crocotta

From Ancient Greek κροκόττας (krokóttas, “crocotta”, first attested in Strabo's Geographica), which may have been borrowed from Sanskrit.

der

A mythical dog-wolf of India or Ethiopia, said to be a deadly enemy of men and dogs and able to imitate the voice of any animal or human.


leucrota

(mythology) The offspring of a crocotta and a lion, supposed to be able to imitate the sound of a human voice.


androsphinx

en-noun

androsphinx (plural androsphinxes or androsphinges)

androsphinxes (plural)
androsphinges (plural)


Priam

Anglicized version of Latin Priamus, from the Ancient Greek Πρίαμος (Príamos).

(Greek mythology) The king of Troy during the Iliad


Pele

When Hi‘iaka, Lohi‘au, and her companion began their return trip, the forty days allowed by Pele had passed. Most of Hi‘iaka’s chants during the homeward journey have a recurrent refrain of sorrow, for by now she had a vision of Pele’s treachery.

1989, Rita Knipe, The Water of Life: A Jungian Journey through Hawaiian Myth, University of Hawaii Press, page 146:

1989, Hi‘iaka, entry in Robert D. Craig, Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 60,
Once there, Hi‘iaka learned that Lohi‘au had died out of grief for the woman (Pele) who had danced before him. Hi‘iaka was able to restore his spirit and life. Now they had [to] face the return voyage, and already the forty days had passed.

Some versions of the Pele myth say that Pele was always fighting with her sister. To separate them, their father exiled Pele to Hawaii.

2012, Jim Ollhoff, South Pacific Mythology, ABDO Publishing Company, page 28:

Later the island was visited by Christian missionaries, and a number of Hawaiians converted to Christianity. Nevertheless, Pele was not forgotten, nor was worship of Pele discontinued. Pele remained a powerful goddess in the eyes of native Hawaiians because of her ongoing unpredictable eruptions that both created and destroyed. Even in modern times, Pele is a feature of Hawaii.

2021, David Seal, Sharon K. Smith, World Mythology, Wipf and Stock, page 190:

(Hawaiian mythology) The Hawaiian goddess of fire and volcanos.


Hiʻiaka

2015 [2008 M. E. Sharpe], Josepha Sherman, Storytelling: An Encyclopedia of Mythology and Folklore, Taylor & Francis (Routledge), unnumbered page,
Hi‘iaka and Pele had several sisters, all of whom shared the name Hi‘iaka followed by a different description. The other sisters always used their full names unless grouped together, as in "the Hi‘iaka sisters." Only Hi‘iaka-i-kapoli-’o-Pele individually shortened her name to Hi‘iaka.

(Hawaiian mythology) Any of the twelve sisters of the volcano goddess Pele, especially the youngest, whom Pele was given to raise.


pearly gates

After the description in Revelation 21:21.

When shall these eyes thy heaven-built walls / And pearly gates behold?

1795, Joseph Bromehead, Jerusalem, My Happy Home:

This immense wealth; this gilded splendor; this profusion of luxury; this exemption from toil; this life of ease; this sea of plenty; aye, what of it all? Are the pearly gates of happiness and sweet content flung open to such suitors?

1855, Frederick Douglass, chapter 7, in My Bondage and My Freedom. […], New York, Auburn, N.Y.: Miller, Orton & Mulligan […], →OCLC:

The narrowness of the imagination of the old masters is generally depicted in their canvases. Heaven to them was a serious business of pearly gates, harps, halos, and aërial flights on ambient pale clouds.

1908, Harold McGraff, chapter 27, in The Lure of the Mask:

I'd toss for pennies on the front steps of the New Jerusalem or set up a faro layout just outside the Pearly Gates.

1910, Jack London, chapter 20, in Burning Daylight:

By the time they got a doctor down / I was already dead / And I'll never understand why the man / Standing in the Pearly Gates said…

1971, John Prine (lyrics and music), “Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore”, in John Prine:

When I'm at the pearly gates / This'll be on my videotape, my videotape

2007, “Videotape”, in In Rainbows, performed by Radiohead:


World Turtle

In the underworld beneath the lid on the back of the world turtle, where the god Batara Kala and the goddess Setesuyara lived, there was perpetual darkness.

1970, Hubert Sieben, Ian Fraser Grant, Bali: Morning of the World, page 6:

The mythical giant sea turtle or tortoise that upholds the World in various cosmologies.


hellspawn

hellspawn (plural hellspawn or hellspawns)

Despite his grim mien, his kinship with vein-biters and hellspawns, Batman always maintained one pious virtue, his unspoken insistence on the value—the sacredness—of human life.

1994, Dennis O’Neil, Batman: Knightfall, Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 348:

Image Animation also fabricated the hellspawns’ bondage-inspired costumes, substituting foam material for the more expensive leather of the previous two films.

1996, Anthony Timpone, Men, Makeup, and Monsters: Hollywood’s Masters of Illusion and FX, St. Martin’s Griffin, →ISBN, page 179:

The face and voice were beyond question those of the man who had died to protect her in a room full of hellspawn and slaughter.

1998, David Drake, Queen of Demons, Tor Books, →ISBN, page 115:

“The door was ajar. Not so smart for a young Nightwing-in-training—especially when he’s got one of those filthy hellspawns in his hands.”

2003, Geoffrey Huntington [pseudonym; William J. Mann], “A Deadly Duel”, in Demon Witch (The Ravenscliff Series; II), ReganBooks, →ISBN, page 111:

(fantasy) A creature or creatures from hell.


Cyrene

From Latin Cyrene, from Ancient Greek Κυρήνη (Kurḗnē), of uncertain origin. Classical sources considered the Thessalian demigod the etymon for the Libyan city. Modern scholars variously derive the name from the Libyan spring Κύρα (Kúra) or, noting the myth attested before the spring or city, consider an existing Proto-Berber name to have been conflated with the Thessalian myths by early Greek colonists.

(Greek mythology) A Thessalian princess and huntress demigod, companion of Artemis and lover of Apollo.


Anahit

(Armenian mythology) Alternative form of Anahita


Hayk

(Armenian mythology) The legendary patriarch and founder of the Armenian nation.


Enyo

(Greek mythology) Goddess of violent war, acting as a counterpart and companion to the war god Ares. Identified with Bellona in Roman mythology.


Cadmus

Via Latin Cadmus, from Ancient Greek Κάδμος (Kádmos).

(Greek mythology) A Phoenician prince, son of king Agenor of Tyre. Was sent by his royal parents to seek and return his sister Europa after being abducted from Phoenicia by Zeus. Credited with founding Greek city of Thebes and inventing Greek alphabet.


Annona

(Roman mythology) A Roman goddess personifying the yearly harvest.


dragonlike

en-adj

dragonlike (comparative more dragonlike, superlative most dragonlike)

more dragonlike (comparative)
most dragonlike (superlative)

Resembling or characteristic of a dragon.


Veles

Likely of Proto-Indo-European origin but the exact root is difficult to pinpoint. Suggestions have included *h₂welh₁- (“wool”) and *welg- (“damp, humid”). Also compare Lithuanian vẽlės (“ghostly figures of the deceased”), archaic form of modern velnias (“demon, devil”). More at Veles.

cog

(Slavic mythology) The pagan Slavic god of the fertile earth, livestock, waters, and the underworld, often portrayed as a chimera.


Astghik

(Armenian mythology) Ancient Armenian goddess of sensual love, beauty, and water. Lover of Vahagn. Often identified with Aphrodite and the planet Venus.


dragonhide

en-noun

dragonhide (countable and uncountable, plural dragonhides)

She was also almost naked, except for a couple of mere scraps of the lightest chain mail and riding boots of iridescent dragonhide.

1983, Terry Pratchett, The Color of Magic:


stellify

en-verb

stellify (third-person singular simple present stellifies, present participle stellifying, simple past and past participle stellified)

stellifies (present singular third-person)
stellifying (participle present)
stellified (participle past)
stellified (past)

From Middle English stellifien (“to make into a star; glorify, deify”), from Middle French stellifier, from Medieval Latin stellificāre, itself from Latin stella (“star”) + faciō (“make, do”).

inh

In Classical mythology, being stellified was about the greatest posthumous honor for a mortal.

By the 'hissing snake' Spenser presumably means the scorpion sent by Diana that killed Orion. Like Orion it, too, was stellified. But since, as Scorpio, it rises in the east as Orion's sign sets in the west, the two were regarded as being kept forever apart, Orion perpetually avoiding in the heavens his vanquisher on earth.

1983, Douglas Brooks-Davies, The Mercurian Monarch: magical politics from Spenser to Pope, page 31:

(transitive, mythology) To transform from an earthly body into a celestial body; to place in the sky as such

muuttaa tähdeksi

mythology: to transform from an earthly body into a celestial body


jackalope

/ˈd͡ʒækələʊp/

Most jackalopes are furry and a foot or two tall; many are only heads, mounted on wood plaques; there are some six-footers, covered with fur…

1993, Jane Stern, Michael Stern, Way out west:

(folklore, mythology) A folkloric animal, a supposed cross between a jackrabbit and an antelope, goat, or deer, usually portrayed as a rabbit with antlers.


finfolk

(Orkney) Sorcerous shapeshifters of the sea in Orkney folklore.


argopelter

A mythical monster of the United States, said to inhabit hollow tree trunks and hurl wooden splinters and branches at passers-by.


batutut

John MacKinnon, studying orangutan ecology in the Malaysian state of Sabah, found footprints of the batutut […]

1988, Jeffrey A McNeely, Paul Spencer Sochaczewski, Soul of the tiger:

[…] the batutut was described as a type of ghost, a shy nocturnal creature about four feet tall, which walks upright like a man and has a long black mane.

2007, Jeff Meldrum, Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science:

From the guide's description, however, the batutut seems more aggressive […]

2009, Gregory Forth, Images of the Wildman in Southeast Asia:

A folkloric hairy hominid said to inhabit wilderness areas of Vietnam, Laos, and northern Borneo.


joint snake

The farmer, however, knowing the habits of joint snakes, had hidden one of the middle pieces in his pocket.

Nat knew, though he had never seen one, that there were such things as joint snakes and hoop snakes.

You take them joint snakes, now. That's not one of God's works. You hit one, he breaks into pieces, layin' on the ground like a broken icicle...

A mythical creature of the southern United States, a snake that can reassemble itself when broken or cut into pieces.


hidebehind

The Hidebehind is never found in the open. He always conceals himself behind a tree trunk.

1939, Henry Harrington Tryon, Fearsome critters:

She meets sirens and sea serpents and hidebehinds, wicked kings and repulsive recluses, capitalist magicians and seven-league boots and magic pomegranates.

1984, John Wood Campbell, editor, Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact:

A creature in United States folklore that may be glimpsed but never seen clearly.


hoop snake

A mythical creature of the United States and Australia, a snake that grasps its tail in its jaws and thereby rolls after its prey like a wheel.


wolpertinger

The wolpertinger roams the mountains and forests of the Bavarian Alps.

1995, Greg N Carlson, Francis Jeffry Pelletier, The generic book:

...fall into the same category as Germany's wolpertingers, which we have seen on our visits to that country.

2004, Bill Cannon, Texas: Land of Legend and Lore:

We can however think of hypothetical worlds w' that contain wolpertingers and/or unicorns […]

2006, Regine Eckardt, Meaning change in grammaticalization:

A fictional creature said to inhabit the alpine forests of Bavaria, having various incongruous features such as wings, antlers, and fangs.


sirrush

A fantastical creature depicted on the reconstructed Ishtar Gate of Babylon, a scaly dragon with hind legs like an eagle's talons and feline forelegs.


household deity

en-noun

household deity (plural household deities)

[…] Ganesh (Pillayar in Tamil), here is not associated with militant Hinduism; Pillayar is a lovable household deity here, a free and familiar god who craves no chauvinistic devotion.

1990, V. Geetha with S. V. Rajadurai, “Communal Violence in Madras: A Portent?”, in Economic and Political Weekly, volume 25, number 38, →ISSN, page 2122:

[O]n this day, as throughout the New Year's period, rites of divination for the following year were performed along with rites for the spirits of ancestors and other household deities.

