wendigo

en-noun

wendigo (plural wendigo or wendigos or wendigoes)

wendigo (plural)
wendigos (plural)
wendigoes (plural)

Borrowed from Ojibwe wiindigoo, from Proto-Algonquian *wi·nteko·wa (“owl; malevolent spirit, cannibalistic monster”). Compare Cree wihtikow, ᐃᐧᐦᑎᑯᐤ (iyhtikow, “greedy person; cannibal; giant man-eating monster”).

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Through the pine woods of Keewaydin, / Over the snows of Shebandowan, / The Wendigo roams in the winter's frost / And pursues to destruction the hunter. / Yet no man can meet with the Wendigo, / No man can face him or see him; / Only his track in the snow is seen, / And lost is the hunter that sees it. […] The heart that ne'er quailed on the war-path / Turns to stone at the name of the Wendigo.

1905, Ernest Thompson Seton, “The Wendigo: Winter Death”, in Woodmyth & Fable, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 161:

The Windigo is a flesh-eating, wintry demon with a man buried deep inside of it. In some Chippewa stories, a young girl vanquishes this monster by forcing boiling lard down its throat, thereby releasing the human at the core of ice.

1984, Louise Erdrich, “Windigo”, in Jacklight, New York, N.Y.: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, →ISBN:

The noun windigo [Ojibwa wīntikō, Cree wīhtikōw] refers to one of a class of anthropophagous monsters, “supernatural” from a non-Algonquian perspective, who exhibit grotesque physical and behavioral abnormalities and possess great spiritual and physical power.

1988 fall, Robert A. Brightman, “The Windigo in the Material World”, in Ethnohistory, volume 35, number 4, →DOI, →ISSN, →JSTOR, page 337:

A series of ‘wendigo’ killings – a ‘wendigo’ was an evil spirit clothed in human flesh – brought to the attention of Canadian law around the turn of the twentieth century represent the extension of Canadian law to the heart of traditional Indian culture. These killings, however, also represent the extent to which some of the First Nations defied or ignored that law. […] Machekequonabe, an Ojibwa, was found guilty of manslaughter in an 1896 trial for killing what he believed to be a wendigo. […] Furthermore, in additional cases it seems that Indians, in order to protect their religious and cultural beliefs from Canadian law, carefully distorted the facts of homicide cases to conceal that they were wendigo killings.

1998, Sidney L. Harring, “‘The Enforcement of the Extreme Penalty’: Canadian Law and the Ojibwa-Cree Spirit World”, in White Man’s Law: Native People in Nineteenth-century Canadian Jurisprudence, Toronto, Ont., Buffalo, N.Y., London: Published for The Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History by University of Toronto Press, →ISBN:

Suddenly, I was certain what I had found had been the rest of the dead girl. I told the others about it, then added, "God Almighty. It must have been eating her." / "I think I know this creature," said Gwennie, and we all looked at her. "It called a wendigo. A most terrible thing." […] / Gwennie shook her head. "It is an evil creature. I hear of it once when I traveled far from here. The Ojibwe brave who told me about creature say it is a beast of the north, of the cold."

2004 September, Michael Jensen, chapter 9, in Firelands, Los Angeles, Calif.: Alyson Books, →ISBN, page 130:

No one is safe in such times, not even the Cree of Mushkegowuk. War touches everyone, and windigos spring from the earth.

2005, Joseph Boyden, Three Day Road: A Novel, Toronto, Ont.: Viking Canada, →ISBN; republished Toronto, Ont.: Penguin Canada, 2008, →ISBN, page 49:

[Abstract, page iv] To close, I demarcate the trend of American television shows to appropriate the wendigo, ascertaining a fundamental misunderstanding of indigenous cultural beliefs by American popular culture. […] [Introduction, page 2] The wendigo is a cannibal monster from the traditional stories of many northern tribes, specifically the Anishinabe stories, and is most often associated with winter and desperate hunger.

2016, Michelle Lietz, Cannibalism in Contact Narratives and the Evolution of the Wendigo (unpublished M.A. dissertation), Ypsilanti, Mich.: Eastern Michigan University, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2017-07-12, pages iv and 2:

(mythology) A malevolent and violent cannibal spirit found in Anishinaabe, Ojibwe, and Cree mythology, which is said to inhabit the body of a living person and possess him or her to commit murder.

