Hamilton
NASA

From Ancient Greek Χάρων (Khárōn). The name of the moon was coined by American astronomer James W. Christy in 1978, in reference to a fictional moon of Pluto in a novel by Edmond Hamilton but also influenced by its similarity to Char, a pet name for Charlene, his wife's name — hence the alternative American pronunciation, which is used at NASA.

coin

(Greek mythology) The ferryman of Hades, who rowed the shades of the dead across the river Styx.


seaman

From Middle English seeman, seman, from Old English sǣmann. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Seemon (“seaman, sailor”), West Frisian seeman (“seaman, sailor”), Dutch zeeman (“seaman, sailor”), German Low German Seemann (“seaman, sailor”), German Seemann (“seaman, sailor”), Swedish sjöman (“seaman, sailor”), Norwegian sjømann (“seaman, sailor”). Equivalent to sea + -man.

cog

petty officer third class
petty officer third class

(US, Navy) An enlisted rate in the United States Navy and United States Coast Guard, ranking below petty officer third class and above seaman apprentice.


Count Dracula

The fictional vampire in the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.

काउंट ड्रॅक्यूला

kāuṇṭa ḍrĕkyūlā


Dracula

Dracula
Order of the Dragon
Vlad II Dracul
Vlad the Impaler

From the name Vlad III Dracula (also known as Vlad Țepeș (“Vlad the Impaler”)), from the name of his father Vlad II Dracul, who was given the name Dracul by the Order of the Dragon. Dracul (literally “the Devil”) comes from the Romanian drac (“devil”), itself deriving from the Latin dracō (“dragon”).

(fiction) The fictional vampire in the novel of the same name by Bram Stoker.


puck

→ Danish: puck

→ German: Puck

→ Swedish: puck

From or influenced by Irish poc (“stroke in hurling, bag”). Compare poke (1861).

(computing) A pointing device with a crosshair.


zombie

First attested in 1871.
From a Bantu language. Compare Kongo nzambi (“god”), zumbi (“fetish”), and Kimbundu nzumbi (“ghost”) (see Portuguese zumbi), and Caribbean folklore's jumbee (“a spirit or demon”).
Origin from Spanish sombra (“shadow, phantom”) has also been suggested.
May have come through Louisiana Creole [Term?]. See also French zombi (1832).

Betsy Connell: I don't know about zombies, doctor. Just what is a zombie? / Dr. Maxwell: A ghost. A living dead. It's also a drink.

1943, Curt Siodmak, Ardel Wray, I Walked with a Zombie (motion picture):

The zombies were having fun
The party had just begun
The guests included Wolf-Man, Dracula, and his son.

1962, “Monster Mash”, Bobby "Boris" Pickett and Lenny Capizzi (lyrics), performed by Bobby (Boris) Pickett and The Crypt-Kickers:

Ashley: Dad passed on a few years back. He's probably still watching, though.
Shepard: He's not a zombie, is he?

2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: SSV Normandy:

The zombies first show up 20 minutes in, after Melanie volunteers herself as the next child to mysteriously disappear in the middle of the night. That’s when we learn that Melanie and her classmates are all “hungries,” or people infected with a toxic fungus that turns them into mindless flesh-eating animals.

2017 February 23, Katie Rife, “The Girl With All The Gifts tries to put a fresh spin on overripe zombie clichés”, in The Onion AV Club:

(voodoo, horror) A person, usually undead, animated by unnatural forces (such as magic), with no soul or will of his or her own.


brownie

en-noun

brownie (countable and uncountable, plural brownies)

→ Belarusian: бра́ўні (bráŭni)

→ Chinese: 布朗尼 (bùlǎngní)

→ French: brownie

→ German: Brownie

→ Hungarian: brownie

→ Irish: donnóg (calque)

→ Italian: brownie

→ Japanese: ブラウニー (buraunī)

→ Lithuanian: braunis

→ Norwegian Nynorsk: brownie

→ Polish: brownie

→ Portuguese: brownie

→ Russian: бра́уни (bráuni)

→ Kazakh: брауни (brauni)

→ Spanish: brownie

→ Thai: บราวนี (bpraao-níi)

→ Turkish: brownie, browni, brovni

→ Welsh: browni

From brown + -ie (diminutive suffix). In folkloric sense, originally Scots.

It was an amusing sight to see the three of us, each with a huge hunch of “browny” (bread sweetened with brown sugar and currants) in one hand, and a lump of ice in the other, for there was no water within reach.

1883, James Edge Partington, “A Race Meeting in the Bush—A Graphic Though Ungallant Picture—Life on an Australian Stock Farm—[…]” (chapter VII), in Random Rot. A Journal of Three Years’ Wanderings about the World., Altrincham: […] [T]he Guardian Office, page 312:

They rode quietly along to the stockman’s hut, gave their message, rested their horses for half-an-hour, and had some tea without milk, and a piece of cake made of flour, fat, and sugar, commonly known as [“]browny.”

1890, E[lphinstone] Davenport Cleland, “‘The Shaking’ Mallee Tree”, in The White Kangaroo. A Tale of Colonial Life. Founded on Fact., London: Wells Gardner, Darton, & Co., […], page 57:

Four o’clock, “Smoke O!” again, and more tea and “brownie” (a bread sweetened with sugar and currants).

1890 September 20, M. Hirst Browne, “Shearing-Time in the Riverine”, in The Argus, number 13,804, Melbourne, Vic., page 13, column 6:

Roast mutton and brownie are given us to eat, and with a billy of tea beside us we are comfortable enough, prisoners and all.

1892, Gilbert Parker, “Glimpses of Australian Life: In Time of Drought”, in Round the Compass in Australia, Melbourne, Vic., […]: E[dward] W[illiam] Cole, […], part I, page 36:

Pile of “brownie” on the bare black boards at the end of the table.

1900, Henry Lawson, “‘A Rough Shed’”, in On the Track, Sydney, N.S.W.: Angus and Robertson, […], page 129:

Undoubtedly our Christmas dinner was a huge success—from a black fellow’s point of view it was the most sensible thing we Whites had ever organised; for half the Vealer, another huge pudding, several yards of sweet currant “brownie,” a new pipe apiece, and a few pounds of tobacco had found their way to the “humpy”; […]

[1908], Jeannie Gunn, chapter XXIII, in We of the Never-Never, London: Hutchinson & Co. […], page 251:

As he spoke I tossed some tea into a billy-can of boiling water and as we sipped at our pannikin of tea and ate at a slice of brownie, old Mirawong told me the story of Manbuk and the seven sisters of the heavens.

1959, W[illiam] E[dward] (Bill) Harney, “Of crocodiles and stars”, in Tales from the Aborigines, London: Robert Hale Limited, […], part one (Tales of Fantasy), page 40:

However, a couple of days later, I was passing near Old Jim’s camp and he called us over for a mug of tea and a hunk of brownie.

1959, H[arold] P[ercival] ‘Duke’ Tritton, Time Means Tucker, Arncliffe, N.S.W.: Akron Press, published 1984, →ISBN, pages 58–59:

Edward E[llis] Morris
w:Edward Ellis Morris

Macmillan and Co. Limited
w:Macmillan Publishers

Benjamin E[li] Smith
w:Benjamin Eli Smith

The Century Dictionary
w:Century Dictionary

C[harles] T[albut] Onions
w:Charles Talbut Onions

(uncountable, cooking, Australia and New Zealand) A sweet bread with brown sugar and currants.

Thus, offer Brownie a piece of bread, a cup of drink, or a new coat and hood, and he flouted at it, and perhaps, in his huff, quitted the place for ever ; but leave a nice bowl of cream, and some fresh honeycomb, in a snug private corner, and they soon disappeared, though Brownie, it was to be supposed, never knew any thing of them.