2005, Michael Como, “Silkworms and Consorts in Nara Japan”, in Asian Folklore Studies, volume 64, number 1, page 127:

(mythology, religion) A minor tutelary deity watching over a household, usually conceived as a protective ancestral spirit or genius loci.

huisgod

minor god or goddess who protects a home or family

lar

chiefly Roman contexts, particularly overseeing the family

penates

chiefly Roman contexts, particularly overseeing the house and its storeroom


Kamala

en-prop

Kamala (countable and uncountable, plural Kamalas)

Transliteration of Sanskrit कमला (kamalā). Doublet of Kamal.

translit

(Hinduism) An epithet of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi.

কমলা

Hinduism: an epithet of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi


ghosthunter

They watched the two ghost-hunters run own the corridor and go crashing over the trip-wire.

1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 119:

His reputation as a ghosthunter grew stronger and others began contacting him for investigations and "exorcisms."

1992, Blanche Barton, The secret life of a Satanist: the authorized biography of Anton LaVey:

The most prolific and successful German horror writer of the Hefte is Helmut Rellergerd (1945-), who writes as Jason Dark about a ghosthunter named John...

1999, John Clute, John Grant, The encyclopedia of fantasy:

The Frighteners (1996) has a ghosthunter, Frank, working with a trio of ghosts who infest premises that he then clears.

2004, Tom Ruffles, Ghost images: cinema of the afterlife:

The last two years have certainly made me a ghosthunter, perhaps not in the intensive style exhibited by ghosthunter clubs and "professional" ghosthunters...

2005, John B Kachuba, Ghosthunting Illinois:

A person who attempts to track down ghosts.


Dikê

Dolos and Dikê in Sophokles’ Elektra

2001: Leona MacLeod, Dolos and Dikê in Sophokles’ Elektra, volume 219, main title (Brill; →ISBN, 9789004118980)

(historical, Greek mythology) The goddess personifying the principle of justice.


ghosthunting

Investigations that aim to track down ghosts.

spokenjacht

Investigations aiming to track down ghosts


head

it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God

From the Gospel of Matthew, verse 19:24. Some assert that "camel" is a misinterpretation of a word meaning "rope" and others assert that the "Needle's Eye" was a gate in the walls of Jerusalem, but the evidence for each of these theories is contested, and the literal interpretation remains the most common.

(Christianity, biblical) It is unlikely that the wealthy will go to heaven.

ʔinna murūra jamal min ṯaqb ʔibratin ʔaysaru min ʔan yadḵula ḡaniyyun ʔilā malakūti llāhi

إِنَّ مُرُورَ جَمَل مِنْ ثَقْب إِبْرَةٍ أَيْسَرُ مِنْ أَنْ يَدْخُلَ غَنِيٌّ إِلَى مَلَكُوتِ اللهِ

det er lettere for en kamel at komme igennem et nåleøje end for en rig at komme ind i Guds rige

eher geht ein Kamel durch ein Nadelöhr, als dass ein Reicher in das Reich Gottes gelangt

det er lettere for en kamel å gå gjennom et nåløye enn for en rik man å komme inn i Guds rike

łatwiej jest wielbłądowi przejść przez ucho igielne, niż bogatemu wejść do królestwa niebieskiego

é mais fácil passar um camelo pelo fundo de uma agulha do que entrar um rico no reino de Deus

léxče verbljúdu projtí skvozʹ igólʹnoje uškó, čem bogačú vojtí v cárstvije nebésnoje

ле́гче верблю́ду пройти́ сквозь иго́льное ушко́, чем богачу́ войти́ в ца́рствие небе́сное

es más fácil que un camello pase por el ojo de una aguja, que un rico entre en el reino de Dios


Juno Moneta

From New Latin Juno Moneta, varient of Classical Latin Iūnō Monēta, from Iuno (“Juno”), queen of the Roman gods equated with the Greek Hera, and Moneta, of uncertain etymology. The name has been popularly derived from monēre (“to advise or warn”) since antiquity with reference to various events in Roman legend and history, but modern archeology seems to show the worship of a goddess Moneta elsewhere in Italy prior to her introduction to Rome (cf. evocatio) in 344 BC. The connection to coinage and money derived from her temple's use to house the state mint until a fire around AD 84. Cognate with money and monetary.

(Roman mythology) Synonym of Juno, particularly as a patron of the state mint and Roman coinage.

Iūnō Monēta

Juno as advisor, warner, or patron of minting


cynocephaly

(mythology) The state of a human having the head of a dog.


Calydon

(historical, Greek mythology) The legendary founding king and eponym of the city of Calydon, whose failure to honor the goddess Artemis in a rite resulted in her sending the Calydonian Boar to lay waste to the city.


Excalibur

From Middle English Excalaber, from Old French Escalibor, Escaliborc, prothetic form of Calliborc, alteration of Calibourne, from Medieval Latin Caliburnus (Geoffrey of Monmouth, ca. 1136), influenced by calibs (“steel”) (for chalybs), alteration of Old Welsh Caledbulch (compare modern Caledfwlch), compound of caled (“hard”) and bwlch (“cleft, crack”). Related to the Irish legendary sword Caladbolg, literally ‘hard-belly’, i.e. ‘voracious’.

Until recently, suppression of ethnicity has perhaps been the leading characteristic of the trend of thought of these Jewish intellectuals. Some, like Noam Chomsky and I. F. Stone, have been considered by some Jews to be so suppressed—or at least so overcompensating for their being Jewish—as to be regarded as anti-Semitic on some issues. Such men flaunt their universalism like Excaliburs of truth and objectivity.

1974, Stephen D. Isaacs, Jews and American Politics, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, Inc., →ISBN, page 53:

And we would see fish swimming among the tall bulrushes that rose like Excaliburs out of the lake.

1998, Imogen Stubbs, “The Undiscovered Road: Northumberland”, in Dea Birkett, Sara Wheeler, editors, Amazonian: The Penguin Book of Women’s New Travel Writing, Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 228:

You and I, we are not alone, and our screwdrivers are our flashing Excaliburs as we sally forth to make small parts of the fragmented world whole again.

2017, James May, The Reassembler, Hodder & Stoughton, →ISBN, page 19:

(Arthurian legend) The legendary sword of King Arthur, having magical properties.


wairua

(New Zealand) A spirit associated with a person or thing, according to Māori beliefs.


Iphigenia

/ˌɪfɪd͡ʒɪˈnaɪə/

/ˌɪfɪˈd͡ʒiːnɪə/

From Ancient Greek Ῑ̓φιγένεια (Īphigéneia).

If we are convinced by the way the Iphigenia myth reworks and distorts the structure of the Metis myth, then we gain a new understanding of the logic underlying Athena's refusal to acknowledge the crime against Iphigenia.

2007, Amber Jacobs, On Matricide: Myth, Psychoanalysis, and the Law of the Mother, page 161:

The founding of the sanctuary at Braurona is related to the myths of Iphigenia and her brother, Orestes.

2008, Allan Brooks, Myths, Games and Conflict, page 8:

One such involuntary sacrifice is found in the story of Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon, the famous Greek king and warrior.

2013, Willie Young, “4: Taking One for the Team: Baseball and Sacrifice”, in Eric Bronson, William Irwin, editors, Baseball and Philosophy: Thinking Outside the Batter's Box, page 63:

(Greek mythology) The daughter of Agamemnon and Clytaemnestra, who is sacrificed by her father to ensure the safe journey of the Greeks to Troy.


Memnon

(Greek mythology) An Ethiopian king and son of Tithonus and Eos. Considered a great warrior, he fought on the side of Troy and was killed by Achilles.


mermaidlike

en-adj

mermaidlike (comparative more mermaidlike, superlative most mermaidlike)

more mermaidlike (comparative)
most mermaidlike (superlative)

Resembling or characteristic of a mermaid.


havfrue

A girl one time fell into the power of a Havfrue and passed fifteen years in her submarine abode without ever seeing the sun.

1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 153:

(mythology) A type of mermaid of Danish folklore.


genius loci

head

genius loci (plural genii loci or genii locorum)

genii loci (plural)
genii locorum (plural)

jēʹnyəs lōʹkī

jēʹnyəs lōʹsī

/ˈɡɛnɪˌʊs ˈloʊki/

jēʹnyəs lōʹkī

jēʹnyəs lōʹsī

/ˈɡɛnɪˌʊs ˈləʊki/

Learned borrowing from Latin genius loci (“tutelary deity of a/the place”), from the singular genitive form of locus (“place”).

lbor

(Roman mythology) The minor deity or spirit watching over a particular place.


Salian

From Latin Salianus, from Salii + -ānus (“-an: forming adjectives”), from salīre (“to jump, to leap”) + -īus (“-y: forming adjectives”).

(historical) A member of the Salii, the chief priests of Mars in ancient Rome.


Salian

en-adj

Salian (comparative more Salian, superlative most Salian)

more Salian (comparative)
most Salian (superlative)

(historical) Of or related to the Salii, the priests of Mars in ancient Rome.


Salian

From Latin Salianus, from Salii + -ānus (“-an: forming adjectives”), from Sala (“the IJssel River”) + -īus (“-y: forming adjectives”). Cognate with Salic.

(historical) A person belonging to the German and Frankish tribes near the IJssel River in antiquity.


Salian

(historical) Of or related to the Salii, the Salian people.


dragonet

in his wombe might lurke some hidden nest / Of many Dragonets, his fruitfull seed […]

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


epiclesis

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ἐπίκλησις (epíklēsis, “invocation”).

lbor

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) A particular appearance or aspect of a deity.


loogaroo

Probably from English loup-garou or its source, French loup-garou (“werewolf”). Compare Haitian Creole lougarou.

Coordinate term: soucouyant

(mythology, Caribbean) A creature of Caribbean mythology similar to a vampire or werewolf.


Laozi

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the standard Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 老子 (“the Old One, the Venerable One”).

der

a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

(Chinese history) An honorific title for the legendary Taoist philosopher Li Er, who supposedly lived in the 6th and 5th centuries BC and (Chinese mythology) has subsequently been worshipped as a Taoist god.

لَاو تْسِي

influential Chinese philosopher and founder of Taoism


Callirrhoë

(Greek mythology) A naiad, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys.


Khnum

bor+

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

One of the earliest Egyptian gods. He is said to be the source of the Nile River.


Ptah

(Egyptian mythology) A god of creativity and craftsmen, sometimes also identified with the gods of death and the birth of the sun.


akhirah

From Arabic الآخِرَة (al-ʔāḵira, “the hereafter”).


Circe

(Greek mythology) An enchantress who turned Odysseus's men into pigs.


Hyllus

(Greek mythology) The son of Heracles and Deianira


woodnymph

(Greek mythology) A nymph residing in a forest, a dryad.


dogman

From dog (“the domesticated mammal Canis familiaris or Canis lupus familiaris”) + -man (suffix denoting someone (possibly implied male) who is an expert in an area, who is employed or holds a position in an area, or who takes part in an activity) or man (senses 2 and 3).

suffix

[T]his tradition certainly influenced that of Dog-Men (cynanthropy) and of dog-headed men (cynocephaly), […] Dog-Men, however, have historically enjoyed a much richer and more varied mythology than their lycanthropic cousins, no doubt as a result of the ambiguity of the dog itself as much as of cultural or historical trends.

1991, David Gordon White, “Hell is Other People”, in Myths of the Dog-man, Chicago, Ill., London: University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 15:

A dogman’s legs are back bent, crooked as a dog’s. Its body is covered in fine fur, and its face has a dog-like snout and ear. A dogman’s arms and torso are completely humanoid, save for the its strange paws, that are vaguely human-like, but with thick dark claws.

2002, Sovereign Stone: Bestiary of Loerem, Lake Geneva, Wis.: Sovereign Press, →ISBN, page 56, column 1:

I was interested in the Wisconsin dogman sightings, which were kind of scary, but when you started talking about the ones showing up in bedrooms I must have been agape and my hair [standing] on end.