وِينْدِيجُو

malevolent and violent cannibal spirit in Anishinaabe, Ojibwe, and Cree mythology


Cerberus

From Latin Cerberus, from Ancient Greek Κέρβερος (Kérberos), of unknown origin.

(Greek mythology) The giant three-headed dog who guards the entrance to Hades; and one of the many offspring of Echidna and Typhon.


Olympian

en-adj

Olympian (not generally comparable, comparative more Olympian, superlative most Olympian)

more Olympian (comparative)
most Olympian (superlative)

From Late Middle English Olympyan, from Latin Olympius (“of or relating to Mount Olympus”) and its etymon Ancient Greek Ὀλῠ́μπῐος (Olŭ́mpĭos, “of or relating to Mount Olympus; living on Mount Olympus; Olympian”) + English -an (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘of or pertaining to’, or forming agent nouns). Ὀλῠ́μπῐος (Olŭ́mpĭos) is derived from Ὄλῠμπος (Ólŭmpos, “Mount Olympus”) (from Pre-Greek) + -ῐος (-ĭos, suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘of or pertaining to’).

affix

Namely, the Olympian Iove, to whom Antiochus [IV Epiphanes] conſecrated the Temple of God, 2 Mac[cabees] 6.2. and ſo he placed him, as it were, in Gods own cittadell, ver. 31. […] [T]he ſaid Olympian Iove was an Athenian Idoll, and not a Syrian one: which was Antiochus his native Country.

1648, John Diodati [i.e., Giovanni Diodati], “Annotations upon Daniel”, in R. G., transl., Pious and Learned Annotations upon the Holy Bible: Plainly Expounding the Most Difficult Places thereof: […], 2nd edition, London: […] Miles Flesher, for Nicholas Fussell, →OCLC, page 611, column 2:

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:

Twelve Days were paſt, and now the dawning Light / The Gods had ſummon'd to th' Olympian Height.

1715, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, “Book I”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 30, lines 640–641:

When the great pow'r that e'en the gods commands, / Who ſends the bolts from his [Jupiter's] almighty hands, / Summon'd th' immortals, who obey'd his call, / He thus addreſs'd them in th' olympian hall.

1740, Hesiod, “The Theogony, or the Generation of the Gods”, in [Thomas] Cooke, transl., The Works of Hesiod Translated from the Greek, 2nd edition, London: […] John Wilson for John Wood and Ch. Woodward, […], →OCLC, page 170, lines 603–606:

[O]ther light / Though it be quick and sharp enough to blight / The Olympian eagle's vision, is dark, / Dark as the parentage of chaos.

1818, John Keats, “Book II”, in Endymion: A Poetic Romance, London: […] T[homas] Miller, […] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 96, lines 912–915:

[…] Hetty was quite uneducated—a simple farmer's girl, to whom a gentleman with a white hand was dazzling as an Olympian god.

1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “Hetty’s World”, in Adam Bede […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book first, pages 184–185:

(not comparable) Of or relating to Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece; or (Greek mythology) the Greek gods and goddesses who were believed to live there.

божествен

of or relating to the Greek gods and goddesses believed to live on Mount Olympus


Olympian

Pauſanias's account is related pretty faithfully there, if we except two errors, one, that Arcas an Olympian mixed ſome Hippomanes with the brazen ſtatue, the other that he caſt a mare. […] We do not find in the author's Latin, that Arcas the Olympian mixed ſome Hippomanes, &c.

1741, [Pierre] Bayle, “A Dissertation Concerning the Hippomanes”, in John Peter Bernard, Thomas Birch, John Lockman, et al., transl., A General Dictionary, Historical and Critical: […], volume X, London: […] James Bettenham, for G[eorge] Strahan, J. Clarke, […], →OCLC, page 361:

Midas longed for gold, and insulted the Olympians. He got gold, so that whatsoever he touched became gold—and he, with his long ears, was little the better for it.

1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “Morrison’s Pill”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book I (Proem), page 15:

(Greek mythology) Any of the 12 principal gods and goddesses of the Greek pantheon (Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Demeter, and Hades); (specifically) preceded by the: Zeus, the supreme ruler of the Greek deities.

olympolainen

any of the 12 principal gods and goddesses of the Greek pantheon


Mordred

Alteration of Modred, from Latin Modredus, from Proto-Brythonic *Modrọd (whence Old Breton Modrot, Old Cornish Modred, Old Welsh Medraut), perhaps from Latin Moderātus.