1828, Thomas Keightley, Fairy Mythology, volume II, page 169:

"Oh, auntie, do you know what Stine says?" cried a little brown-eyed beauty; "she says I shall go with her into the hayloft to-night and give the brownie his Christmas porridge."

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 5:

1908, Dinah Craik, The Adventures of A Brownie:

Stories were told of a brownie riding horseback to fetch the midwife at childbirth or helping his master to win at checkers.

1985, The Encyclopedia Americana, volume 1, page 636:

There are no brownies in my house, though. I know because there's always a pile of dishes in the sink.

2004, Justin Hocking, Jeffrey Knutson, Jared Jacang Maher, editors, Life and Limb: Skateboarders Write from the Deep End, page 37:

(folklore) A mythical creature, a helpful elf who would secretly do people's housework for them.

He rose and jingled in his pockets for change and drew out two brownies. He went and set one on each of Monroe’s eyes[.]

1997, Charles Frazier, chapter 2, in Cold Mountain, London: Hodder and Stoughton, page 36:

A copper coin, brown in colour; a penny, halfpenny, or cent.

Alternative letter-case form of Brownie (“a girl in the first level of Girl Guides (US: Girl Scouts)”).


Grim Reaper

/ˈɡɹɪm ˈɹiː.pə/

/ˈɡɹɪm ˈɹi.pɚ/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Grim Reaper.wav

From grim + reaper, first attested 1847. The word grim previously had a stronger meaning ("fierce, angry, sinister") and had more of an association with ghostliness (compare Old English grima (“specter, apparition”), English grim (n.)). The association between grim and death dates back to at least the late 16th century (the line "grim death, how foul and loathsome is thine image" appears in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew around 1590). The reaper element comes from the personification of Death as a reaper (harvester) of souls in connection to to the popular depiction of Death wielding a scythe. The symbol of the scythe itself comes from a partially unintentional conflation of Cronus (the Titan associated with the harvest, said to have used his scythe to castrate his father Uranus) and Chronos (the personification of Father Time).

cog

Her husband was dead, and Werper fancied that he could replace in the girl’s heart the position which had been vacated by the act of the grim reaper.

1916, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar:

"Golly, I feel like the devil!" muttered Anthony dispassionately. Relaxing, he tumbled back upon his pillow. "Bring on your grim reaper!"

1922, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, book 2, page 220:

Mary, will you be mine? Shall we go round together? Will you fix up a match with me on the links of life which shall end only when the Grim Reaper lays us both a stymie?

1922, P. G. Wodehouse, The Clicking of Cuthbert:

On the one hand, we had a scenario where, effectively, the American admiral just went "You know what, all the destroyers attack", at which point they mowed through the Japanese destroyers like a Grim Reaper through a harvest of very, very dead gorn, especially with the Brooklyns in support.

2019 March 6, Drachinifel, 25:58 from the start, in The Battle of Samar (Alternate History) - Bring on the Battleships!, archived from the original on 2022-07-04:

But that is the likely outcome if the railway waits for Treasury's grim reaper to come a-calling.

2021 January 13, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Make freight an equal priority”, in Rail, page 3:

A personification of Death as an old man, or a skeleton, carrying a scythe, taking souls to the afterlife.

Chronos
Cronus
The Taming of the Shrew
Uranus_(mythology)

стару́ха с косо́й f (starúxa s kosój, literally “old woman with scythe”)


Medusa

From Middle English Medusa, Meduse, from Latin Medūsa, from Ancient Greek Μέδουσα (Médousa), from μέδω (médō, “rule over”).

1895, Adolf Furtwängler, Eugenie Strong (editor and translator), Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture: A Series of Essays on the History of Art, 2010, →ISBN, page 201,
On an Attic vase of the middle of the fifth century the head of Medusa in the hand of Perseus is represented as that of a beautiful woman free from any distortion. This led us to conclude (supra, p. 158) that Medusa must have been so represented at Athens in the greater arts even previous to this vase, for the vase-painters never invent such bold novelties for themselves.

It will be suggested here that the myth of Perseus, involving the decapitation of Medusa, is a narrative version of ritual.

2000, Nannó Marinatos, The Goddess and the Warrior: The Naked Goddess and Mistress of the Animals in Early Greek Religion, page 62:

But their depictions of Perseus are remarkably different and demonstrate the ambiguity of Medusa that was seeping into Victorian iconography. In later, Roman versions of the myth, for example Ovid's Metamorphoses, Perseus slays the sea monster with his sword instead of using Medusa’s head to petrify the monster.

2001, Dennis Berthold, “Melville's Medusas”, in Sanford E. Marovitz, Athanasios C. Christodoulou, editors, Melville "Among the nations": Proceedings of an International Conference, Volos, Greece, July 2-6, 1997:

(Greek mythology) The youngest and only mortal of the three gorgon sisters, killed by Perseus.

Medusa (Rubens)
Medusa (disambiguation)
Rubens


Hanuman

A Hindu demi-god who was a devotee of Lord Rama. He was born to Anjana and Vayu, plays the role of a god’s servant in Ramayana, and is also known as the "monkey god". He represents loyalty to the Lord and Master.


shade

en-noun

shade (countable and uncountable, plural shades)

From Middle English schade, from Old English sċeadu, sċadu (“shadow; shade”), from Proto-West Germanic *skadu, from Proto-Germanic *skadwaz (“shadow; shade”). More at shadow.

inh

Too long have I been haunted by that shade.

The adventurer was attacked by a shade.

Swift as thought the flitting shade / Thro' air his momentary journey made.

1700, [John] Dryden, “Ceyx and Alcyone”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

Still, Birch House (a sop to the shade of the murdered Perak Resident) had no more than its normal share of flagellation[.]

1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 39:

(chiefly literary and fantasy) A ghost or specter; a spirit.


apocalypse

From Middle English apocalips, from Latin apocalypsis, from Ancient Greek ἀποκάλυψις (apokálupsis, “revelation”), literally meaning "uncovering", from ἀπό (apó, “back, away from”) and καλύπτω (kalúptō, “I cover”). The sense evolution to "catastrophe, end of the world" stems from the depiction of such events in the biblical Book of Revelation, also called the Apocalypse of (i.e. Revelation to) John.

der

The early development of Perl 6 was punctuated by a series of apocalypses by Larry Wall.

A revelation, especially of supernatural events.

(Christianity) The unveiling of events prophesied in the Revelation; the second coming and the end of life on Earth; global destruction.


Ragnarok

/ˈɹæɡ.nəˌɹɒk/

/ˈɹæɡ.nəˌɹɔk/

Borrowed from Old Norse ragnarǫk (modern Icelandic ragnarök), from regin (“gods”) + rǫk (“fate, judgment”).

Wilhelmina weeps, now and then, with her good Sonsfeld; hopes nevertheless there will be some dawn to this ragnarök, or general ‘twilight of the gods.’

1858, Thomas Carlyle, chapter VIII, in History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book VII, page 274:

And all that is before them and the whole civilised world, would be long centuries of anarchy such as the world has not seen for ages—a true Ragnarok, a twilight of the very gods, an age such as the wise woman foretold in the old Voluspà.

1902, Charles Kingsley, “Ancient Civilisation”, in Historical Lectures and Essays, Macmillan and Co.:

But this heaven was not to last forever. Some day would come Ragnarok, or the Twilight of the Gods, when all creation would be destroyed, and all the Gods and men save Alfadur perish. Surtur, after killing the last of these Gods, would burn up the world.

1916 February, H. P. Lovecraft, “The Teuton's Battle-Song”, in United Amateur:

(Norse mythology) A series of future events culminating in a battle, fought between the Æsir and einherjar on one side, and the forces of Surtr, Loki, and Loki's children on the other, in which all of creation is burned down and almost all life is extinguished.


immortality

en-noun

immortality (countable and uncountable, plural immortalities)

/ˌɪmɔːˈtæləti/

/ˌɪmɔːɹˈtæləti/

From Middle English immortalitee, immortalite, from Old French immortalité, from Latin immortālitās.
Morphologically immortal + -ity

خُلُود

condition of not being susceptible to death

In Greek mythology, Tithonus was granted immortality but not eternal youth.