2016, Linda S. Godfrey, quoting Matt Ballotti, “Shadow Wolves”, in Monsters among Us: An Exploration of Otherworldly Bigfoots, Wolfmen, Portals, Phantoms, and Odd Phenomena, New York, N.Y.: TarcherPerigee, →ISBN, pages 95–96:

Sightings of mysterious creatures that appear to be part human and part wolf are reported in modern times all over the world. […] Their apparent hybrid nature makes them “dogmen” or “man-wolves.” […] Reports of dogmen date to ancient times. In some cases, they were thought to be a type of debased human.

2018, Rosemary Ellen Guiley, “Introduction: An Overview of Werewolves and Their Kin”, in Rosemary Ellen Guiley, editor, Fate Presents Werewolves and Dogmen, New Milford, Conn.: Visionary Living, →ISBN:

(cryptozoology, mythology) An alleged cryptid or mythological creature that is part dog and part man; also (religion) a deity who is part dog and part man.


Panic

en-adj

Panic (comparative more Panic, superlative most Panic)

more Panic (comparative)
most Panic (superlative)

(Greek mythology, archaic) Synonym of Pandean (“pertaining to the Greek god Pan”)


vishap

Learned borrowing from Armenian վիշապ (višap).

lbor

(Armenian mythology) a dragon in Armenian mythology closely associated with water


vodyanoy

(Slavic mythology) A type of water sprite from Slavic mythology


vodyanoi

(Slavic mythology) Alternative spelling of vodyanoy


scolopendra

From Latin scolopendra, from Ancient Greek σκολόπενδρα (skolópendra).

Spring-headed Hydraes, and sea-shouldring Whales, / Great whirlpooles, which all fishes make to flee, / Bright Scolopendraes, arm'd with siluer scales, / Mighty Monoceroses, with immeasured tayles.

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

(obsolete) A mythical sea-creature, reputed to be able to disgorge its bowels to dislodge any fishing-hook.

This led the conversation to the insects of the Crimea and Ukraine, of which I had made a considerable collection, and the Emperor inquired of me if there were scorpions, scolopendras and tarantulas in the Crimea.

1845 November, The Eclectic Magazine, volume 6, page 352:


Brunhild

From German Brunhilde, from Middle High German Briunhilde, from Old High German *Brunnīhilta, from Proto-Germanic *Brunjōhildiz (from *brunjǭ (“breastplate”) + *hildiz (“battle, fight”)).

der

Brunhild is a complex figure, indeed. In Hebbel's trilogy, Brunhild is one of the figures who spans both levels, those of history and myth.

1999, Mary A. Cicora, Wagner's Ring and German Drama: Comparative Studies in Mythology and History in Drama, page 79:

In manuscripts A and B,^([of the Nibelungenlied]) the smiles of Gunther, Siegfried, and Brunhild are recognized as expressions of power and are greeted with the appropriate responses of retaliation, subjugation, or subjugation followed by retaliation.

2003, Kathryn Starkey, “Brunhild's Smile”, in C. Stephen Jaeger, Ingrid Kasten, editors, Codierungen von Emotionen im Mittelalter / Emotions and Sensibilities in the Middle Ages, page 160:

Brunhild resembles Minerva in her martial tastes, physical appearance, and wisdom; but her anger and resentment when Sigurd forgets her for Gudrun is like the wrath of Œnone, whom Paris deserts to woo Helen.

2010, H. A. Guerber, Hammer of Thor: Norse Mythology and Legends, Special edition, page 248:

(Germanic mythology) A shieldmaiden and valkyrie in Germanic mythology, a main character in the Nibelungenlied, Völsunga saga, and some poems of the Poetic Edda.


ophan

A member of an order of wheel-like angels.


afanc

(Celtic mythology, mythology) A lake monster in Welsh mythology, described variously as resembling a crocodile, beaver or dwarf-like creature, and sometimes said to be a demon.


Lemurian

en-adj

Lemurian (comparative more Lemurian, superlative most Lemurian)

more Lemurian (comparative)
most Lemurian (superlative)

Of or pertaining to the mythical Lemuria.

Relating to the Ancient Roman festival of Lemuria.


Iseult

Old French, the name of the queen who fell in love with Tristan in medieval romance Tristan and Iseult, perhaps from Celtic, of uncertain meaning, possibly Proto-Brythonic *Adsiltia (“she who is gazed upon”); compare Welsh syllu and Irish súil. Otherwise from Germanic, equivalent to Old High German is (“ice”) + hiltja (“battle”) (from Proto-West Germanic *hildi).

der

Just as he finished, the daughter came in, Iseult. A name out of the past, a darkly Celtic presence: jet-black hair, the same as Minogue had had, tall.

1988, John Brady, A Stone of the Heart, St Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 9:

A female given name from the Germanic languages.


Isolde

Borrowed from the German Isolde, German form of Iseult.

A female given name from the Celtic languages or the Germanic languages


derg

Mutated clipping of dragon, possibly by insertion of a neutral vowel given textual abbreviation "drg."

(furry fandom, endearing, chiefly Internet slang) A dragon.


El Dorado

From Spanish el dorado (“the golden one”).

A Muisca tribal chief who covered himself in gold dust.

A city, the county seat of Union County, Arkansas, United States.

A city, the county seat of Butler County, Kansas, United States.


theogony

Borrowed from Ancient Greek θεογονία (theogonía).

This Phoenician history includes the cosmogony and theogony of the Phoenicians. In the theogony, Ourianos (Sky) has four children by his wife-sister Gē (Earth): Ēlos (interpreted as Kronos), Baitlos, Dagōn (Sitōn), and Atlas.

1939, J. Philip Hyatt, “The Deity Bethel and the Old Testament”, in Journal of the American Oriental Society, volume 59, number 1, page 86:

(chiefly in ancient religion) The origination of gods or a narrative describing the origin of gods.


euhemerism

en-noun

euhemerism (usually uncountable, plural euhemerisms)

From Euhemerus + -ism, ultimately from Latin Euhēmerus, from Ancient Greek Εὐήμερος (Euḗmeros), an ancient Greek Sicilian Skeptic who proposed most or all mythology derived from historical figures and natural events which received supernatural characteristics only through retelling.

In regard to the Thracian god Zalmosis, the Hellespontic Greeks interpreted his character and attributes according to the scheme of Euemerism.

1846, George Grote, History of Greece, volume I, page 596:

Then again there was a period of what is sometimes called Euhemerism - the theory that the gods and goddesses had actually once been men and women, historical characters round whom a halo of romance and remoteness had gathered.

1920, Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., published 1921, page 10:

(uncountable) The belief that legends and mythology arise from exaggerated descriptions of historical people and events.

يُوهَيْمِرِيَّة

attribution of a historical origin to myths and legends


euhemeristic

From euhemerist + -ic, from euhemerism, from Latin Euhemerus, from Ancient Greek Εὐήμερος (Euḗmeros), an ancient Greek Sicilian Skeptic who proposed most or all mythology derived from historical figures and natural events which received supernatural characteristics only through retelling.

A consistent Euhemeristic interpretation of a poet's allusions to his own movements would often lead us to strange results.

1879, F. D. Morice, Pindar, chapter 3, page 37:


euhemerist

en-adj

euhemerist (comparative more euhemerist, superlative most euhemerist)

more euhemerist (comparative)
most euhemerist (superlative)

From euhemerism + -ist, from Latin Euhemerus, from Ancient Greek Εὐήμερος (Euḗmeros), an ancient Greek Sicilian Skeptic who proposed most or all mythology derived from historical figures and natural events which received supernatural characteristics only through retelling.

Synonym of euhemeristic: of or related to euhemerism.


Mimantean

Mimantean (comparative more Mimantean, superlative most Mimantean)

more Mimantean (comparative)
most Mimantean (superlative)

From Ancient Greek Μῑμάντος (Mīmántos), genitive case of Μίμᾱς (Mímās), from earlier Μίμανς (Mímans).

Draughts from the fount of Nile [...] or the steep Mimantian height, Snow-capped

1908, Jane Ellen Harrison, “Orphic Mysteries”, in Prolegomena to the study of Greek religion, page 514:

(mythology) Of or relating to the giant Mimas in Greek mythology


vampirelike

vampirelike (comparative more vampirelike, superlative most vampirelike)

more vampirelike (comparative)
most vampirelike (superlative)

Resembling or characteristic of a vampire.


vampiresque

vampiresque (comparative more vampiresque, superlative most vampiresque)

more vampiresque (comparative)
most vampiresque (superlative)


mermaiden

From Middle English meremaiden (“mermaid”), from mere (“mere, sea”) + maiden (“maiden”), equivalent to mer- + maiden. Compare Old English meremennen (“mermaid, siren”). More at mere, maiden.

cog

The Neck here his harp in the glass-castle plays,
And Mermaidens comb out their green hair always,
And bleach here their shining white clothes.

1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 156:

A mermaid; a maiden of the sea; a siren.


leprechology

(rare) Alternative form of leprechaunology


Tiamat

Learned borrowing from Akkadian 𒀀𒀊𒁀 (tiāmtum, “sea; a deity”), from Proto-Semitic *tihām- (“sea”).

lbor

(mythology) A Babylonian goddess who personifies the sea, considered the monstrous embodiment of primordial chaos.


Perun

The highest god in the pantheon of Slavic mythology, the god of thunder and lightning.


ghosty

en-adj

ghosty (comparative ghostier, superlative ghostiest)

ghostier (comparative)
ghostiest (superlative)

From ghost + -y. Compare Saterland Frisian gäistich, West Frisian geastich, Dutch geestig, German geistig.

Regarding Glamis, I should imagine it a ghosty sort of place.

1881, William White, Notes and queries, Volume 63:


Enlil

(Mesopotamian mythology) A chief deity listed and written about in ancient Sumerian, Akkadian, Hittite, Canaanite and other Mesopotamian clay and stone tablets; the god of breath, wind, loft, and breadth.


Lahmu

(mythology) In Akkadian mythology, a protective and beneficent deity, the first-born son of Apsu and Tiamat.


Lahamu

(mythology) In Akkadian mythology, a protective and beneficent deity, the first-born daughter of Apsu and Tiamat.


Enki

From Sumerian 𒀭𒂗𒆠, a name of uncertain meaning. More at Enki.

A god in Sumerian mythology, later known as Ea in Akkadian and Babylonian mythology.


Kur

From Sumerian 𒆳 (kur, “mountain; netherworld”).

der

In Sumerian mythology, a dark shadowy underworld, located deep below the surface of the earth.


Anunnaki

Annunaki

lizard people; corrupted spelling, mostly restricted to the sense

(Mesopotamian mythology) A group of Sumerian, Akkadian and Babylonian deities in no known particular order including but not limited to Enki, Enlil, Ninlil and 'known as the fourth' Enbilulu.

Anunnaki

a group of Sumerian, Akkadian and Babylonian deities


Ninlil

(Mesopotamian mythology) In Sumerian mythology, the consort goddess of Enlil.


Shamash

From Akkadian Šamaš, ultimately from Proto-Semitic *śamš-. Compare shin.

The sun god and god of justice in Babylonia and Assyria, corresponding to Sumerian Utu.


Aya

(Mesopotamian mythology) In Akkadian mythology, a mother goddess, consort of the sun god Shamash.


Merope

(Greek mythology) The youngest of the Pleiades, daughters of Atlas and Pleione, and a consort of Hermes.

(Greek mythology) A daughter of Cypselus, king of Arcadia.


songline

(Australian Aboriginal mythology) A path across the land (or sometimes the sky) marking the route followed by an Aboriginal ancestor made during the Dreaming; often recorded in traditional songs, stories, dance and painting; a dreaming track.


Dreaming

The men in this moving mirage of battered vehicles felt they had well and truly followed the Dreaming.

2006, Alexis Wright, Carpentaria, Giramondo, published 2012, page 124:

(Australian Aboriginal mythology) The time of the shaping of the physical and spiritual world by the ancestors; the events or beliefs connected to these times.


dreaming track

The spiritual Dreaming track of the ceremony in which they were all involved, moved along the most isolated back roads, across the landscape, through almost every desert in the continent.