(Arthurian legend) The illegitimate son of King Arthur, who ultimately killed him in battle.

莫德雷德

in Arthurian legend, the son of King Arthur


Laestrygonian

From Ancient Greek Λαιστρυγόνες (Laistrugónes).

bor

Λαιστρυγόνες

1900, (translated by) George Herbert Palmer, The Odyssey of Homer, Houghton, Mifflin and Company
Before town they met a maiden drawing water, the stately daughter of the Laestrygonian Antiphades.

(Greek mythology) A member of a mythical Greek tribe of man-eating giants.


Laestrygonian

Λαιστρυγόνες

(Greek mythology) Of or relating to that tribe.


amphisbaena

From Latin amphisbaena, from Ancient Greek ἀμφίσβαινα (amphísbaina, from ἀμφίς (amphís, “both ways”) + βαίνω (baínō, “I go”)).

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1971: What do you call that animal that goes backward and forward, head at each end? —'Amphisbaena'. A kind of lizard. It doesn't exist. — Anthony Burgess, M/F (Penguin 2004, p. 109)

(mythology) A mythical serpent having a head at each end of its body, able to move in either direction.


light elf

Back-formation from light elves, a calque of Old Norse ljósalfar.

Alfheim, where the light elves live. The light elves are as beautiful as the sun or the stars.

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

(Norse mythology) A member of the race of Ljósalfar, daylight dwelling elves or nature spirits (as opposed to the underground dwelling dark elves or dwarves).


dark elf

Back-formation from dark elves, a calque of Old Norse dǫkkalfar.

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

(Norse mythology) A member of the race of Dǫkkálfar or Dark Alfs, creatures who live underground.


Dreamtime

A false calque of Eastern Arrernte Altyerrenge (“the Dreaming”), based on the incorrect assumption that the word is related to altyerre (“a dream”) or altyerre areme (“to dream”). "-time" is an addition unrooted in Aboriginal language.

calque

No, Brian Elliott's hobby-horse is not the Jindyworobaks' political links—it is his conviction that they are to be remembered and well respected for their awareness of Aboriginal myth and legend and for their understanding and symbolic poetical use of the alcheringa concept (the Dreamtime myth of the creation of geological Australia and its flora and fauna with the related religious and moral connotations of site-worship and animism) .

The tall slender birds were performing a legendary fight in the Dreamtime story – one that the old law had marked on them forever with a wattle of flaming red skin on the back of their heads.

2013, Alexis Wright, The Swan Book, Constable (2016), page 101:

(Australian Aboriginal mythology) The time of the creation of the world, by the ancestors out of their own essence.

time of creation of the world in Australian mythology

夢幻時光 /梦幻时光 (mènghuàn shíguāng) (no equivalent exists; lit. "fantasy time")


Ida

(Greek mythology) Name of two sacred mountains situated in present-day Turkey and Crete, also called Mount Ida.


katabasis

en-noun

katabasis (countable and uncountable, plural katabases)

From Ancient Greek κατάβασις (katábasis), from verb καταβαίνω (katabaínō, from κατά (katá, “downwards”) + βαίνω (baínō, “go”)).

af

The ancient Greeks and the peoples of remote antiquity already knew of journeys of the soul, but these were often journeys to the infernal regions, descents into hell, catabases, with obstacles, such as encounters with various monsters, menaces of all sorts, the crossing of the bridge of the dead or the passage of mysterious rivers on foot or on horseback.

1923, Georges Berguer, translated by E. S. Brooks and Van Wyck Brooks, Some aspects of the life of Jesus from the psychological and psycho-analytic point of view, page 58:

The logic of the underworld is most on show in the Phaedra and the Hercules [of Seneca], which feature the returns of Theseus and Hercules from their katabases.

2009, James Ker, The Deaths of Seneca, page 136:

Willy, the concentration camp survivor who has experienced more evil than any other character, places no value on catabasis. When asked (in connection with Aeneid VI) 'Do you think everyone ought to descend to the underworld?', he replies briskly, 'Certainly not! It's very dark and stuffy and one is more likely to feel frightened than to learn anything.[…]'

2010, P. Martin, Anne Rowe, Iris Murdoch: A Literary Life, page 84:

Therefore, Erling Holtsmark's point that literary-mythic katabasis captures “the imagined physical orientation of the other world relative to this one” (25), is superseded in a post-mythic, ostensibly secular worldview by a journey that takes place within an underworld that is an exteriorized 'projection' of a protagonist's putative interior world, the domain especially of the unconscious, memory and dream.