In the little, as in the great things of life, are to be found the type and sign of our immortality. Every hope that looks forward is pledge of the hereafter to which it refers. Who rests content with the present? None. We have all deep within us a craving for the future.

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Marriage Morning”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 201:

His one desire was to become the father of a man like himself, and it held him with a grip he only partially understood, for it was the first great desire, the first great passion of his life. Falling in love was a mere physical triviality, like warm sun or cool water, beside this divine hope of immortality: "I continue."

1905, E. M. Forster, Where Angels Fear to Tread, chapter 4

(religion, mythology, biology) The condition of being immortal.

The condition of being immortal.
Never dying

You have to salute Gerrard's bravery in accepting the challenge of trying to turn Rangers around given that he has zero experience in senior management. Immortality beckons if he does it.

2018 May 4, Tom English, “Steven Gerrard: A 'seriously clever or recklessly stupid' Rangers appointment”, in BBC Sport:

The condition of being immortal.
Being remembered forever


hearth

From Middle English herth, herthe, from Old English heorþ, from Proto-West Germanic *herþ, from Proto-Germanic *herþaz, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *kerh₃- (“heat; fire”). Cognate with West Frisian hurd, Dutch haard, German Herd, Swedish härd.

der

Asatru is practised all over Northern Europe and also in North America. Like Druidry, it is organized into bodies with sub-groups, the hearths.

1996, Vivianne Crowley, Thorsons principles of paganism, page 50:

Smaller localized groups known as 'hearths' meet regularly, and are comparable, in size and function, with a Wiccan 'Coven' or Druidic 'Grove'.

2003 December 8, Robert J. Wallis, Shamans/neo-Shamans: Ecstasy, Alternative Archaeologies, and Contemporary Pagans, page 102:

Neopagan groups take many forms, from Wiccan covens to Druid groves, from Heathen hearths to magical lodges[…]

2004 March 1, Peter Clarke, editor, Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements, Routledge, page 768:

(Germanic paganism) A household or group in some forms of the modern pagan faith Heathenry.


were-

Back-formation from werewolf (“man-wolf”), from Old English werewulf, derived from wer (“man”) + wulf (“wolf”).

back-form

lycanthrope, used with animal names to indicate a person who changes shape into that animal.


Hera

Borrowed from Latin Hēra, from Ancient Greek Ἥρᾱ (Hḗrā).

(Greek mythology) The queen of the gods, and goddess of marriage and birth; daughter of Cronus and Rhea, sister and wife of Zeus, mother of Hephaestus, Ares, Hebe, and Enyo.


dwarf

From Middle English dwergh, dwerw, dwerf, from Old English dweorg, from Proto-West Germanic *dwerg, from Proto-Germanic *dwergaz.
Cognate with Scots dwerch; Old High German twerc (German Zwerg); Old Norse dvergr (Swedish dvärg); Old Frisian dwirg (West Frisian dwerch); Middle Low German dwerch, dwarch, twerg (German Low German Dwarg, Dwarch); Middle Dutch dwerch, dworch (Dutch dwerg).
The Modern English noun has undergone complex phonetic changes. The form dwarf is the regular continuation of Old English dweorg, but the plural dweorgas would have given rise to dwarrows and the oblique stem dweorge- would have led to dwery. These forms are sometimes found as the nominative singular in Middle English texts and in English dialects. A parallel case is that of Old English burg giving burgh, borough, burrow, bury.

dwarf standing on the shoulders of giants

Nidavellir, which is sometimes called Svartalfheim, where the dwarfs (who are also known as dark elves) live beneath the mountains and build their remarkable creations.

2017, Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 20:

(mythology) Any member of a race of beings from (especially Scandinavian and other Germanic) folklore, usually depicted as having some sort of supernatural powers and being skilled in crafting and metalworking, often as short with long beards, and sometimes as clashing with elves.

dwerg

being from folklore, underground dwelling nature spirit

(now sometimes offensive) A person of short stature, often one whose limbs are disproportionately small in relation to the body as compared with typical adults, usually as the result of a genetic condition.


dwarf

en-adj

dwarf (comparative dwarfer, superlative dwarfest)

dwarfer (comparative)
dwarfest (superlative)

The specimen is a very dwarf form of the plant.

It is possible to grow the plants as dwarf as one desires.


pygmy

From Latin Pygmaeī, from Ancient Greek πυγμαῖος (pugmaîos, “a member of a race of dwarves”), from πυγμή (pugmḗ, “fist (as small as a fist)”).

der

Ctesias lived in Persia for several years, as the personal physician of King Ataxerxes II, and would have had contact with travellers to India, and Indian visitors to Persia. He describes dog-headed humans, pygmy men who grow their beards so long that they can be used as clothes, and affirms that it never rains in India.

2015, Sam Miller, A Strange Kind of Paradise: India through Foreign Eyes:

(Greek mythology) A member of a race of dwarfs.

джудже

a member of a mythological race of dwarfs

It was so high up that the people walking about in the street below looked like pygmies.

2015, Rosie Harris, Moving On: A family saga set in 1970’s Liverpool:

(figuratively, derogatory, offensive) Any dwarfish person or thing.


trickster

1991, Alan R. Velie (compiler and editor), American Indian Literature: An Anthology, Revised edition, page 44,
The trickster is one of the oldest and most widespread of mythological and literary figures. […] As the name implies, the trickster is, on one level—probably the most important—an amoral practical joker who wanders about playing pranks on unsuspecting victims […] With all the fluctuations, certain things about the trickster are predictable: he is always a wanderer, always hungry, and usually oversexed.
Tricksters abound in folktales […] .

And let us begin with those sympathetic elements, the tricksters who obtain the lovers and the land, always at the expense of fools and knaves, sometimes at the expense of other tricksters.

2015, J. Douglas Canfield, Tricksters and Estates: On the Ideology of Restoration Comedy, page 31:

(mythology, literature) Any of numerous figures featuring in various mythologies and folk traditions, who use guile and secret knowledge to challenge authority and play tricks and pranks on others with their acts of trickery; any similar figure in literature.


balrog

From Sindarin, a fictional language created by J.R.R. Tolkien, meaning something akin to "mighty demon".

The Balrog made no answer. The fire in it seemed to die, but the darkness grew. It stepped forward slowly on to the bridge, and suddenly it drew itself up to a great height, and its wings were spread from wall to wall […]

1954, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring:

What was released was a demon, a balrog of pure sexual energy which had been denied for too long.

2004, post on newsgroup, alt.sex.bondage:

[…] is just a big goofy Balrog as far as I'm concerned, he might make a "Green Dot" poster scared; the big dweeb.

2004, post on newsgroup, rec.skiing.alpine:

[And now, a warp-drive round of Confirm or Deny.][...]
Gandalf the Grey was cooler than Gandalf the White.
Hmm, that’s a tough one. I think in some ways he was cooler, but he kind of needed to defeat the Balrog in order to become a better wizard, I guess, and play a bigger role in defeating Sauron. But he was definitely more chill as Gandalf the Grey and had a better sense of humor.

2020 July 25, Maureen Dowd, Elon Musk, “Elon Musk, Blasting Off in Domestic Bliss”, in New York Times, archived from the original on 2020-07-25:


wraith

Borrowed from Middle Scots wraith, first attested in 1513 as a translation of the Aeneid.
The word has no certain etymology. J. R. R. Tolkien favored a link with writhe. Also compared are Scots warth and Old Norse vǫrðr (“watcher, guardian”), whence Icelandic vörður (“guard”). See also wray/bewray, from Middle English wreien. Perhaps from wrath as a wraith is a vengeful spirit.