(Australian Aboriginal mythology) A path across the land (or sometimes the sky) marking the route followed by an Aboriginal ancestor made during the Dreaming; often recorded in traditional songs, stories, dance and painting.

夢幻路線 /梦幻路线 (mènghuàn lùxiàn) (no equivalent exists; lit. "fantasy route")


merboy

When the music stopped, Arista was finally able to excuse herself, but seconds later she was caught up by yet another eager merboy. Over the course of the night, Arista danced with many merboys, […]

1993, Jan Carr, Arista's New Boyfriend, Disney Press, →ISBN, page 19:

"Tell me what was happening in the world when you were a little merboy. Was there television?"

1997, Dick King-Smith, The Merman, Dell Yearling, published 2001, →ISBN, page 69:

He grins like the little merboy who used to dare me to eat sea slugs.

2011, Tera Lynn Childs, Fins Are Forever, Katherine Tegen Books, →ISBN, page 257:


Aegina

(Greek mythology) A nymph of the island that bears her name.


firebreather

A performer who creates fireballs by breathing a fine mist of fuel over an open flame.

(fantasy) Any creature, such as a dragon, that breathes flame.

Our new boss is a real firebreather!

(colloquial) A verbally aggressive person.


other side

[I]t has seemed to me wise to take such measures as may be feasible, to acquire, by courtesy of the press, access to my standing obituaries, with the privilege—if this is not asking too much—of editing, not their Facts, but their Verdicts. This, not for the present profit, further than as concerns my family, but as a favorable influence usable on the Other Side, where there are some who are not friendly to me.

1906, Mark Twain, “Amended Obituaries”, in The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories:

They tell us that something is waiting for us on the other side, that death may be a pilgrimage and not a destination, that the afterlife is a warm awakening after the fretful dream of life.

1994 August 8, Pico Iyer, “Death Be Not a Stranger”, in Time:

"Well, when people from the other side communicate with me, they're using thought energy, just like you can't see radio waves coming into the radio."

2008 April 8, Mark Rahner, “Psychic John Holland talks to the dead”, in Seattle Times, retrieved 2011-07-22:

(idiomatic, usually preceded by the and sometimes capitalized) The afterlife, as a supernatural realm inhabited by spirits of deceased people.


Chiron

(Greek mythology) An old, wise centaur who served as Achilles' mentor and teacher.

(astronomy, astrology) A centaur (minor planet) and comet-like/asteroid-like object, orbiting between Saturn and Uranus.


Arean

From Ares + -an under influence of Ancient Greek άρεος (áreos) and άρειος (áreios, “Martian, martial”). Cf. Arian.

Near-synonym: Martian

It is appealing to assume that the epigram was inspired by the statue itself. Probably the Arean weapons Aphrodite has donned include helmet, spear and shield but not the Apolline bow and arrow.

1979, Karelisa Hartigan, The Poets and the Cities: Selections from the Anthology about Greek Cities, Hain, →ISBN, page 54:

In addition to his possible exploitation of the sexual reversal occasionally found in Arean cult, we also find

1980, Carl Deroux, Studies in Latin literature and Roman history, volume 168, page 449:

1989, Robert Lamberton, Homer the Theologian: Neoplatonist Allegorical Reading and the Growth of the Epic Tradition, quotation of Proclus translated from the Greek,
... and in bonding together the Arean and the Aphrodisian, he had taken the craft of Hephaestus as his model.

Ares is also associated with fire. [...] All the Arean desire [...]

2007, Dagonet Dewr, Sacred Paths for Modern Men, page 63:

(rare) Of or related to Ares, the Greek god of war, counterpart of the Roman Mars.


Cyllenean

(mythology) Of or relating to Cyllene in Greek mythology.


Iridian

(mythology) Of or relating to Iris in Greek mythology.


Junonian

(mythology) Of or relating to the Roman god Juno.


Themistian

(mythology) Of or relating to the Greek titan Themis.


Dionean

en-adj

Dionean (comparative more Dionean, superlative most Dionean)

more Dionean (comparative)
most Dionean (superlative)

(mythology) Of or relating to the Titan Dione in Greek mythology.


Ganymedean

/ˌɡænəmɪˈdiː.ən/

(Greek mythology) Of or relating to the hero Ganymede in Greek mythology.


Enceladan

(Greek mythology, astronomy) Of or relating to Enceladus.


Enceladean

(Greek mythology) Of or relating to the giant Enceladus in Greek mythology.


Iapetian

/aɪəˈpiːʃən/

(mythology) Of or relating to the Titan Iapetus in Greek mythology.


Tethyan

(mythology) Of or relating to Titan Tethys in Greek mythology.


Protean

(mythology) Of or relating to the god Proteus in Greek mythology.


Phoebean

(mythology) Of or relating to the Titan Phoebe in Greek mythology.

(mythology) Of or relating to Phoebus (Helios).


Cupidinian

The Cupidinian fires burn in my breast.


Hyperionian

(mythology) Of or relating to the Titan Hyperion in Greek mythology.


Metidian

Metidian (comparative more Metidian, superlative most Metidian)

more Metidian (comparative)
most Metidian (superlative)

(mythology) Of or relating to the Oceanid Metis in Greek mythology.


Apophian

(Egyptian mythology) Of or relating to Apophis.


penates

From Latin Penātēs, from penus (“inner part of house”).

lest the name thereof being discovered unto their enemies, their Penates and Patronal Gods might be called forth by charms and incantations.

1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, I.3:

(Roman mythology) The household deities thought to watch over the houses and storerooms of ancient Rome.


faravahar

From Persian فروهر (faravahar), from Middle Persian plwʾhl.

A symbol of the religion Zoroastrianism, also used to represent the Iranian nation.


stellified

Orion is a stellified hunter[…]

1983, Douglas Brooks-Davies, The Mercurian Monarch: magical politics from Spenser to Pope, page 31:

(mythology) Placed in the heavens by the gods in the form of a celestial body.


boggard

Uncertain, but likely from Lancashire, Yorkshire etc dialectal variants of bug (“goblin; terrifying thing; etc.”), equivalent to bog + -ard.

A Boggarde, spectrum.

He thinks every bush a boggard, i.e. a bugbear or phantasm.

1768, John Ray, A Compleat Collection of English Proverbs, published 1818, page 123:

Boggle, Boggart, a fearful object, a hobgoblin.

1855, F.K. Robinson, Glossary of Yorkshire Words, page 17:

(UK dialectal) A bogey: a ghost, goblin, or other hostile supernatural creature, especially a small local spirit haunting gloomy places or the scenes of violence.


boggart

OH! Maeſter—ſtrange things late I've ſeen— / And oft has boggart-haunted been ! / I'm ſure I's falt when ſtory's-tauld, / 'Till blude run aw' through veins ſo cauld !

1787, William Collins, “Song XXV: A Lancaſhire Farmer's deſcription of an Earthquake”, in The New Vocal Miscellany, or, A Fountain of Pure Harmony; Containing Sixty New Songs, page 32:

“[…]Are na ye shamed, ye weak gawly, that yc darena stir ower the threshold for fear of a boggart?”

1821, Lee Gibbons, chapter III, in The Cavalier, volume II, page 48:

Hoggart's Leap is a weird name, suggesting to the uninitiated some connection with a local tradition and a boggart or a barguest of Swaledale renown ; but I believe that Hoggart is really a family name, there being Hoggarth's Farm about two miles further up the Swale.

1897 August, Harwood Brierley, “The Swale and Its Waterfalts”, in Sylvanus Urban, editor, The Gentleman's Magazine, volume CCLXXXIII, page 191:

[…]but when it came to a question of standing up against the boggart of Arden—a thing, in the popular imagination, composed of neither flesh, blood, nor bones—even a physical giant had qualms and misgivings, and so had Joseph Wand.

1898 December, George Morley, “The Sleeping Beauty. A Woodlander's Adventure”, in Sylvanus Urban, editor, The Gentleman's Magazine, volume CCLXXXV, The Verger and the Woodman, page 532:

Alternative spelling of boggard (A bogey, a ghost)


talaria

From Latin tālāria, plural form of tālāris (“of or pertaining to the ankle or heel”), from tālus (“anklebone, talus; heel”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- (“to touch”).

refn

From the collection of the Getty Villa in Los Angeles, California, USA.

der

Byres has drawn these figures with wings at their ankles, sometimes fastened to the leg, and sometimes like those at their shoulders, growing from the flesh—in both which ways the talaria of Mercury and Perseus are represented on ancient monuments. Nothing of this sort could I perceive; it was manifest to me that these were not talaria, but simple buskins with peaked flaps, such as are commonly depicted on vases of the archaic Greek style, and on the legs of Roman Lares in the paintings of Pompeii.

1848, George Dennis, “Bieda.—Blera.”, in The Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria. … In Two Volumes, volume I, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, footnote 10, page 319:

From the Graiæ the literary myths make him [Perseus] go to the Nymphs, the artistic ones to the Naiads or nymphs of the lake Tritonis, from which he receives the helmet of Hades, the kibisis or wallet, and the talaria or winged sandals. [...] Other versions made him receive the helmet and talaria from Hermes. On the early monuments the helmet of Hades is like the petasus of Hermes, and the sandals are winged, but in many other works of art, such as mirrors or gems, the talaria are represented as wings, which he attaches to his feet.

1854 May 25, Samuel Birch, “V. On a Vase Representing an Adventure of Perseus.”, in Archaeologia: Or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity, London: Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London; printed by J[ohn] B[owyer] Nichols and Sons, […], published 1855, →OCLC, page 56:

With his horizon all his own, yet he a poor man, born to be poor, with his inherited Irish poverty or poor life, his Adam's grandmother and boggy ways, not to rise in this world, he nor his posterity, till their wading webbed bog-trotting feet get talaria to their heels.

1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “Baker Farm”, in Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 225:

It was the god Hermes, he who conducted souls to the Elysian fields, the slender, agile, elegant figure, beautiful in its sinuous motion, with the petasus on his head and the winged talaria on his ankles, that I beheld floating over me.

1867 May, W. W. S., “A Modern Magician”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CI, number DCXIX, Edinburgh: William Blackwood & Sons, […], →OCLC, page 566:

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) The winged sandals worn by certain gods and goddesses, especially the Roman god Mercury (and his Greek counterpart Hermes).


puff the magic dragon

en-verb

puff the magic dragon (third-person singular simple present puffs the magic dragon, present participle puffing the magic dragon, simple past and past participle puffed the magic dragon)

puffs the magic dragon (present singular third-person)
puffing the magic dragon (participle present)
puffed the magic dragon (participle past)
puffed the magic dragon (past)

From the name of a song, Puff, the Magic Dragon (1963), reinterpreting puff as a verb. The authors of the song have repeatedly denied that it is about marijuana.

Sure, he puffed the magic dragon — who didn't? — but no cocaine, no heroin.

2006, Richard Greener, The Lacey Confession:


merchild

The fish-tailed merchild carved in crumbling stone
Wreathed with loose straggling roses, reigns alone...

1904, Thomas Bird Mosher, The Bibelot, page 160:

There were mermaids with gold chains around slinky long tails, swimming along with little merchildren.

2003, Liz Kessler, The Tail of Emily Windsnap, Scholastic, →ISBN, page 57:

He shuddered as he thought about all the stories he had heard as a young merchild.

2003, Debbie Viguié, Midnight Pearls, Simon Pulse, →ISBN, page 80:

The young of either sex of a legendary creature, human from the waist up, fishlike from the waist down.


Sita

Borrowed from Sanskrit सीता (sītā, “furrow”).

It is only this late in the day, and possibly only in Willesden, that you can find best friends Sita and Sharon, constantly mistaken for each other because Sita is white (her mother liked the name) and Sharon is Pakistani (her mother thought it best — less trouble).