2013, Russell J.A. Kilbourn, “Introduction”, in Cinema, Memory, Modernity:The Representation of Memory from the Art Film to Transnational Cinema, page 31:

(mythology, literature) A mytheme or trope in which the hero embarks on a journey to the underworld.


Tir

Transliteration of Old Armenian Տիր (Tir), which is related to the Persian month name.

translit

(Armenian mythology) A scribe/writer god, in Hellenistic times identified with the Greek Apollo.


luck dragon

A calque of the German term Glücksdrache, coined in The Neverending Story (1983) (translated by Ralph Manheim from the original Die Unendliche Geschichte (1979) by Michael Ende).

2006 July 7, Douglas Sarine (guest), “'Pirates' Any Good? Ask a Ninja, If You Dare”, All Things Considered, National Public Radio
Like literally, the last line of the movie is a new plotline. It's a never-ending story, but with no luckdragon.

“I am Princess Tessiyon Windmere and captain of my ship I am to go back to. And yourself?” said she. / “I am Zandor, I am a luck dragon,” he replied. / “You sure are indeed. It was my luck that saved me, you came.”

2008, Kyann Zorain, The Stones of the Hidden Power: The Fight for Freedom, page 90:

His first magical creature was a bonsai tiger called Jack (of the tabby variety), followed by a small luck dragon named Daisy. Sometimes people mistook Daisy for a spaniel, but you could tell she was a luck dragon because she had big floppy ears.

2009 March 1, Sam Bowring, The Zoo of Magical and Mythological Creatures, Macmillan, preface:

I liked that there was no bright light but the perpetual clouds and drizzle were depressing. It was like The Nothing was coming. Too bad I couldn’t ride a luck dragon out of this place.

2010 March 15, Paul Y. Csige, The Symphony of Leif, CsiMec Incorporated, page 127

A fictitious flying dragon with a giant, elongated, wingless body and commonly a canine head, unfailing in its serendipity.


Dido

(Greek mythology) Founder and first Queen of Carthage.


Maui

From Hawaiian Maui, probably a contraction of Māui (a Hawaiian trickster god); or borrowed from Maori Māui.

(Polynesian mythology) Alternative spelling of Māui


Maui

A barangay of Delfin Albano, Isabela, Philippines.


mulo

Borrowed from Romani mulo (“dead (man)”).


Beowulf

Learned borrowing from Old English Bēowulf, probably equivalent to bee + wolf, though the first element is uncertain.

lbor

John Gardner’s retelling of Beowulf is titled Grendel.

An Old English epic poem written circa 1025.

Beowulf is as great a hero as Sigmund.

(poetic) An Anglo-Saxon personal name, usually with reference to the hero of the poem, or to the poem itself.


nahuelito

(in Argentina, cryptozoology, mythology) A large aquatic creature, similar to the Loch Ness monster, which supposedly lives in Nahuel Huapi Lake, Argentina.


amaru

A double-headed serpent in Inca and other Andean mythology.


trow

From Swedish or Norwegian troll. Doublet of troll, a later learned borrowing.

The Trows are of a diminutive stature, and they are usually dressed in gay green garments.

1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 261:


Aborigines

Learned borrowing from Latin aborīginēs, which see for more.

(Roman mythology) The earliest inhabitants of central Italy, from whom the Latins were said to have descended.

aborígines

the earliest inhabitants of central Italy


kelpie

The dog breed derives from the name shared by the first two breeding bitches (dam and pup), which name derives from the mythological spirit.

He was a boy in form, and an antediluvian in feature. Some thought he was a mule, between a Jew and an ape; some a wizard, some a kelpie, or a fairy, but most of all, that he was really and truly a Brownie.

1828, James Hogg, The Brownie of the Black Haggs:

(Celtic mythology) A malevolent shapeshifting spirit, most often in the form of a horse, believed to haunt the rivers and lochs of Scotland.


Kalevala

The mythical location where the heroes of Kalevala live.