We might indeed have been the wraiths of the departed dead upon the dead sea of that dying planet for all the sound or sign we made in passing.

1912 February–July, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Under the Moons of Mars”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as “Sola Tells Me Her Story”, in A Princess of Mars, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., 1917 October, →OCLC, pages 159–160:

Like wraiths with the impediments of bodies they stumbled in the direction of Salthill faces.

2001, Joyce Carol Oates, Middle Age: A Romance, paperback edition, Fourth Estate, page 80:

A ghost or specter, especially a person's likeness seen just after their death.

привидение

A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death


Persephone

From Ancient Greek Περσεφόνη (Persephónē).

(Greek mythology) A minor deity, the queen of the Underworld/Hades, and goddess of the seasons and vegetation. Originally named Kore/Core, she is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter; and the wife of Hades. Her Roman counterpart is Proserpina.


Demeter

From Ancient Greek Δημήτηρ (Dēmḗtēr), from γῆ (gê, “earth”) + μήτηρ (mḗtēr, “mother”).

Coordinate term: (Roman counterpart) Ceres

(Greek mythology) The goddess of the fertility of the Earth and harvests, protector of marriage and social order; daughter of Cronos and Rhea, mother to Persephone.


pandemic

The meeting of Venus with Phoebe distinguishes her roles: the business of Venus in her pandemic form is to ensure the immortality of the kinds. Her Garden has the voluptuousness necessary to ensure this, and this is 'the first seminarie / Of all things that are borne to live and die / According to their kindes.' [Quoting from Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene.]

1967, Frank Kermode, “World Without End or Beginning”, in The Sense of an Ending: Studies in the Theory of Fiction (The Mary Flexner Lectures on the Humanities; 1965), New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →OCLC; new edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2000, →ISBN, page 76:

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology, rare) Alternative letter-case form of Pandemic (“of Aphrodite Pandemos, the earthly aspect of the Greek goddess of beauty and love Aphrodite and her Roman counterpart Venus, as contrasted with the heavenly aspect known as Aphrodite Urania: earthly, physical, sensual.”)


loup-garou

en-noun

loup-garou (plural loup-garous or loups-garous)

loup-garous (plural)
loups-garous (plural)

/ˌlu.ɡəˈɹuː/

In this respect, it is always a full moon for a loup-garou. They are never more than half-sane to begin with, and they tend to become increasingly unstable over time.


Orion

From Middle English Orioun, from Latin Ōrīōn, from Ancient Greek Ὠρίων (Ōríōn), speculatively from Akkadian 𒌋𒊒𒀭𒈾 (Uru-anna, “heaven's light”), though without any firm evidence.

der

(Greek mythology) A giant-hunter, pursuer of the Pleiades and lover of Eos, and killed by Artemis.


minotaur

/ˈmɪnəˌtɔː(ɹ)/

/ˈmaɪnəˌtɑɹ/

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Μινώταυρος (Minṓtauros), from Μίνως (Mínōs, “Minos, king of Crete”) + ταῦρος (taûros, “bull”).

af

(Greek mythology) Alternative letter-case form of Minotaur

مَنْطُور

monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man


Morpheus

Borrowed from Latin Morpheus (possibly coined by Ovid in his Metamorphoses as the god is not mentioned in earlier works), from Ancient Greek Μορφεύς (Morpheús), from μορφή (morphḗ, “form, shape”) (alluding to the fact that Morpheus appeared in dreams in the forms of different people) + -εύς (-eús, suffix forming masculine nouns indicating persons concerned with particular things).

(Greek mythology) The god and personification of dreams; according to the Roman poet Ovid, one of the sons of Somnus, the god of sleep.


Aphrodite

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Ἀφροδίτη (Aphrodítē). Doublet of Aferdita.

bor+

Coordinate term: (Roman counterpart) Venus

In the "Iliad", Aphrodite is represented as the daughter of Zeus and Dione, the goddess of moisture, who, as the wife of the god of heaven, was held in high esteem among the old Pelasgians.

1877, Otto Seemann, The Mythology of Greece and Rome: With Special Reference to Its Use in Art, page 65:

(Greek mythology) The goddess of beauty and love, born when Cronus castrated his father, Uranus, and threw his genitalia into the sea.


Europa

From Ancient Greek Εὐρώπη (Eurṓpē), a character name in Greek mythology.
Doublet of Europe.

(Greek mythology) Several characters, most notably a Phoenician princess abducted to Crete by Zeus.


nicker

From Middle English niker, from Old English nicor, from Proto-Germanic *nikwis. Cognate with German Nix (“water demon”) and German Nixe (“mermaid”); also related to Old Norse nykr (“water demon”) (see there for further descendants). Doublet of nix.

And in another tale, told at Kemnitz of the Nicker, as he is there called, when he asks the midwife how much he owes her, she answers that she will take no more from him than from other people.

1891, Edwin Sidney Hartland, The Science of Fairy Tales, page 48:

A type of mythological sea creature or sea monster; also, a water sprite; a nix or nixie; a mermaid or merman.


aspect

From Middle English aspect, from Latin aspectus (“look, sight; appearance”), from aspiciō (“see; catch sight of; inspect”), from ad- (“to, towards, at”) + speciō (“look, look at, behold; observe”).

suunta

position in respect to points of a compass, the sun, etc.

takoto

of the position of land in relation to the sun

The Mother Goddess in her many manifestations is termed Shakti, the female energy in creation, and worshipped as the supreme female aspect of Brahman.

1995, V.P. Kanitkar, W. Owen Cole, Hinduism — An Introduction:

(religion, mythology) The personified manifestation of a deity that represents one or more of its characteristics or functions.


Argus

(Greek mythology) A mythical being, also called Argos or Argus Panoptes, with many eyes, a watchman who served Hera; his eyes were later transplanted to the peacock's tail.


Baldur

But the fate of Baldur, the most amiable and beloved of Asa gods, is, we think, by far the most pleasing of the Scandinavian Myths, although less characteristic of the warlike temper just mentioned than some of the others.

1836, The Foreign Quarterly Review, volume 16, page 443:

In the god Baldur the legend recognizes the god of the earth-sun, the earth force. No being of the earth can approach him with hostility. Hence also the god whom the German legend knew to be a straggler, namely Loki, cannot kill Baldur with anything belonging to the earth; he has to kill him with a branch of mistletoe, because this is a stranger among the creations of the earth, and for this reason can serve the straggler, Loki, who is not related to the earth gods.

1993, Rudolf Steiner, Apocalypse of Saint John, page 99:

1997, Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Volume IV: Mediaeval Christianity, A.D. 590—1093, unnumbered page,
A transition from the myth of Baldur to the gospel of Christ cannot have been very difficult to the Scandinavian imagination; and, indeed, it is apparent that the first ideas which the Scandinavian heathens formed of the “White Christ” were influenced by their ideas of Baldur.

The variety of myths prohibits a single answer, but of biblical myths and myths such as The Epic of Gilgamesh, Baldur’s death, the love of Isis and Osiris, and Prometheus, it is accurate to say that they "are marked by their relevance to men's questions about their nature and place in the universe."

2008, Alan Gregory, Quenching Hell: The Mystical Theology of William Law, page 84:

(Norse mythology) The Norse god of light and purity, a son of Odin and Frigg, known for his beauty and near-invulnerability.


harpy

Ultimately from Middle French harpie, from Latin harpyia, from Ancient Greek Ἅρπυια (Hárpuia, literally “snatcher”), from ἁρπάζω (harpázō, “I snatch, seize”). Compare rapacious. Middle English had arpie.

harpía

fabulous winged monster with the face of a woman

Both table and provisions vanish'd quite,
With sound of harpies' wings and talons heard.