2000, Zadie Smith, White Teeth, London: Hamish Hamilton, →ISBN, pages 282–283:

A female given name from Sanskrit mainly used in India.


firedrake

From Middle English firdrake, from Old English fȳrdraca (“fire-spewing dragon”), equivalent to fire + drake.

inh

[…] the incensed firedrake, in revenge, flies all over the land, vomiting fire and smoke in every direction, […]

1913, Helene A. Guerber, The Book of the Epic:

Then was the folk-scather for the third of times yet, The fierce fire-drake, all mindful of feud;

1895, W Morris, AJ Wyatt (trans.), The Tale of Beowulf (2689):

A fiery meteor, an ignis fatuus, a rocket

(figurative, poetic) A worker at a furnace or fire


Hermaphroditus

From Latin, from Ancient Greek Ἑρμαφρόδιτος (Hermaphróditos, from Ἑρμῆς (Hermês) + Ἀφροδίτη (Aphrodítē)).

bor

Ἑρμαφρόδιτος

(Greek mythology) The son of Hermes and Aphrodite who merged bodies with a naiad.


Puck

From puck (“mischievous spirit”), from Middle English pouke, from Old English pūca (“goblin, demon”), from Proto-Germanic *pūkô (“a goblin, spook”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pāug(')- (“brilliance, spectre”). Cognate with Icelandic púki, dialectal Swedish puke (“devil”), Middle Low German spūk (“apparition, ghost”), German Spuk (“a haunting”). More at spook.

cog

(mythology) A mischievous sprite in Celtic mythology and English folklore.


Hygiea

From Latin Hygēa, Hygīa, from Ancient Greek Ὑγίεια (Hugíeia), Ὑγεία (Hugeía).

(Greek mythology) Ancient Greek goddess of health, cleanliness, and sanitation. Her Roman name is Hygēa/Hygīa or Salus.


Belial

From Latin Bĕlĭal, from Hebrew בְלִיַּעַל.
Of uncertain origin. It has been conventionally been interpreted as בְּלִי (“without”) + a word meaning "use" (hence "useless, worthless"), but it is unclear what the latter word is.

bor

Hebrew בְלִיַּעַל

Here, too, the poet calls attention to Belial's role as one who blurs the borderline between essence and appearance: Belial himself seems fair (physically attractive), but is empty inside, and Milton was surely aware that in Hebrew the first syllable of the fallen angel's name means without.

2016 February 24, Nancy Rosenfeld, The Human Satan in Seventeenth-Century English Literature: From Milton to Rochester, Routledge, →ISBN, page 93:

(mythology) A wicked demon in Christian and Jewish apocrypha.

بليعال

a wicked demon in Christian and Jewish apocrypha


Gehenna

heaven

antonym(s) of “Christianity, uncountable”

Hawaiian: kehena

Borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin gehenna, from Ancient Greek γέεννα (géenna), from Hebrew גֵּיהִנּוֹם (ge'henom, “hell”, literally “valley of Hinnom”), named after the Valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem, which was constantly filled with the waste of the city, which was then burnt. Heinous deeds are also associated with this valley, as during the time when Jerusalem was ruled by non-Jews (referred to in scriptures simply as 'pagans') child sacrifice was practiced there.


ghostbusting

(informal) The activities of a ghostbuster; exorcism of ghosts.


Atalanta

From Ancient Greek Ἀταλάντη (Atalántē, “balanced”), from ἀ- (a-, “used to express unity”) + τάλαντον (tálanton, “balanced”).

36 Atalante
Atalanta
Guido Reni
Hippomenes

It is the Arcadian Atalanta, the daughter of Iasus and Clymene, who is primarily known from the tales of the Calydonian boar hunt and the Argonauts. The Boeotian version of Atalanta is the daughter of King Schoeneus and is primarily noted for her skill in the footrace. In both versions of the myth, Atalanta was a local figure allied to the goddess Artemis.

Abandoned at birth by her parents, Iasus and Clymene, Atalanta was raised by bears and later rescued by a hunter who taught her the ways of mortals. When Atalanta found fame as a runner and marksman, her parents reclaimed her.

2001, Suzanne I. Barchers, From Atalanta to Zeus, Greenwood Publishing Group (Teacher Ideas Press), page 17:

(Greek mythology) A huntress and heroine in Greek mythology, renowned for her great speed and strength; depending on the version of the myth, either the daughter of Iasus (a prince of Arcadia) by Clymene or of King Schoeneus of Boeotia.


qilin

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 麒麟 (qílín). Doublet of kirin.

...a red and gold textile with phoenixes in one row swooping towards qilins in the next amidst a densely foliated ground...

1989, Ernst J. Grube, Eleanor G. Sims, Islamic Art: Volume 3:

Roundel depicting dragon attacked by qilins; mounted on an album page.

2001, David J. Roxburgh, Prefacing the image: the writing of art history in sixteenth-century Iran:

When the qilin leaves, the emperor traces the shapes he saw into the dirt.

2010, Molly Blaisdell, Necdet Yilmaz, Truth about Unicorns:

A mythical Chinese hooved chimerical creature, said to appear in conjunction with the arrival of a sage.


Silenus

As a goat he [Dionysus] can hardly be separated from the minor divinities, the Pans, Satyrs, and Silenuses, all of whom are closely associated with him and are represented more or less completely in the form of goats.

1890, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 2, page 34:

(Greek mythology) A companion and tutor to the wine god Dionysus.


Twihard

Getting "Twihards" who love virtuous vampires to buy the soundtrack is easy — but getting Radiohead fans to plunk down cash for a little bit of the "New Moon" universe will be a coup.

2009 October 3, Ann Donahue, “'New Moon' Rising”, in Billboard, page 19:

Beginning at popular Rialto Beach, share this classic coastline with beachcombers, dog walkers (allowed on-leash to Ellen Creek), and scores of Twihards from across the country.

2011, Craig Romano, Backpacking Washington: Overnight and Multiday Routes, The Mountaineers Books, published 2011, →ISBN, page 38:

'Not me, I'm an out and out Twihard, loved the vampires in Twilight – still do, always will – so I know what it's like when people take the mickey. My brothers drew huge fangs and devil tails on all my posters of Robert Pattinson.'

2014, Samantha Tonge, From Paris, With Love, Carina, published 2014, →ISBN:

(fandom slang) An avid fan of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight book series or the related films.


reem

Bos primigenius
Bos primigenius#Translingual

A large horned animal in ancient Hebrew literature, variously identified with the wild ox or aurochs (Bos primigenius), the Arabian oryx, or a mythical creature (compare unicorn).


Juventas

(Roman mythology) The goddess of youth, and a daughter of Jupiter and Juno. Juventas was the cupbearer of the gods until she married her paternal halfbrother, Hercules, with whom she had twin sons, Alexiares and Anicetus. She is the Roman counterpart of Hebe.


Telemachus

From Ancient Greek Τηλέμαχος (Tēlémakhos).

(Greek mythology) the son of Odysseus and Penelope


Laertes

(Greek mythology) the father of Odysseus


Diomedes

Borrowed from Latin Diomēdēs, from Ancient Greek Διομήδης (Diomḗdēs).

(Greek mythology) a hero in Greek mythology, mostly known for his participation in the Trojan War


werewolfish

en-adj

werewolfish (comparative more werewolfish, superlative most werewolfish)

more werewolfish (comparative)
most werewolfish (superlative)

When one of the girls goes down into the basement, she is devoured by the POV accompanied by audio portions of werewolfish sounds.

1999, Laurence A. Rickels, The vampire lectures, page 259:

Resembling or characteristic of a werewolf.


duat

(Egyptology, Egyptian mythology) The realm of the dead in Egyptian mythology.


Iblis

From Arabic إِبْلِيس (ʔiblīs, “Iblis”), possibly from the trilateral root ب ل س (b l s) with the general meaning of “despair”, بَلَسَ (balasa). Alternatively, perhaps from Ancient Greek διάβολος (diábolos).

beyond these mountains, Eblis and his accursed Dives hold their infernal empire.

1786, William Beckford, Vathek; an Arabian Tale:

I do believe that Eblis hath
A snare in ev’ry human path —

1829, Edgar Allan Poe, “Tamerlane”, in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems:


Jade Emperor

/ˈd͡ʒeɪd ˈɛmpəɹə/

/ˈd͡ʒeɪd ˈɛmpɹə/

/ˈd͡ʒeɪd ˈɛmpəɹɚ/

/ˈd͡ʒeɪd ˈɛmpɹɚ/

Calque of Chinese 玉皇 (Yùhuáng) or 玉帝 (Yù Dì, “Jade Emperor”).

(Chinese mythology) The lord of the Celestial Hierarchy, ruling over Heaven, Earth, and Hell.


Jaya

Borrowed from Sanskrit जय (jaya, literally “victory”).

bor+

(mythology) One of the demigod gatekeepers (the other being Vijaya) of the abode of Vishnu.


Eurus

For a Tempeſt. Take Eurus, Zephyr, Auſter and Boreas, and caſt them together in one Verſe. Add to theſe of Rain, Lightning, and of Thunder (the loudeſt you can) quantum ſufficit. Mix your Clouds and Billows well together till they foam, and thicken your Deſcription here and there with a Quickſand. Brew your Tempeſt well in your Head, before you ſet it a blowing.

1714 June 10, [Alexander Pope], The Guardian, volume I, number 78, London: Printed for J[acob] Tonson, at Shakespear's-Head over-against Catherine-street in the Strand, page 332:

(Greek mythology) The god of the East Wind, autumn, protection, comfort, balance, preservation, change, adulthood and maturity.


Boreas

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Βορέᾱς (Boréās).

1714 June 10, [Alexander Pope], “A Receit to make an Epick Poem”, in The Guardian, volume I, number 78, London: Printed for J[acob] Tonson, at Shakespear's-Head over-against Catherine-street in the Strand, page 332:

BOREAS, one of the four Cardinal Winds, and one of the Deities of the Heathens, was the Son of Aſtræus and Aurora, and had his Seat at Thrace. Pindar calls him the King of Winds. [Footnote numbers omitted.]

1735, Pierre Bayle with Pierre des Maizeaux, The Dictionary Historical and Critical of Mr Peter Bayle. The Second Edition, Carefully Collated with the Several Editions of the Original; in which many Passages are Restored, and the Whole Greatly Augmented, particularly with a Translation of the Quotations from Eminent Writers in Various Languages. To which is Prefixed, the Life of the Author, Revised, Corrected, and Enlarged, by Mr Des Maizeaux, Fellow of the Royal Society, 2nd edition, volume II, London: Printed for J. J. and P. Knapton; [et al.], →OCLC, page 78:

Orithya was the daughter of Erectheus, and the prieſteſs of Boreas; for each of the winds has a preſiding deity, which the teleſtic art, or the art pertaining to ſacred myſteries, religiouſly cultivates. […] Orithya, therefore, becoming enthusiastic, being poſſeſſed by her proper God Boreas, and no longer energizing as a human being (for animals ceaſe to energize according to their own peculiarities, when poſſeſſed by ſuperior causes), died under the inſpiring influence, and thus was ſaid to have been raviſhed by Boreas.

1804, Plato, “The Phædrus”, in Floyer Sydenham, Thomas Taylor, transl., The Works of Plato, viz. His Fifty-five Dialogues, and Twelve Epistles, Translated from the Greek; Nine of the Dialogues by the Late Floyer Sydenham, and the Remainder by Thomas Taylor: with Occasional Annotations on the Nine Dialogues Translated by Sydenham, and Copious Notes, by the Latter Translator; in which is Given the Substance of nearly all the Existing Greek Ms. Commentaries on the Philosophy of Plato, and a Considerable Portion of such as are already Published. In Five Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for Thomas Taylor, by R. Wilks, Chancery-Lane; and sold by E. Jeffery, and R. E. Evans, Pall-Mall, page 293, footnote 2:

The promotion of Pan is matched by the new attention Athens paid to Boreas, god of the north wind, after he destroyed the Persian fleet off Artemision (Herodotus, 7.189) A tradition (λέγεται δε λόγος) held that the Athenians prayed to the god before the battle to assist them, the equivalent of the prebattle encounter between Pan and Pheidippides. As in the complaint of Pan, the god Boreas was remembered as assisting the Greeks before, in this case by having sent a storm off Mount Athos during the expedition under Mardonios (6.44.2).