Kalevalsky District
Kalevalsky District#English

Republic of Karelia
Republic of Karelia#English

An urban-type settlement, the administrative capital of the Kalevalsky District, Republic of Karelia, in northwestern Russia; also historically known as Uhtua.


living dead

(fiction, usually with the) The undead; zombies, vampires, etc.


living dead

This “living dead” industry has been written off time and time again, yet it continues to clamber back to its feet and lumber blindly onward.

Venture's investment in Black Hawk could turn out to be a complete failure (black hole), barely surviving (living dead), or wildly successful (venture utopia).

2014, J. Chris Leach, Ronald W. Melicher, Entrepreneurial Finance, page 423:

Existing in stasis, without meaningful activity or development.


meet one's maker

en-verb

meet one's maker (third-person singular simple present meets one's maker, present participle meeting one's maker, simple past and past participle met one's maker)

meets one's maker (present singular third-person)
meeting one's maker (participle present)
met one's maker (participle past)
met one's maker (past)

In various religions, when a person dies, they go to a supernatural place like heaven where they may meet their creator deity.

On the gallows high he has met his Maker...Your victim waits for you to meet your Maker

1871, Unknown (Execution ballad), “Execution of Frederick Baker.”, in Curiosities of Street Literature, Comprising "cocks," Or "catch Pennies", page 205:

He didn't die for a half-hour after that; nor did he speak again—aloud; but just a few seconds before he went to meet his Maker, his lips moved in a faint whisper.

1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter IV, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC:

This parrot is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker! This is a late parrot! It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed it to the perch it would be pushing up the daisies!

1969 December 7, Monty Python, “Full Frontal Nudity, Dead Parrot sketch”, in Monty Python's Flying Circus, spoken by Mr Praline (John Cleese):

(idiomatic, euphemistic) To die or to pass into the afterlife.


Pandarus

(Greek mythology) An archer on the side of Troy in the Trojan War who precipitated the war by breaking a truce.


Hermione

From the Ancient Greek Ἑρμῐόνη (Hermĭónē). Not related to German Hermine.

(Greek mythology) Daughter of Helen and Menelaus, wife of Orestes.


Laverna

(Roman mythology) A goddess of thieves and impostors.


mythopoet

(mythology) a writer of mythic poetry; a mythopoeic writer.


mythopoetical

en-adj

mythopoetical (comparative more mythopoetical, superlative most mythopoetical)

more mythopoetical (comparative)
most mythopoetical (superlative)

(mythology) Pertaining to the creation of myths; pertaining to mythopoiesis.


mythopoiesis

en-noun

mythopoiesis (usually uncountable, plural mythopoieses)


heathendom

heathendom (usually uncountable, plural heathendoms)

From Middle English hæthendom, from Old English hǣþendōm; equivalent to heathen + -dom. OED records a single attestation in the period between 1230 and 1840, a (nonce?) occurrence in J. Law, Proposals and reasons for constituting a council of trade in Scotland (1701, p. 233). Otherwise replaced by Middle English hethenesse in the later Middle English period and heathenism in the 17th and 18th centuries. Cognate with Dutch heidendom, Old High German heidentuom (German Heidentum), Old Norse heiðindómr (Swedish hedendom).

Ziegenbalg mentioned some major forms of heathendom (African, American, old European)[…]

2011, Urs App, The Birth of Orientalism, page 102:

(Germanic paganism, sometimes capitalized) The collection of people who follow Heathenry, a modern pagan faith inspired by the pre-Abrahamic religions of Germanic tribes, Anglo-Saxons and Norse peoples.

heidendom

worldwide community that follows Heathenry


Sabrina

(Celtic mythology) A legendary Celtic princess who gave her name to the river Severn.


kirin

Borrowed from Japanese 麒(き)麟(りん) (kirin), from Middle Chinese. Doublet of qilin.

Synonym of qilin; typically used in Japanese contexts.


Mazandaran

Borrowed from Persian مازندران (mâzandarân, literally “the gate or the valley of the giants”).

bor

(Iranian mythology) A land mentioned in Shahnameh and Avesta.


Dione

en-proper noun

Dione (countable and uncountable, plural Diones)

From Latin Diōnē (“of Jupiter”), from Ancient Greek Διώνη (Diṓnē, “of Zeus”).

(Greek mythology) Mother of Aphrodite, and possibly the same as the goddess Rhea.


noonday devil

ακηδία ακηδία#Greek

A demon, thought to be active at the noon hour, that inclines its victims (usually monastics) to restlessness, excitability and inattention to their duties. Used as a synonym for acedia (Greek ακηδία (akidía)).