1671, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC:

(mythology) A mythological creature generally depicted as a bird-of-prey with the head of a maiden, a face pale with hunger and long claws on her hands personifying the destructive power of storm winds.

c. 1772, Oliver Goldsmith, letter to Mrs. Bunbury
The harpies about me all pocket the pool.

One who is rapacious or ravenous; an extortioner.

Circus aeruginosus
Circus aeruginosus#Translingual

The European moor buzzard or marsh harrier (Circus aeruginosus).

Harpia harpyja
Harpia harpyja#Translingual

A large and powerful double-crested, short-winged American eagle (Harpia harpyja).


hob

From Middle English Hob (a diminutive of Robin, an Old French [Term?] diminutive of Robert), through its connection with Robin Goodfellow and (later) the devil. Compare hobgoblin; see robin.

From elves, hobs, and fairies, […] Defend us, good Heaven!

1610–1616, John Fletcher, “Monsieur Thomas. A Comedy.”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act IV, scene vi:

(obsolete) A fairy; a sprite; an elf; a bogey.


nereid

From the stem of Latin Nērēis (“sea-nymph”), from Ancient Greek Νηρηΐς (Nērēḯs), from Νηρεύς (Nēreús, “the sea-god Nereus”).

(Greek mythology) One of 50 sea nymphs who were attendants upon Poseidon (Neptune), and were represented as riding on sea horses, sometimes in human form and sometimes with the tail of a fish.


paean

Brill
Charles Scribner's Sons
National Roman Museum
Phidias

From Latin paeān (“a hymn, especially a victory hymn, to Apollo or another god”), from Ancient Greek παιᾱ́ν (paiā́n, “a chant or song, especially a thanksgiving or victory hymn, to Apollo under the name Παιᾱ́ν (Paiā́n)”), from the phrase Ἰὼ Παιᾱ́ν (Iṑ Paiā́n, “O Paean!, Thanks to Paean!”). According to Homer, Paián or Paean was the name of the physician of the gods; its further etymology is unclear. It has been suggested that Παιᾱ́ν is derived from *παιάϝων (*paiáwōn, “one who heals illnesses through magic”), from *παῖϝα (*paîwa), *παϝία (*pawía, “to blow”), related to παίω (paíō, “to hit, strike”) (from Proto-Indo-European *pēu-, *pyu-, *pū- (“to hit; to cut”)), or from παύω (paúō, “to bring to an end; to abate, to stop”) (from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- (“few, little; smallness”)), or that it may be a Pre-Greek word.
Compare Middle French and French paean (also French péan), Italian peana, Portuguese peã, péan.

a chant or song, especially a thanksgiving or victory hymn, to Apollo under the name <i class="Polyt mention" lang="grc">Παιᾱ́ν</i> (Paiā́n)

cog

The dissolution of this great Republic, and the probable failure of the mighty experiments in government of which it has been the theatre, will be a fine subject for political parties to illustrate their various prejudices. The upholders of despotism will sing pæans over its downfall—the lovers of liberty will mourn over what appears to be the stern condition of man, to run alternately the career of improvement and of degeneracy— […]

1833 February, “The Present Crisis in the United States”, in The Monthly Magazine, of Politics, Literature, and the Belles Lettres (New Series), volume XV, number LXXXVI, London: Published by Charles Tilt, 86, Fleet Street, →OCLC, page 209:

Long before they reached this place, which was situated at the other end of the village, they heard the pæan of May carolled by a hundred voices; and, on entering the area, they immediately joined in the chorus.

1841, “The Journey”, in The Life and Times of Dick Whittington; an Historical Romance, London: Hugh Cunningham, St. Martin's Place, Trafalgar Square; Simpkin, Marshall and Co., Stationers' Hall Court; Edinburgh: Bell & Bradfute; Dublin: John Cumming; Glasgow: D. Campbell, →OCLC, page 57:

But what tribute shall we bestow, what sacred pæan shall we raise over the tombs of those who dared, in the face of unrivalled power, and within the reach of majesty, to blow the blast of freedom throughout a subject continent?

1843, Dawes, “Intelligence Necessary to Perpetuate Independence”, in John E[py] Lovell, editor, The United States Speaker: A Copious Selection of Exercises in Elocution; consisting of Prose, Poetry, and Dialogue: Drawn Chiefly from the Most Approved Writers of Great Britain and America: Including a Variety of Pieces Suitable for Very Young Readers: Designed for the Use of Colleges and Schools, rev. and imp. stereotype edition, New Haven, Conn.: Published by S. Babcock, →OCLC, page 27:

Butler’s wife and co-frontperson Regine Chassagne was a one-woman party, bringing sartorial sparkle, snippets of stylised choreography, her helium soprano and Caribbean fiesta spirit to the performance, skipping through the crowd back to the second stage to dance away troubles on top of the piano as she sang Haiti, her bi-lingual paean to her homeland.

2022 September 6, Fiona Shepherd, “Music review: Arcade Fire, Hydro, Glasgow”, in The Scotsman:

(by extension) Any loud and joyous song; a song of triumph.

պեան

any loud and joyous song; a song of triumph


pug

Origin unknown, possibly related to West Flemish pugge (“(adjective) small; (noun) short person; pet name derived from the first name Pugge”); though it is uncertain whether sense 1 (“senses relating to someone or something small”) and sense 2 (“senses relating to people”) are derived from the same source.
Sense 1.8 (“small demon”) was probably influenced by, though not a variant of, puck.

pentu

It is to be observed in this experiment, […] that the loss of weight by feeding (tegs or pugs) on turnips, is remarkable: […]

1808, Thomas Batchelor, “Live Stock”, in General View of the Agriculture of the County of Bedford. […], London: […] [B. MᶜMillan] for Richard Phillips, […], →OCLC, section 2 (Sheep), page 541:

Senses relating to someone or something small.

(UK, regional, archaic) Also used as a proper name: any of various animals, such as a ferret, hare, squirrel, or young salmon.

(specifically) Synonym of teg (“a sheep (originally a ewe) in its second year, or from the time it is weaned until it is first shorn”)

teg

[…] I heard her call him dear pug, and found him to be her favourite monkey.

1712 October 13 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “THURSDAY, October 2, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 499; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 454:

Its proper Povver to hurt, each Creature feels, / Bulls aim their Horns, and Aſſes lift their Heels, / 'Tis a Bear's Talent not to kick, but hug, / And no Man vvonders he's not ſtung by Pug: […]

1733, Alexander Pope, The First Satire of the Second Book of Horace, […], London [actually Edinburgh]: […] L[awton] G[illiver] and sold by A. Dodd […], E[lizabeth] Nutt […], →OCLC, page 13:

Take avvay the pug, ſaid I, to the attendants—Take it avvay vvhile any of it is left—They reſcued the ſtill ſmiling babe, and run avvay vvith it.

1753 (indicated as 1754), [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XLIII. Lady G. to Lady Grandison.”, in The History of Sir Charles Grandison. […], 2nd edition, volume VI, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by C. Hitch and L. Hawes, […], →OCLC, page 211:

Or, is the Monkey sick, he takes his bed; / Old Slop is sent for, to prescribe for Pug.— […]

1812, Peter Pindar [pseudonym; John Wolcot], “Tristia; or, The Sorrows of Peter: […]. Elegy.”, in The Works of Peter Pindar, Esq. […], new edition, volume V, London: […] J[ohn] Walker, G. Wilkie and J. Robinson, G. Robinson, […]; and G. Goulding and Co. […], →OCLC, page 297:

(specifically, obsolete) An ape, a monkey; also (by extension) a human child.

[T]here is a dead silence, till pug is well out of cover, and the whole pack well in: then cheer the hounds with tally ho! till your lungs crack. Away he goes in gallant style, and the whole field is hard up, till pug takes a stiff country: […]

1812, [Maria] Edgeworth, “The Absentee. Chapter VIII.”, in Tales of Fashionable Life (2nd series), volume VI, London: […] [Heney] for J[oseph] Johnson and Co., […], →OCLC, pages 93–94:

That spell was broken by the sight of poor wearied pug, his once gracefully-floating brush all draggled and drooping, as he toiled up the sheep-paths toward the open down above.