1995, Sarah P. Morris, Daidalos and the Origins of Greek Art, Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 322:

One very windy day, the god Boreas became a citizen of the town of Thurii, the new Sybaris in Magna Graecia. In more concrete terms, in 397 b.c. Dionysius of Syracuse, at war with the Carthaginians, launched an expedition of three hundred ships crammed with armed men – hoplites, men of bronze – against Thurii. The North Wind was blowing against them, and Boreas wrecked the ship. It was a disaster for Dionysius, but the citizens of Thurii, saved by the god Boreas, passed a decree granting citizenship to the wind.

2000, Giulia Sissa with Marcel Detienne, “When the Olympians Donned the Citizen's Costume”, in Janet Lloyd, transl., The Daily Life of the Greek Gods, Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, →ISBN, page 137:

(Greek mythology) The god of the North Wind.


ice giant

The drops became living by the power of him who had sent the wind ; and from them sprang Ymir, the ice-giant.

1832, Francis Lieber, Edward Wigglesworth, Thomas Gamaliel Bradford, editors, Encyclopædia Americana; A Popular Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature, History, Politics, and Biography, volume 9, Philadelphia: Carey and Lea, page 317:

The three sons of Borr, Othin, Wili, and We, grandsons of Buri, the first man, slay Ymir, the father of the Hrimthursar or Ice giants, and his body serves them for the construction of the world.

1879, “The Deluge: Its Tradition in Ancient Nations”, in The Contemporary Review, volume 36, London: Strahan and Company Limited, translation of Le déluge et l'épopée babylonnienne by François Lenormant, page 484:


Great Sky River

Translation of the name of the night sky phenomenon in several Native American cultures.

(mythology, astronomy) The Milky Way, the night sky visual phenomenon caused by dense regions of the Milky Way Galaxy appearing nebulous. (Used especially in Native American contexts.)


Silvery River

(mythology, astronomy) the Milky Way, the night sky visual phenomenon caused by dense regions of the Milky Way Galaxy appearing nebulous (generally found when referring to East Asians in a historical context, situated in East Asia)


Takamagahara

Borrowed from Japanese 高天原, literally "the plain of high heaven".

(Japanese mythology) A place in Japanese mythology, the dwelling-place of the kami, said to be connected to the Earth by a bridge.


Aphroditus

From Ancient Greek Ἀφρόδιτος (Aphróditos), masculine form of Ἀφροδίτη (Aphrodítē).

(Greek mythology) A male Aphrodite, from Cyprus, represented as a herm with a phallus, who in later mythology became known as Hermaphroditus, the son of Hermes and Aphrodite.


Durga

A female given name from Sanskrit, common in India. Another name of Parvati


old soul

An old soul will often change jobs not because of an inability to perform, but rather because the job is unfulfilling.

2010, Laurel Phelan, Healing Through Time, page 57:


Daedalus

From Latin Daedalus, from Ancient Greek Δαίδαλος (Daídalos).

Daedalus
Daedalus (disambiguation)
Project Daedalus

(Greek mythology) Greek mythological figure who crafted the waxen wings of Icarus.


Frigg

From Old Norse Frigg, from Proto-Germanic *Frijjō. Cognate with the native Old English Frīġ. Doublet of Priya.

(Germanic mythology, Norse mythology) The wife of Odin, and the Norse/Germanic goddess of married love, the heavens, home and hearth, after whom Friday is named (due to her being identified with Venus).


Saci

(Hinduism, mythology) The goddess of wrath and jealousy in Hindu mythology.


Aphrodisian

en-adj

Aphrodisian (comparative more Aphrodisian, superlative most Aphrodisian)

more Aphrodisian (comparative)
most Aphrodisian (superlative)

From Ancient Greek ἀφροδῑ́σιος (aphrodī́sios) + -an.

suffix

Near-synonym: Venusian

en:pertaining to the Greek goddess Aphrodite

(Greek mythology) Pertaining to the Greek goddess Aphrodite.


cerastes

(mythology) A very flexible horned serpent in Greek legend, said to have no spine and to hide its head in the sand awaiting prey.


Nortia

(mythology) An Etruscan goddess of time, fate, destiny and chance.


Aeolian

Relating to Aeolus, the Greek god of wind.

And they played softly in the Aeolian mode a music that was like the wailing of wind through bare branches on a moonless night, and the Red Foliot leaned forth from his high seat and recited this lamentation: […]

1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros, London: Jonathan Cape, page 31:

(music) Designating the Aeolian mode or scale; the name of the minor key in modal theory.


rokurokubi

Borrowed from Japanese 轆(ろく)轤(ろ)首(くび) (rokurokubi).

(Japanese mythology) A yōkai in the form of a person who can stretch their neck to great lengths.


Shirime

(Japanese mythology) A yōkai whose appearance is of a person with an eye in place of the anus.


Aeaea

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Αἰαία (Aiaía).

(Greek mythology) The mythical island said to be the home of Circe.


Asmodæus

Ligated spelling of Latin Asmodaeus, from Ancient Greek Ἀσμοδαῖος (Asmodaîos), from Hebrew אשמדאי.

der

Hebrew אשמדאי

But the truth was that one Admodæus (an evil spirit, sprung from the incestuous embraces of Naamah and Tubal‐Cain, and amorous of the bride,) had killed them all.

1829, Algernon Herbert, Nimrod, pages 20–21:

(mythology) Archaic spelling of Asmodeus.


vitki

(Germanic paganism) A sorcerer in Norse Heathen societies.


Œneus

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Οἰνεύς (Oineús).

For they ſay, that Œneus who reigned in Ætolia, being driven from his kingdom by the ſons of Agrius, fled to Diomed at Argos; and that Diomed led an army into Calydonia, and revenged the injuries of Œneus, but told him, that he could not remain in his dominions.

1794, Pausanias, The Description of Greece, (translated from Greek) volume I, chapter XXV, page #206

(Greek mythology) King of Calydon; husband of Althaea.


Zombie Jesus

From an (anachronistic) reinterpretation of the resurrection of Jesus as zombification.

But do you honestly think that Jesus' limp corpse could be magically brought back to life by an invisible magician in the sky just so Zombie Jesus can give you everlasting life?

2010, Adam McClaran, Jesus Cries When You Touch Yourself, page 113:

(derogatory, humorous, potentially offensive) Jesus Christ, after having resurrected.


Œcles

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Οἰκλῆς (Oiklês).

The gods in those days were sometimes mortals who are still worshipped, Aristæus, and Britomartis of Crete, and Hercules, the son of Alcmena, and Amphiarus, the son of Œcles, and beside them Castor and Pollux.

1917, Pausanias, quoted by Donald Mackenzie in Myths of Crete and Pre‐Hellenic Europe, re‐published by Forgotten Books, page 298

(Greek mythology) Son of Mantius and father of Amphiaraus.


Œnomaus

This ſeemed totally impoſſible, and to render it more terrible, Œnomaus declared that death would be the conſequence of a defeat in the ſuitors.

1797 C.E., John Lemprière, Bibliotheca Classica, third edition, MY, page #519

For every suitor, he presented the challenge of a chariot race across the Peloponnese to the Isthmus of Corinth. If the challenger won, he got to marry the girl. If he lost, the king would kill him. Oenomaüs was weighed down with his full armor— probably so as to be ready to murder the challenger who would lose[…]

2015 July 6, Richard A. Spencer, Harry Potter and the Classical World: Greek and Roman Allusions in J.K. Rowling's Modern Epic, McFarland, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 235:

(Greek mythology) Alternative form of Oenomaus


Œnotrus

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Οἴνωτρος (Oínōtros).

[…] yet I hold it to have been a very ancient dialect, (probably brought into Latium by Œnotrus and his Arcadians, 17 generations before the Trojan war), which came off from the parent language before it was completely formed.

1789, James Burnett Monboddo, chapter III, in Of the Origin and Progress of Language, volume V, J. Balfour, page 91:

(Greek mythology) One of the younger sons of Lycaon.


Naraka

(Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism) The underworld or Hell according to Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism, where souls are sent for the expiation of their sins.


Huya

(astronomy) a mid-sized Kuiper belt object and plutino


euhemerization

en-noun

euhemerization (countable and uncountable, plural euhemerizations)

/juːˌhiːməɹɪzˈeɪʃən/

From euhemerize + -ation, ultimately from Latin Euhēmerus, from Ancient Greek Εὐήμερος (Euḗmeros), an ancient Greek Sicilian Skeptic who proposed most or all mythology derived from historical figures and natural events which received supernatural characteristics only through retelling.

The euhemerization of Taoist myth by Confucian historians sometimes led to the appearance of figures such as "Lord Primordial Chaos" (渾沌氏) in the imperial genealogies.

(uncountable, derogatory) The fanciful invention of plausible historical figures and events as an attempt to rationalize mythology and legends

One such euhemerization is a Rowan Atkinson bit where he presents Jesus Christ as a misunderstood street magician.

Much of Chinese mythology appears to have been the result of euhemerization, the later deification of Neolithic tribal leaders and inventors incompletely remembered through oral traditions and now-lost records.

(uncountable) Synonym of deification: the actual creation of mythology and legends from historical figures and events; (countable) an instance of this.

rationalization & pseudohistory

fanciful creation of rational explanations for the supernatural


peryton

Coined by the translator Norman Thomas di Giovanni translating Jorge Luis Borges' Book of Imaginary Beings, from Borges' invented Spanish peritio. Astrophysical use began with a paper by S. Burke-Spolaor et al. (see quotations).

Despite a trend mimicking that expected from dispersion, such deviations decisively distinguish the pulses’ frequency-dependence from a delay induced by interstellar propagation. Hereafter we distinguish these detections with the name “Perytons,” representing the non-dispersive, highly swept, terrestrial signals exhibited by the pulses. (The name is chosen from mythology to be unassociated with an exact physical phenomenon, due to the ambiguous origin of the detections; Perytons are winged elk that cast the shadow of a man.)

2011 January 20, S. Burke-Spolaor et al., “Radio Bursts with Extragalactic Spectral Characteristics Show Terrestrial Origins”, in The Astrophysical Journal, volume 727, number 1:

Three of these FRBs are factors of >3 narrower than any documented peryton.

2013 July 5, D. Thornton et al., “A Population of Fast Radio Bursts at Cosmological Distances”, in Science, volume 341, number 6141, pages 53–56:

In this model, the Lorimer burst, which was detected in three adjacent beams of the multibeam receiver, occupies a place between traditional FRB events and traditional peryton events and is believed to have occurred at some distance from the detector close to the Fresnel scale for Parkes, 20 km.

2014 June 10, E. Petrov et al., “An Absence of Fast Radio Bursts at Intermediate Galactic Latitudes”, in Astrophysics Journal Letters, volume 789, number 2:

(astronomy) A radio signal which appears to come from outside the galaxy but is actually produced by terrestrial sources.


vampiredom

Frozen at the age he was when vampiredom was thrust upon him (in the great influenza epidemic of 1918), Edward is now eternally a younger man, while Jake’s 16 and holding.

2007 August 12, Liesl Schillinger, “Children’s Books / Young Adult”, in New York Times:

The state of being a vampire; vampirehood.


Twelve Labours of Hercules

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) Twelve tasks carried out by the Greek hero Herakles (romanized as Hercules) as his penance.


yokai

From Japanese 妖怪 (yōkai, “ghost, phantom”).

(folklore, Japanese mythology) Any of various supernatural monsters, sometimes shapeshifters, in Japanese folklore.


Latona

From Latin Lātōna, a Latinization of Ancient Greek Λητώ (Lētṓ).

(Greek mythology) The Roman counterpart of the Greek goddess Leto and the mother of Apollo.


Buffy

A pet form of Elizabeth (cf. Bethy), based on a child's unsuccessful attempts to pronounce the name. Popularized by the Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise.

A diminutive of the female given name Elizabeth.


Leda

(Greek mythology) The wife of Tyndareus and mother of Helen, Clytemnestra and Castor and Pollux hatched from eggs as a result of a seduction by Zeus in the guise of a swan


Aegeus

(Greek mythology) A character in the founding myth of Athens.


yaksha

Suvarnabhumi International Airport
yaksha

(Hindu mythology) A kind of supernatural being; can be a malevolent demon or a beneficent tutelary deity.