Liber

(Roman mythology) A god of viticulture and wine, as well as male fertility and freedom.


Pandion

(Greek mythology) The name of two kings of Athens (Pandion I and Pandion II).


hellhound

From Middle English helle hound; equivalent to hell + hound.

From forth the kennell of thy wombe hath crept / A Hell-hound that doth hunt vs all to death:

c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], page 195, column 2:

Barricading serves not: fly fast, ye Bodyguards; rabid Insurrection, like the hellhound Chase, uproaring at your heels!

1837, Thomas Carlyle, chapter X, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume I (The Bastille), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book VII (The Insurrection of Women):

(mythology) A demonic dog of hell, typically of unnatural size, strength or speed, with black fur, glowing eyes, and ghostly or phantom characteristics.


Ancestor Night

This is Ancestor Night, the Feast of the Dead, the night strongest for communication with those gone into the shadow lands, those who now dwell over Bifrost, the Rainbow Bridge to Asgard.

1991, D J Conway, Norse Magic, Llewellyn Publications, page 51:

Other names are the Festival of Remembrance, the Feast of Apples, Ancestor Night or the Feast of the Dead.

1999, Gail Duff, The Wheel of the Wiccan Year, page 23:

(Germanic paganism) A festival celebrated by followers of Heathenry in late October or early November and based on the Germanic tradition of ancestor worship.


vila

Borrowed from Serbo-Croatian víla and Slovene vila.

"The Vilas (fairies) live there, and they will certainly put out your eyes as they have put out mine, if you venture on their mountain."

1874, Elodie Lawton Mijatovic, Serbian Folklore:

She is answered, fittingly enough, by a vila, who declares that she is more beautiful than the girl.

1995, Albert Bates Lord, The Singer Resumes the Tale, page 52:

Duly married, the couple lived for some time in peace and contentment, until one day Marko boasted that his wife was a vila, whereupon she put on her wings and flew away.

1998, Mike Dixon-Kennedy, Encyclopedia of Russian and Slavic Myth and Legend, page 302:

(Slavic mythology) A type of female nature spirit in Slavic mythology, similar in some ways to a fairy or nymph.


Xanatos

(Greek mythology) Alternative spelling of Thanatos


epyllion

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἐπύλλιον (epúllion). The term was first used in the nineteenth century.

(literary) A brief narrative poem with a romantic or mythological theme.


Discordia

(Roman mythology) The goddess of discord, confusion, and strife.


dobby

en-noun

dobby (countable and uncountable, plural dobbies)

(chiefly Nottingham) The children's game of tag.


daimonic

From daimon + -ic; from Latin demon (“spirit”), originally from Ancient Greek δαίμων (daímōn, “a god, goddess, divine power, genius, guardian spirit”). Doublet of demonic.

der

(psychology, spirituality, mythology, literature) The journey and transition from innocence to experience; part of the process of individuation.

(mythology, literature) The place where light and dark meet.


Lokean

Lokeans will often cite this myth as the Aesir and Vanir going too far; naturally Loki wants vengeance after these events.

2013, Patricia M. Lafayllve, A Practical Heathen's Guide to Asatru, page 221:

Strictly speaking, the only thing required to be a Lokean is to worship Loki as either your fulltrúi or as a deity that holds a significant place in your life.

2020, Dagulf Loptson, Pagan Portals - Loki: Trickster and Transformer, unnumbered page:

Even in my own region, there's been a shift in the attitude toward the Mischief Maker, and I've used the reputation I and other Lokeans have built in the community to start getting vocal about why he's worth having around.

2022, Lea Svendsen, Loki and Sigyn: Lessons on Chaos, Laughter & Loyalty from the Norse Gods, page 5:

For quotations using this term, see Citations:Lokean.

(Germanic paganism) One who honours Loki as their primary god.


mandragora

en-noun

mandragora (countable and uncountable, plural mandragoras)

/ˌmænˈdɹæɡ.ə.ɹə/

From Medieval Latin mandragora, from Latin mandragorās.

—though she did not know whether her supposed rival was dead or alive, whether the complaints she at once pitied and resented were those which "poppy and mandragora" might medicine, or "those written troubles of the brain" which were incapable of cure, she contrived to make up for herself a draught of most terrible infliction.