1848, [Charles Kingsley], “The Philosophy of Fox-hunting”, in Yeast: A Problem. […], London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], published 1851, →OCLC, page 16:

Dear, delicate Madam, I am your little Paraquit, your Sparrovv, your Shock, your Pugg, your Squirrel.

1685 July (first performance), N[ahum] Tate, Cuckolds-Haven: Or, An Alderman No Conjurer. A Farce. […], London: […] J. H. and are to be sold by Edward Poole, […], published 1685, →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, page 5:

Squirrels / Are not uncommon in the plantings on the broad edges, where they may be seen feeding on the deal-apples, as the Broadsmen call the fir-cones; nuts and acorns too they are fond of. […] Stoats sometimes chase them, but "pug" generally manages to escape, an[d] he can get to a tree first—he is a much more daring jumper.

1895, P[eter] H[enry] Emerson, “Shrew Mouse, or Rana, and Squirrels”, in Birds, Beasts and Fishes of the Norfolk Broadland, London: David Nutt, […], →OCLC, page 363:

Satan. The great diuell. / Pvg. The leſſe diuell.

1616 October or November (first performance), Ben Jonson, “The Persons of the Play”, in The Diuell is an Asse: A Comedie […], London: […] I. B. for Robert Allot, […], published 1631, →OCLC, page 93:

In Iohn Mileſius any man may reade / Of Diuels in Sarmatia honored, / Call'd Kottri, or Kibaldi; ſuch as vvee / Pugs and Hob-goblins call.

1635, Tho[mas] Heywood, “The Ninth Tractat: The Angell”, in The Hierarchie of the Blessed Angells. […], London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 574:

This is your Buſineſs Good Pug Robin, / And your Diverſion, dull Dry Bobbing: / T' intice Fanaticks in the Dirt, / And vvaſh 'em clean in Ditches for't.

1677 (indicated as 1678), [Samuel Butler], “Canto I”, in Hudibras. The Third and Last Part. […], London: […] Simon Miller, […], →OCLC, page 82:

(obsolete) A small demon; an imp, a puck, a sprite.


vamp

en-verb

vamp (third-person singular simple present vamps, present participle vamping, simple past and past participle vamped)

vamps (present singular third-person)
vamping (participle present)
vamped (participle past)
vamped (past)

From Middle English vaumpe, vaum-pei, vampe (“covering for the foot, perhaps a slipper or understocking; upper of a boot or shoe”), or from Anglo-Norman vampe, *vaumpé (“part of a stocking covering the top of the foot”), from Old French avantpied, avantpiet, variants of avantpié, from avant (“in front”) + pié (“foot”).
Noun senses 2 and 3 (“a patch; something patched up or improvised”) appear to have been extended from sense 1 (“top part of a boot or shoe”). Sense 4 (“repeated and often improvised musical accompaniment”) was probably derived from sense 3, and sense 5 (“activity to fill or stall for time”) from sense 4.
The verb senses were derived from the noun. Compare also Middle English vaum-peien (“(uncertain) to repair (footwear) with a new upper or vamp; to fabricate an upper or vamp”).

cog

Keep vamping! Something’s wrong with the mic!

She went out there to vamp since the speaker was late arriving.

(intransitive) To delay or stall for time, as for an audience.


victory

en-noun

victory (countable and uncountable, plural victories)

→ Maori: wikitōriatanga

The noun is derived from Middle English victory, victori, victorie (“supremacy, victory; a defeat or vanquishing, conquest; superior military force; might, power, strength; triumphal celebration or procession; monument commemorating a defeat; superior position, dominance; mastery; moral victory, vindication; success, triumph; redemption, salvation; resurrection of Jesus; means of achieving spiritual victory; reward for or token of perseverance in a spiritual struggle”) [and other forms], borrowed from Anglo-Norman victorie and Old French victorie, a variant of victoire (“victory, win”) (modern French victoire), from Latin victōria (“victory”), from victor (“champion, winner, victor; conqueror, vanquisher”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyk- (“to contain, envelop; to overcome”)) + -ia (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). The English word is analysable as victor + -y (suffix forming abstract nouns denoting a condition, quality, or state), and displaced Middle English siȝe, sye.
The interjection is derived from the noun.
Cognates
* French victoire
* Italian vittoria
* Portuguese vitoria
* Spanish victoria
* Romanian victorie

nb...

victorye, viktori, vitorie, vittori, vittorie, vyctory, vyktorye, (Kent) fictorie, fyctorye, (Northern England) wictori, wictorie, wictorrie

suffix

snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory

All along the Champs Elysées were […] statues of plaster representing nymphs, triumphs, victories, and other female personages painted in oil so as to represent marble; real marble could have had no better effect, and the appearance of the whole was lively and picturesque in the extreme.

1841, M. A. Titmarsh [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], “Mr. Titmarsh to Miss Smith on the Second Funeral of Napoleon. Letter III. The Funeral Ceremony.”, in The Second Funeral of Napoleon: […] And The Chronicle of the Drum. […], London: Hugh Cunningham, […], →OCLC, page 63:

(Roman mythology) Alternative letter-case form of Victory (“(uncountable) the Roman goddess of victory, the counterpart of the Greek goddess Nike; also (countable), an artistic depiction of her, chiefly as a winged woman”)


Charybdis

From Ancient Greek Χάρυβδις (Khárubdis).

I have never yet been able to steer my lovers through the Scylla of presence, or the Charybdis of absence.

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Chapter XII. Lady Marchmont’s Journal.”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 85:

A dangerous whirlpool on the coast of Sicily opposite Scylla on the Italian coast.

(Greek mythology) A personification of the above whirlpool as a female monster.


chimera

monolith

antonym(s) of “anything composed of very disparate parts”

Variant of Middle English chimere, chymere, & chymera under renewed Latin influence from the 16th century, from French chimère, from Latin Chimaera, from Ancient Greek Χίμαιρα (Khímaira, “fire-breathing mythological monster, fire-spewing Lycian or Cilician mountain”), from χίμαιρα (khímaira, “she-goat”, from χίμαρος (khímaros, “male goat”) + -α (-a)), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰey-. In reference to the fish, directly from Latin Chimaera, used by Linnaeus. In reference to organisms with distinct areas of different genetic makeups, a calque of German Chimäre, used by Hans Winkler in 1907.

af

...beestis clepid chymeres, that han a part of ech beest, and suche ben not, no but oonly in opynyoun...

1382, John Purvey, Bible, Prologue, p. 31

Bellerophon was commanded to destroy this monster, and with the assistance of the flying horse, Pegasus, he slew the chimera.

1860, E. Cust, “The Chimeras: An Attempt to Show that the Compound Animals of the Assyrian Marbles are Representations of those Erected by Solomon and Jeroboam (Read 1st and 8th December, 1859.)”, in Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, volume XII, Liverpool: Adam Holden, →OCLC, page 99:

The game includes a bunch of chimeras, with the lion heads shooting fire and the snake tails whipping around trying to bite the player.

(Greek mythology) Alternative letter-case form of Chimera, a supposed monster in Lycia with the head of a lion, body of a goat, and tail of a dragon or serpent, killed by the hero Bellerophon.

Chimera

A voice had called him forth to think in solitude—a voice he durst not resist, the awful one of the future. It fell on John's heart like the mutter of approaching desolation. He heard it coming on, as the spell-bound in a hideous dream await, wordless and shivering, the progress of some chimera monster, whose grasp is to crush and destroy.