(Southeast Asia mythology) A kind of supernatural being, often depicted as having supernatural power, great strength, and frightening appearance; can be a malevolent demon or a beneficent tutelary deity.


tokoloshe

Borrowed from Zulu [Term?]. Compare Afrikaans tokkelossie.

(mythology) In Zulu mythology, a mischievous dwarf-like spirit man that can become invisible by drinking water or swallowing a stone.


Zephyrus

From Middle English Zeferus, Zepherus, Zephirus, Zephyrus, from Latin zephyrus, from Ancient Greek Ζέφυρος (Zéphuros). Not related to Latin zephirum (“zero”). Doublet of zefir, zéphire, Zephyr, and zephyr.

doublet

(Greek mythology) The Ancient Greek god of the west wind, supposed to be the gentlest of the winds and the messenger of spring. His parents are Eos/Aurora and Astraeus, and his brothers are Boreas, Notus and Eurus, (the Anemoi), and the Astra Planeta. His wife is Chloris and their son is Karpos. His Roman counterpart is Favonius.


werewolfdom

Werewolf of London (1935) was one of the earliest Hollywood films about werewolfdom; as such, it is ponderous and self-important.

1986, David Hogan, Dark Romance: Sexuality in the Horror Film - Page 43:

Werewolfdom is caused by a virus, somewhat like rabies, which liberates an atavistic part of the brain that human beings have lost.

2001, Lindo J. Holland-Toll, As American As Mom, Baseball, and Apple Pie:

Stories about running with Samson in their early days of werewolfdom, most of which ended with Samson waking up naked on the front porch of a ranger station.

2011, Molly Harper, How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf:

The state of being a werewolf; werewolfism; lycanthropy.


Father Sky

(mythology) The god of the sky in various cultures.


mythicism

en-noun

mythicism (countable and uncountable, plural mythicisms)

From myth + -icism. In occasional use since the 1840s.
The earliest use of the term was in Christian theology, in reference to the "Mythic Theory" of D. F. Strauss (1835). The more general sense appears from the 1870s.

1971 "Individual works are all potential myths, but it is their collective adoption that actualises - if such should be the case - their 'mythicism'." (Levi-Strauss)

1998 "the playful animal familiars of the heroine [in Disney's Pocahontas] are real animals, because this is real mythicism, not pure imagination." (Ziauddin Sardar, Postmodernism and the other: the new imperialism of Western culture, p. 89)

The creative potential for the creation of mythology; the faculty of mythopoeia.


warg

Learned borrowing from Old Norse vargr (“wolf”), reintroduced by J. R. R. Tolkien; compare also Old English wearg.

lbor

But even the wild Wargs (for so the evil wolves over the Edge of the Wild were named) cannot climb trees. […] Every now and then all the Wargs in the circle would answer their grey chief all together, and their dreadful clamour almost made the hobbit fall out of his pine-tree.

1937 September 21, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, “Out of the Frying-pan into the Fire”, in The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again, revised edition, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published February 1966 (August 1967 printing), →OCLC, page 105:

My question is do all of the executable versions for PC compatibles have the color option enabled? If so, what am I missing to not get say yellow for a hill orc, grey for a goblin, white for my pet, red for a wolf, brown for a warg, etc?

1993, jbatka, “Multiple colors for PC compatible”, in rec.hack (Usenet):

He'd bought a ton of silver to forge magic swords that would slay the Stark wargs.

1999, George R. R. Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam, published 2011, page 462:

The monsters are identified not as trolls, a word apparently not available in English at the time, but (among other things) as wargs, whatever that means; Grendel is called a heoro-wearh at line 1267 and his mother a grund-wyrgen at line 1518.

2007, Stephen O. Glosecki, Myth in Northwest Europe:

(fantasy, mythology) A type of particularly wild or hostile wolf.


orlay

Learned borrowing from Old English orlæġ (“fate”), from Proto-West Germanic *oʀlag, *uʀlag, from Proto-Germanic *uzlagą (“destiny; fate”, literally “that which is laid out; out-lay; plan; design”). Equivalent to or- + lay.

der

There laws they laid, there life chose, To men's sons, and spoke orlay […]

2004, Nathaniel Harris, Witcha: A Book of Cunning:

I am fully aware of how Oaths affect my Orlay and my Wyrd. I am Oathed to no one, save the Holy Ones and my Wife.

2006, An Heathen Reader: Some Thoughts on the State of Things I Think, anheathenreader.blogspot.com/.../some-thoughts-on-state-of-things-i.html

You could think of your own orlay as the source or seed of your “personal wyrd.” A newborn infant initially inherits its orlay from its parents and ancestors. This initial orlay is its heritage, compiled from the words and deeds of those ancestors.

2009, Alaric Albertsson, Travels Through Middle Earth:

These deeds done within the innangard of the tribe by its tribesmen are its law, its orlay.

2011, Swain Wodening, The Sacred and the Holy:

Remember how I wrote at the beginning of this chapter that the Norns 'shape' orlay. Orlay itself gives a person 'shape' within the dimensions of Time and Wyrd.

2021, Winifred Rose, Heathen Soul Lore Foundations:


Hippolyte

(Greek mythology) Alternative form of Hippolyta


Uma

(Hinduism) One of the names of Hindu goddess Parvati.


Ceyx

(Greek mythology) A king who was transformed into a kingfisher, together with his wife Alcyone.


wereleopard

They are believed to be "Ju-Ju" or were-leopards, and in this guise to roam through the forest in bands, bent on evil and destruction.

1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 168:

A) “One of them was a wereleopard; the other was a werewolf; both of them were strippers.”

2008 June 22, Dwight Garner, “Inside the List”, in New York Times:

While there'd been whispers about the Pack being unhappy with me for entangling myself with a wereleopard, Caitlyn wasn't just a wereleopard to me. She was my mate. A wolf didn't choose those kinds of things.

2019, Sarah Makela, The Leopard Who Claimed A Wolf: New Adult Shifter Romance, Kissa Press LLC, →ISBN:

(fantasy, mythology) A shapeshifter who can change between leopard and human form.

léopard-garou

shapeshifter assuming the shape of a leopard


rusalka

en-noun

rusalka (plural rusalkas or rusalky or rusalki)

rusalkas (plural)
rusalky (plural)
rusalki (plural)

From Russian руса́лка (rusálka, “mermaid, siren”). Doublet of rosalia.

bor

She is now a rusalka, a water spirit; in revenge she sends their daughter, a rusalochka, to lure him into the water.

2009 March 1, Alastair Macaulay, “What Do Aquawomen Want?”, in New York Times:

(Slavic mythology) A female water spirit that leads handsome men to their deaths underwater.


Medea

(Greek mythology) An enchantress who helped Jason obtain the Golden Fleece.


Laocoön

From Latin Lāocoōn, from Ancient Greek Λᾱοκόων (Lāokóōn).

(Greek mythology) A Trojan priest of Poseidon (or Apollo, depending on the author), whose rules he had defied (or whom he had otherwise offended), who tried to warn his fellow citizens against the Trojan horse. He was killed for this, along with his two sons, by giant snakes sent by Minerva (or Poseidon, or Apollo).

(Greek mythology) An Argonaut, son of Porthaon.


vampirette

The bond with the dead, at once sister and young bride, may give us another perspective on the same-sex eroticism that, all agree, this male writer imagines and creates between the vampirette and her victim.

1999, Laurence A. Rickels, The vampire lectures, page 161:

There will be no stores open at midnight for the latest Pinkwater, no nerd swarms, girl gaggles or nerd-girl swaggles, cloaked as wizards or vampirettes, whining at the doors, demanding completion.

2009 April 12, Larry Doyle, “Iggy in Underland”, in New York Times:


Haietlik

(mythology) A mythical sea serpent from Nootka mythology.


Tiresias

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Τειρεσίας (Teiresías).

[…]somewhere a ship's radio was blaring out the latest jazz-hit to reach Alexandria:
Old Tiresias / No one half so breezy as, / Half so free and easy as / Old Tiresias.

1958, Lawrence Durrell, Balthazar, page 35:

1997, Nicole Loraux, translated by Paula Wissing, The Experiences of Tiresias: The Feminine and the Greek Man, Princeton University Press, →ISBN:

The myth associated with how Tiresias became a hermaphrodite reveals much about relations between the sexes.

2004, Leonard Shlain, Sex, Time, and Power: How Women's Sexuality Shaped Human Evolution, page 255:

(Greek mythology) A long-lived blind soothsayer who participated over seven generations in the legendary history of (the Greek city) Thebes, noted also for being transformed into a woman for seven years, so being symbolic of androgyny.


antivampire

en-adj

antivampire (comparative more antivampire, superlative most antivampire)

more antivampire (comparative)
most antivampire (superlative)

This is a revealing passage, for van Helsing is the stern realist, the guiding hand directing the antivampire confederacy.

1996, Howard L. Malchow, Gothic images of race in nineteenth-century Britain, page 146:

The Oscar, Time, and Murrow formed a magical antivampire crucifix that would do more than protect Mr. S from the bloodsuckers of Hollywood; this figurative talisman would also convert the naysayers into idolators.

2003, George Jacobs, William Stadiem, Mr. S: my life with Frank Sinatra, page 137:

(folklore, fantasy) Opposing or countering vampires.


werecat

(fantasy, mythology) A shapeshifter who can change between cat and human form.

貓人 /猫人

shapeshifter assuming the shape of a cat


Morgana

(Arthurian legend) Morgaine (Morgan le Fay).


Niobe

(Greek mythology) A daughter of Tantalus, said to have turned into stone while weeping for her children.


triple goddess

en-noun

triple goddess (plural triple goddesses)

The goddess Brig was a triple goddess of poetry, smithcraft and healing, along with her two sisters of the same name.

2012, Sharon Paice MacLeod, Celtic Myth and Religion: A Study of Traditional Belief, with Newly Translated Prayers, Poems and Songs, McFarland & Company, Inc., →ISBN, page 51:

(mythology) A female triune deity, either one goddess with three distinct aspects or manifestations, or three goddesses who form a unit.


churel

As a churel she now prowls about the neighbourhood with her child in her arms.

1895, William Crooke, North Indian Notes and Queries, page 39:

The Churel, or woman dying in chold-birth, has been mentioned elsewhere.

1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 32:

He talked in whispers, and with the utmost respect, of the churel that might be listening overhead.

1953, The Virginia Quarterly Review, volume 29, page 410:

In Hindu folklore, the ghost of a woman who died during childbirth, pregnancy; or a witch.


Proserpina

From Latin Prōserpina from Ancient Greek Περσεφόνη (Persephónē) by metathesis perhaps first in Magna Graecia via a Sicilian Doric Greek Προσερπίνα (Proserpína) or Ionic Greek Προσερπίνη (Proserpínē), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *pers-o- (“sheaf of corn, grain, seed”) and *gʷʰn̥-t- (“to strike”), meaning 'corn-thresher'.

der

(Roman mythology) The goddess of springtime, queen of the underworld; the Roman equivalent of Persephone.


Zaqqum

(Islam) A tree that grows in Jahannam (Hell), whose dwellers are compelled to eat the bitter fruit.


domovoy

(Slavic mythology) A type of house sprite from Slavic mythology.


domovoi

(Slavic mythology) Alternative spelling of domovoy


bonnacon

(mythology) A mythical bovine creature with huge curved horns that produces burning dung.


shetani

Borrowed from Swahili shetani, from Arabic شَيْطَان (šayṭān).

Arabic شَيْطَان (šayṭān)

An evil spirit from East African mythology, often the subject of artwork.


Cloelia

From Latin Cloelia, feminine form of the gens name Cloelius, Cluilius, from clueo.

(Roman mythology) A woman who saved Roman hostages from the Clusian camp.


Freyja

Borrowed from Old Norse Freyja, from freyja (“lady”), from Proto-Germanic *frawjǭ.