1853, “the O’Hara Family” [pseudonym; John Banim], chapter XV, in The Nowlans, London: Simms and M‘Intyre, Paternoster Row; and Donegall Street, Belfast, →OCLC, page 142:

The Magophonia was essentially the eruption of a long-simmering animosity between the pārsās (who revered Ahura Mazdā) and the Median magi (who believed in the supremacy of Mithra and Apam Napāt). A vivid expression of this animosity is displayed on the door jambs of Persepolis, where Darius is killing with a dagger a chimera monster with a scorpion tail.

2014, Abolala Soudavar, “Appendix II – From the Avesta to Sufi Treatises: A Standard Literary Technique”, in Mithraic Societies: From Brotherhood Ideal to Religion’s Adversary, Houston, Tx.: Abolala Soudavar, →ISBN, page 359:

(mythology, art) Any fantastic creature combining parts from different animals.

khimaira

any similarly fantastic creature formed of parts from different animals


damnation

en-noun

damnation (countable and uncountable, plural damnations)

From Middle English dampnacioun, from Old French dampnacion, from Latin damnatio.

The state of being damned; condemnation; openly expressed disapprobation.

проклятие

(religion) Condemnation to everlasting punishment in the future state, or the punishment itself.


damnation

Oh damnation! The window doesn't shut!

Expressing annoyance or disappointment; damn; dammit.


fain

en-verb

fain (third-person singular simple present fains, present participle faining, simple past and past participle fained)

fains (present singular third-person)
faining (participle present)
fained (participle past)
fained (past)
fain (infinitive)

From Middle English fainen (“to be glad or joyful, rejoice; to make happy, gladden; to welcome; of an animal: to show happiness, as by wagging the tail; to act fawningly or flatteringly”), from Old English fæġnian (“to be glad, rejoice; to celebrate; to be delighted with, applaud; to wish for”), from Proto-West Germanic *faginōn (“to be glad, rejoice; to make glad, gladden”), from Proto-Germanic *faginōną (“to be glad, rejoice”), from *faganaz (“glad”): see further at etymology 1. Doublet of fawn.

inh

(Germanic paganism) To celebrate or worship; specifically, to offer an oblation which is not a sacrificial blót (“ceremonial offering”).

juhlia

(Germanic paganism) to celebrate or worship; to offer an oblation which is not a sacrificial blót — see also celebrate, worship


hag

From Middle English hagge, hegge (“demon, old woman”), shortening of Old English hægtesse, hægtes (“harpy, witch”), from Proto-West Germanic *hagatussjā. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Häkse (“witch”), Dutch heks, German Hexe (“witch”). Doublet of hex.

And that olde hag that with a staffe his staggering lymbes dooth stay

1565, Arthur Golding (tr.), The Fyrst Fower Bookes of P. Ouidius Nasos worke intitled Metamorphosis, London: William Seres, The Fovrthe Booke:

Such unaccountable masses of shades and shadows, that at first you almost thought some ambitious young artist, in the time of the New England hags, had endeavored to delineate chaos bewitched.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 3, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 11:

A witch, sorceress, or enchantress; a female wizard.


hermetic

en-adj

hermetic (comparative more hermetic, superlative most hermetic)

more hermetic (comparative)
most hermetic (superlative)

From Medieval Latin hermeticus, irregular derivation of Hermes Trismegistus, the god and mythological alchemist, said to possess a magic ability to seal treasure chests so that nothing could access their contents.

(chiefly capitalized, Greek mythology) Pertaining to ancient Greek Olympian God Hermes


leech

From Middle English leche (“physician”), from Old English lǣċe (“doctor, physician”), from Proto-West Germanic *lākī, from Proto-Germanic *lēkijaz (“doctor”), of disputed origin, but usually thought to be connected with Proto-Celtic (compare Old Irish líaig (“charmer, exorcist, physician”)); perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to collect, gather”).
Cognate with Old Frisian lētza (“physician”), Old Saxon lāki (“physician”), Old High German lāhhi (“doctor, healer”), Danish læge (“doctor, surgeon”), Gothic 𐌻𐌴𐌺𐌴𐌹𐍃 (lēkeis, “physician”). Slavic words such as Serbo-Croatian ljèkār, Polish lekarz (“physician, doctor”) are usually considered to be borrowings from Germanic.

cog

Their functions are threefold, those of the medicine-man (the leech, or healer by supernatural means); of the soothsayer (the prophet through communion with the invisible world); and of the priest, especially in his capacity as exorcist

1900, Augustus Henry Keane, Man, Past and Present, Cambridge: The University Press:

In ancient times runesters were a specialized class separate from that of the witch or ordinary spell caster (much as the other specialists such as the leech or healer and the seithkona were different from a witch), and even today many believe it takes years of training to become adept at using the runes in spell work.

1996, Swain Wodening, “Scandinavian Craft Lesson 6: Runic Divination”, Theod Magazine 3 (4)

"Leech?" "Not another doctor".

2003, Brian Froud, Ari Berk, The Runes of Elfland, Pavillion Books, →ISBN, page 22:

There are many kinds of "Leech" or "healer" as there are healing techniques, some are more powerful than others and some are very specific to certain illnesses and complaints; some use potions and unguents, others crystals and stones, others galdr and some work their healing from within the hidden realms themselves.

2004, Runic John, The Book of Seidr, Capall Bann Publishing, →ISBN, page 282:


myth

From Ancient Greek μῦθος (mûthos, “word, humour, companion, speech, account, rumour, fable”). Attested in English since 1830. Doublet of mythos.

bor

Myth was the product of man's emotion and imagination, acted upon by his surroundings. (E. Clodd, Myths & Dreams (1885), 7, cited after OED)


Pegasus

From Late Middle English Pegase, Pegasus, from Latin Pēgasus, from Ancient Greek Πήγασος (Pḗgasos), traditionally associated with πηγή (pēgḗ, “spring, fountain, fountain fed by a spring”), especially used to denote springs of Ocean, where Perseus killed Medusa, from whose blood Pegasus sprang. Some have dismissed this as folk etymology and suggest a pre-Greek origin because of the -ασος suffix. First attested in the 14th century.

Пегас

in Ancient Greek or other European contexts

(Greek mythology) A winged horse fabled to have sprung from the blood of Medusa when she was slain. He is noted for causing, with a blow of his hoof, Hippocrene, the inspiring fountain of the Muses, to spring from Mount Helicon. Bellerophon tamed and rode upon Pegasus when he defeated the Chimaera.

vernal equinoctial
vernal equinox#English

(astronomy) A constellation of the northern sky, near the vernal equinoctial point, representing the winged horse. Its three brightest stars, with the brightest star of Andromeda, form the asterism of the Great Square of Pegasus.


Pegasus

(originally Greek mythology, fantasy, occasionally proscribed) Any winged horse; pterippus.

Confidence in Corinthian Pegasi grew up in the Greek zone of the island in such a way that Pegasi became the accepted coin of the realm.

2007 February 15, R. J. A. Talbert, Timoleon and the Revival of Greek Sicily: 344-317 B.C., Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, →OL, page 167:

(historical) A coin of ancient Corinth with a winged horse depicted on the obverse.


Scylla

From Latin Scylla, from Ancient Greek Σκύλλα (Skúlla).

between Scylla and Charybdis
between Scylla and Charybdis

A dangerous rock on the Italian coast opposite the whirlpool Charybdis on the coast of Sicily. The passage between Scylla and Charybdis was formerly considered perilous; hence, the saying between Scylla and Charybdis signifies a great peril on either hand.

(Greek mythology) A personification of said rock as a ravenous monster.

Ah cease rash Youth! desist e'er 'tis too late, / Fear the just Gods, and think of Scylla′s Fate!

1714, Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock, Canto III:

(Greek mythology) A princess, daughter of King Nisos of Megara, who fell in love with King Minos and betrayed her city to him.


Sisyphean

From Sisyphus, from Ancient Greek Σίσυφος (Sísuphos). Sisyphus was a Greek mythological figure who was doomed to endlessly roll a boulder up a hill in Tartarus, only to have it roll back down again.


sprite

→ Japanese: スプライト (supuraito)

→ Russian: спрайт (sprajt)

From Middle English sprite, spryt, spreyte, from Old French esprit (“spirit”), from Latin spiritus. Doublet of spirit, spiritus, spirytus, spright, and esprit.
(computer graphics): First used by Danny Hillis at Texas Instruments in the late 1970s.
(meteorology): An acronym for Stratospheric Perturbations Resulting from Intense Thunderstorm Electrification.

doublet

He who torments the chafer's sprite
Weaves a bower in endless night.

1803, William Blake, Auguries of Innocence:

(mythology) Any of various supernatural beings, loosely defined:

дух

a spirit; a soul; a shade; also, an apparition

An elf, fairy, or goblin; one with a small humanlike physical body.


troll

Partly:
* from Middle English trol (“demon (?); sorcerer (?)”) [and other forms], from Old Norse trǫll (“conjurer, mage; witch”), from Proto-Germanic *truzlą (“supernatural being; demon, fiend; giant; monster”), probably from *trudaną (“to step on; to tread”) + *-ilą (suffix forming agent nouns); and
* borrowed from Norwegian Bokmål troll, Swedish troll, or Danish trold, from Old Norse trǫll (see above).
Doublet of droll and trow.
Cognates
* Danish fortrylle (“to bewitch”), trylle (“to conjure”)
* Icelandic tröll
* Middle High German trol, trolle (“spook, wraith; ogre, monster”)
* Norwegian fortrylle (“to bewitch”), trylle (“to conjure”)
* Swedish trolla (“to conjure”)

der

He followed their advice, and rode through a rye-field, where the Trolls were unable to follow him, but in their exasperation cried after him, "The red cock shall crow over thy dwelling." And behold! his house stood in a blaze.

1851, Benjamin Thorpe, “Norwegian Traditions. [The Girl at the Sæter.]”, in Northern Mythology, […], volumes II (Scandinavian Popular Traditions and Superstitions), London: Edward Lumley, […], →OCLC, page 7:

The Scandinavian fancied himself surrounded by Trolls,—a kind of goblin men, with vast power of work and skilful production,—divine stevedores, carpenters, reapers, smiths, and masons, swift to reward every kindness done them, with gifts of gold and silver.

1856, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Ability”, in English Traits, Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson, and Company, →OCLC, page 81:

The bear got so angry that he rushed at the trolls and scratched them all over, while Peter took the other handspike and hammered away at them as if he wanted to beat their brains out. The trolls had to clear out at last, but Peter stayed and enjoyed himself with all the Christmas fare the whole week. After that the trolls were not heard of there for many years.

1881, P. Chr. Asbjörnsen [i.e., Peter Christen Asbjørnsen], “Peter Gynt”, in H. L. Brækstad, transl., Round the Yule Log. Norwegian Folk and Fairy Tales, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, →OCLC, page 150:

In these manuscripts we are again in an atmosphere of eotens and trolls, there are traces of even older terrors, when the first Teuton settlers in Europe struggled with the aborigines who lived in caves, hints as elusive as the phantom heroes in the Saxon poems, and as unforgettable.

1922, Eleanour Sinclair Rohde, “The Anglo-Saxon Herbals”, in The Old English Herbals, London: Longmans, Green and Co. […], →OCLC, page 3:

(originally Scandinavian mythology, now also European folklore and fantasy) a giant supernatural being, especially a grotesque humanoid creature living in caves or hills or under bridges.

طْرُول

giant supernatural being; grotesque humanoid creature living in caves or hills or under bridges


Santa Claus

Borrowed from Dutch Sinterklaas (“Saint Nicholas”).

bor+

Last Monday the Anniversary of St. Nicholas, otherwise called St. A Claus, was celebrated at Protestant-Hall.

1773 December 26, New York Gazette, p. 3

The noted St. Nicholas, vulgarly called Santaclaus—of all the saints in the kalendar the most venerated by true hollanders, and their unsophisticated descendants.

Here, too, the winter festivals are just commencing; and the toy-shops are full of dolls and gew-gaws for the Bifana, who acts here the same comedy for children that Santiclaus does in America.

1828 November, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, letter to his mother from Italy

This is one of the developments Karl Marx failed to predict. Had he foreseen it he might have expired in guffaws, rolling in the aisle of the British Museum Library amid the notes for Das Kapital, that bearded Santa Claus of the revolution who slipped the unwanted gift of communism down the world's chimneys.

1937 August, Lawrence Martin, "The Odyssey of a Bogeyman", Esquire, Vol. 8, No. 2, p. 39

Emmeline: Oh Richard, you can't know everything. Only God knows everything.
Richard: God—He can't find us any better than Santa Claus.

1980, Douglas Day Stewart, The Blue Lagoon:

By 1900, department-store Santa Clauses were common – lodged in grottoes, cottages, and workshops or on thrones, they presided over a never-ending stream of children.

2005, Gerry Bowler, “Santa the Adman”, in Santa Claus: A Biography, McClelland & Stewart, →ISBN, page 142:

(folklore) A figure said to bring presents to people (especially children) at Christmas time.

Christkind

Christmas; different figure with same role


Sterculius

(Roman mythology) The god of manure or fertilizer.


ichneumon

From Latin ichneumōn, from Ancient Greek ἰχνεύμων (ikhneúmōn, “tracker”), from ἴχνος (íkhnos, “track, footstep”).

der

(mythology) a legendary animal, which kills crocodiles and dragons


mythical

en-adj

mythical (comparative more mythical, superlative most mythical)

more mythical (comparative)
most mythical (superlative)

From Latin mȳthicos + -al; by surface analysis, myth + -ical.


Baal

en-proper noun

Baal (countable and uncountable, plural Baals or Baalim)

From Late Latin Baal (as in the Vulgate) and Ancient Greek Βάαλ (Báal); from Hebrew בַּעַל (bá`al, “lord, husband, owner”), Phoenician 𐤁𐤏𐤋 (bʿl, “lord, master, owner”) and Ugaritic 𐎁𐎓𐎍 (baʿlu, “lord, owner”), all from Proto-Semitic *baʿl- (“owner, lord, husband”).

der

(mythology, biblical) A storm and fertility god of the Phoenician and Canaanite pantheons, reckoned as chief of the gods by the 1st millennium BC.

(mythology, biblical, sometimes lowercase) Various other Baalim, understood as distinct patron gods or as local patron aspects the great god Baal.


Bacchanalia

From Latin Bacchānālia (“feast of Bacchus”), plural of Bacchānal (“a place devoted to Bacchus”), from Bacchus (“the god of wine”), from Ancient Greek Βάκχος (Bákkhos).

(Greek mythology) A feast or an orgy in honor of Bacchus.


Odin

→ Chinese: 奧丁 /奥丁 (Àodīng)

→ Japanese: オーディン

Learned borrowing from Old Norse Óðinn (whence Icelandic Óðinn, Norwegian Nynorsk Oden), akin to Old High German Wodan and Old English Wōden. From Proto-Germanic *Wōdanaz, derived from Proto-Germanic *wōdaz (“rage, manic inspiration, furor poeticus”), from Proto-Indo-European *weh₂t- (“to be excited”). Compare Old Norse óðr (“rage”) and Dutch woede (“rage”) and woeden (“to rage”), Irish fáidh, Latin vātēs. Doublet of Woden and Wotan. Related to English wode.

interpretatio germanica
interpretatio germanica

(Norse mythology and paganism) A major Germanic god, often described as chief of the pantheon, in his Norse form a member of the Æsir, married to Frigg and associated with knowledge, poetry and war. Wednesday refers to him by way of interpretatio germanica.