(Norse mythology) A deity among the Vanir associated with sex, death, and seiðr, who receives half of those who die in battle in the afterlife field Fólkvangr (the other half going to Odin's hall, Valhalla), and whose brother is Freyr.


kikimora

(Slavic mythology) a female house spirit in the Slavic mythology


Banba

(Irish mythology) A patron goddess of Ireland.


Odinic

en-adj

Odinic (comparative more Odinic, superlative most Odinic)

more Odinic (comparative)
most Odinic (superlative)

Hermann Pálsson, in his essay “Odinic Echoes in Gísla saga,” attempts to collect literary evidence for the importance of Odin's cult in early Iceland.

2009, Adam Oberlin, “Odinic Elements in the Northern Sigurdr Legend”, in Myth: German and Scandinavian Studies:

Perceived Heathenism and Odinic Prayer.

Neil Gaiman's American Gods (2001) centres on Odinic myth transposed to modern America.

2014, Carolyne Larrington, The Poetic Edda (revised version), Folio Society 2016, p. xxiv


narnauk

Allegedly, this word is of Tsimshian origin.

(in the mythology of the First Nations of Canada) A supernatural being which can transform into an animal and back into human form by putting on and taking off an animal skin it has.


vampirey

vampirey (comparative more vampirey, superlative most vampirey)

more vampirey (comparative)
most vampirey (superlative)

Even though virtually every character in the novel, besides Cody, is a vampire, Vampire High is not at all a vampirey novel. Rees's vampires are born as vampires who marry and produce little vampires. Justin explains that they no longer kill for ...

2006, Deborah Wilson Overstreet, Not Your Mother's Vampire: Vampires in Young Adult Fiction, Scarecrow Press, →ISBN, page 44:

I'd gotten fed up before, tired of the vampirey stuff I had to learn to accommodate, frightened of getting in deeper. Sometimes, I just wanted to see humans for a while. So for over three weeks, that was what I did. I didn't call Bill; he didn't call me.

2009, Charlaine Harris, Living Dead In Dallas: A True Blood Novel, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

(Too vampirey.) Yield to the forbidden music of my soul. (Way too vampirey.) Dear Chloe, please can I sink my teeth into your neck and drink your blood? (One step at a time, Nigel.)

2010, Tim Collins, Notes from a Totally Lame Vampire: Because the Undead Have Feelings Too!, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:

“Last week,” he says, “I sent 'The Winning Shot' to Temple Bar—a very ghastly Animal Magnetism vampirey sort of tale. It came back again but with a very complimentary letter, & Hogg says he should like to see it.”

2013, Arthur Conan Doyle, Vampire Stories, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., →ISBN:

(informal) Of, relating to, or characteristic of vampires.


vampirize

en-verb

vampirize (third-person singular simple present vampirizes, present participle vampirizing, simple past and past participle vampirized)

vampirizes (present singular third-person)
vampirizing (participle present)
vampirized (participle past)
vampirized (past)


werewolfism

lycanthropy; the transformation of a person into a wolf


Argean

en-adj

Argean (comparative more Argean, superlative most Argean)

more Argean (comparative)
most Argean (superlative)

(Greek mythology) Alternative form of Argoan (“of or pertaining to the mythical ship Argo.”)


sea king

(mythology or fiction) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: A ruler of the seas, e.g. Poseidon.


ghostology

en-noun

ghostology (usually uncountable, plural ghostologies)

/ɡəʊsˈtɒləd͡ʒi/

[…] it seemed even more unaccountable than if it had been a thing of ghostology and witchcraft.

1872, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Septimius Felton; or, the Elixir of Life:

This, as all students of ghostology are aware, has frequently been the case; and it was precisely the case with the ghost seen by the famous Lord Brougham, […]

1908, H. Addington Bruce, “The Ghost Seen by Lord Brougham”, in Historic Ghosts and Ghost Hunters:

Experts in ghostology know exactly, where ghosts live, how they behave, how to deal with them, how to make them appear and disappear.

1957, William L. Fischer, Critical Notes on Evolution, page 30:

The knowledge, or study of ghosts or spirits; the science of the supernatural; spiritism.


opinicus

Coordinate term: griffin

Two opinici vert, beaked sable, wings gules, support the insignia of the Plasterers’ Company.

1847, A Glossary of Terms Used in British Heraldry: With a Chronological Table, Illustrative of Its Rise and Progress, Oxford: John Henry Parker, page 233:

Urcheons, bagwyns, opinici and musimons, represented statant, sejant or segreant, and in every variety of metal, colour and fur, completed an exhibition which was both boastfully heraldic and pompously powerful.

No blood need be shed in settling these anatomical problems, as opinici are of little importance, there being barely a dozen examples.

1963, Julian Franklyn, Shield and Crest: An Account of the Art and Science of Heraldry, page 150:

Even when they ascend to the loftiest perch for their kind and earn the right to serve on the Council of Keythongs, the wingless ones are still not permitted the same rights as gryphons and opinici.

2019, Paula Grover, The Gryphon, FriesenPress, →ISBN, page 22:

(heraldry) A heraldic imaginary creature with an eagle's head, a short tail, and sometimes wings.


zombic

en-adj

zombic (comparative more zombic, superlative most zombic)

more zombic (comparative)
most zombic (superlative)

For a time I wasn't sure of their purpose—neither, it seemed, were they—and I dreaded the possible need for another zombic performance.

1991, C. S. Friedman, The Madness Season, New York: Daw, →ISBN:

[…]there has been a gradual process of distillation, leaving just about all the reactionaries, for all their disagreements among themselves, united in the conviction that there is a real difference between a conscious person and a perfect zombie–let's call that intuition the Zombic Hunch–leading them to the thesis of Zombism: that the fundamental flaw in any mechanistic theory of consciousness is that it cannot account for this important difference.

1999 November 28, Daniel Dennett, “The Zombic Hunch: Extinction of an Intuition?”, in Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness, Cambridge, London: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, published 2005, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, LCC B945.D393S94 2005, page 14:

The atoms are in a superposition of both possibilities, and the poor cat, too, is hanging on in a zombic combination of life and death.

2010 November 9, Martin Bojowald, Once Before Time: A Whole Story of the Universe, Knopf, →ISBN, →LCCN, LCC QB981.B684 2010:


Vulcanian

Directly from Latin Vulcāniānus or from Latin Vulcānius + -an within English, from Vulcānus + -iānus (“-ian”) or -ius (“-y: forming adjectives”). In reference to a type or stage of volcanic activity, via Italian Vulcaniano, with specific reference to Giuseppe Mercalli's observations of the 1888–90 eruptions of the Aeolian island Vulcano. Equivalent to Vulcan + -ian. Doublet of volcanian. Compare slightly earlier Middle French vulcanien.

...Nor cou'd Vulcanian Flame
The Stench abolish; or the Savour tame...

1697, John Dryden translating Vergil as Georgics, Book III, in The Works of Virgil, p. 121

(Roman mythology) Of, related to, or created by Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and metalwork, considered equivalent to the Greek Hephaestus and several German and Celtic gods.

Yet Muto, like a good Vulcanian,
An honest Cuckold, calls the bastard sonne,
And brags of that which others for him done.

1598, John Marston, “Certaine Satyres”, in The Metamorphosis of Pigmalions Image..., page 41:

(rare, obsolete) Alternative letter-case form of vulcanian, a cuckold.

(astronomy) Of or related to the proposed planet Vulcan or a cluster of asteroids at the same location in the Solar System.


earthdrake

From Middle English *erthedrake, from Old English eorþdraca (“earth dragon”), equivalent of earth + drake.

[…] he sacrifices his own life in destroying a frightful earthdrake, […]

1876, William Spalding, The History of English Literature, page 40:

While attempting to remain as true to history as possible, I created a world of witches and wizards, earthdrakes and talking ravens, according to my imagination.

2008, M.C. Halliday, The King's Daughter - Page 196:

Aric had heard improbable tales of earth drakes eating entire mekillots. Seeing this one, however, he no longer had reason to doubt.

2010, Jeff Mariotte, City Under the Sand: A Dark Sun Novel:

(in early Anglo-Saxon literature, fantasy) a dragon.


Pegasean

Pegasean (comparative more Pegasean, superlative most Pegasean)

more Pegasean (comparative)
most Pegasean (superlative)

Deſcend from Heav'n Urania, by that name / If rightly thou art call'd, whoſe Voice divine / Following, above th' Olympian Hill I ſoare, / Above the flight of Pegaſean wing.

1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 1–4:

(Greek mythology) Of or pertaining to the mythical winged horse Pegasus.


Hero

(Greek mythology) Any of a number of legendary men and women, including the priestess loved by Leander.


Astraea

Translingual: Astraea

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek Ἀστραῖα (Astraîa, literally “star maiden”)

lbor

(Greek mythology) The Greek goddess of stars and justice; similar to Dike, equivalent to the Roman goddess Justitia.


Parthenope

From Latin Parthenopē, from Ancient Greek Παρθενόπη (Parthenópē, from παρθένος (parthénos, “virgin, virginal”) + ὄψ (óps, “voice”)).

der

(Greek mythology) One of the sirens, daughter of the god Achelous and the Muse Terpsichore.

(astronomy) 11 Parthenope, a main belt asteroid.


Egeria

On the heroine of his play he dwelt with the passionate fondness of a lover: there the real mingled with the ideal: could he write of love, and not think of Ethel Churchill? She was the Egeria of his heart, who taught him all the truth of tenderness.

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A London Life”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 165:

(Roman mythology) A nymph or minor goddess from Roman mythology.


Eunomia

From Ancient Greek Εὐνομία (Eunomía, “Order of Law, Good Order”).


Fortuna

(Roman mythology) The Roman goddess of luck, fortune and fate, equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche.


Bellona

But time will teach the Russ, ev'n conquering War
Has handmaid arts: aye, aye, the Russ will woo
All sciences that speed Bellona's car,
All murder's tactic arts, and win them too […]

1831, Thomas Campbell, The Power of Russia:

(Roman mythology) Roman goddess of war, wife or sister of Mars. Equivalent to the Greek goddess Enyo.


Amphitrite

From Ancient Greek Ἀμφιτρίτη (Amphitrítē).

(Greek mythology) A nymph, the wife of Poseidon.


Leukothea

From Ancient Greek Λευκοθέα; "white goddess".

(Greek mythology) A nymph or minor sea goddess of Greek mythology.


Fides

(Roman mythology) Roman goddess of trust and loyalty. Her Greek equivalent was Pistis.


Midgard

From Icelandic, from Old Norse Miðgarðr.

(Norse mythology) The Earth of traditional Germanic cosmology, conceived as a middle realm between heaven (Asgard) and hell (Helheim); the abode of human beings, between those of the gods (Æsir) and the dead.

Midgård

the abode of humans, between heaven and hell


Salii

From Latin Salii (“the Leapers, the Jumpers”), from salīre (“to leap, to jump”).

bor

(historical) The 12 priests of Mars Gradivus in Ancient Rome.


Lotophagi

Latin, from Ancient Greek Λωτοφάγος (Lōtophágos).

(Greek mythology) The lotus eaters; a people visited by Ulysses who subsisted on the lotus.


Anahita

From Old Persian 𐎠𐎴𐏃𐎡𐎫 (a-n-h-i-t /anahita/).

(Iranian mythology) the name of an Iranian goddess, associated with fertility, healing and wisdom.


gynosphinx

en-noun

gynosphinx (plural gynosphinxes or gynosphinges)

gynosphinxes (plural)
gynosphinges (plural)

(mythology) A sphinx with the head of a woman.


Orestes

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Ὀρέστης (Oréstēs).

(Greek mythology) The son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, who killed his mother, avenging his father's death, and was then pursued by the Furies.


Argoan

en-adj

Argoan (comparative more Argoan, superlative most Argoan)

more Argoan (comparative)
most Argoan (superlative)

(Greek mythology) Pertaining to the mythical ship Argo.


Orcus

From Latin Orcus. Doublet of ogre and orc.

Then ſhall our footmen lie within the trench,
And with their Cannons mouth’d like Orcus gulfe
Batter the wales, and we will enter in:
And thus the Grecians ſhalbe conquered.

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 III, scene i:

(Roman mythology) The Etruscan and Roman god of the underworld.