1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXVIII, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 56:

The worst fodder for a President is not poppy and mandragora, but strychnine and adrenalin.

1933 January 30, H.L. Mencken, “The Coolidge Mystery”, in H.L. Mencken On Politics, published 1996, →ISBN, page 136:

Mandrake (genus Mandragora); often specifically mandrake root, traditionally used as a narcotic.


Tatzelwurm

Men had been known to quit work here, claiming that the Tatzelwurms were becoming enraged by all the drilling and explosions.

2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 736:

(cryptozoology) A worm-like cryptid reported to live in the Alps.


titanides

(Greek mythology) The daughters of Uranus and Gaia; the female titans.


byname

From by- + name. Cognate with Dutch bijnaam (“nickname”), German Beiname (“nickname, epithet”), Swedish binamn, Danish binavn and Norwegian Bokmål binavn.

(Germanic paganism) A ritual title for a god or goddess used in Heathenry.


aegipan

From Latin Aegipān, from Hellenistic Ancient Greek Αἰγίπαν (Aigípan), from αἴξ (aíx, “goat”) + Πάν (Pán, “Pan”).

there were passages in Pomponius Mela, about the old African Satyrs and Oegipans, over which Usher would sit dreaming for hours.

1839, Edgar Allan Poe, The Fall of the House of Usher:

"No," Shin said, "I don't think that folk who were warned that you were arriving on an ogre would be terrified to learn that an aegipan was part of the group also. Though I'm flattered that you'd consider such a possibility."

2007, David Drake, The Mirror of Worlds:

(Greek mythology) A goat-like creature resembling a satyr, sometimes portrayed as having a fish's tail.


Helle

(Greek mythology) A daughter of king Athamas, who, together with her brother Phrixus, fled from their stepmother Ino to Colchis on a golden ram. On their way, she fell from its back and was drowned in the strait called, after her, Hellespont.


capriped

And into the hall twirled six capripeds, footing it lightly as the music swept ever faster, and a one-footer that leaped hither and thither about and about, as the flea hoppeth, till the Witches grew hoarse with singing and shouting and hounding of him on.

1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros, London: Jonathan Cape, page 35:

(mythology) A goat-footed person; a satyr.


Nestor

From Ancient Greek Νέστωρ (Néstōr), possibly from νέομαι (néomai, “to return safely”), νόστος (nóstos, “homecoming”).

(Greek mythology) An old and wise king in Homer's Iliad.


Nosferatu

/ˌnɒsfəˈɹɑːtuː/

Possibly from a Romanian word for vampire. The term achieved popular currency through Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula and F. W. Murnau's 1922 German film Nosferatu. See also: Wikipedia's article on the etymology of the word (and the references there).

"Friend Arthur, if you had met that kiss [...] you would in time, when you had died, have become nosferatu, as they call it in Eastern Europe, and would all time make more of those Un-Deads that so have filled us with horror."

1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, published 1993, page 192:

Those of us who have dabbled much in the lore of the nosferatu tend to think of them as imaginative creations of the German and English Romantics, and not without reason.

2018 November, Kevin Jackson, “Something to Sink Your Teeth Into”, in Literary Review:

While it may have been capable of flight, it almost certainly spent its time on Hateg crawling about on its wrists, with its great leathery wings folded over its body like a shroud. A gigantic kind of Nosferatu comes to mind.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 26:


garuda

A large mythical bird or bird-like creature that appears in both Hindu and Buddhist mythology. Garuda is the son of Vinata.

গৰুল

large mythical bird in Hindu and Buddhist mythology


Dorian

en-adj

Dorian (comparative more Dorian, superlative most Dorian)

more Dorian (comparative)
most Dorian (superlative)

Constructed like the French Doriens. From the Latin root of Dōres + -ian. Compare Ancient Greek Δωριεύς (Dōrieús, “of Doris”).

cog

(mythology) Of or relating to the oceanid Doris in Greek mythology.


Tū

(mythology) Shortened form of Tū-mata-uenga, Māori for 'Tū of the angry face', one of the great gods of Māori mythology, and the origin of war.


tommyknocker

Then he's down one of these adits, talking to the tommyknockers, more'n likely.

2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 335:

(folklore) A mythical creature, like a brownie or leprechaun, believed to live in underground tunnels; later associated with dead miners.


psychomancy

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

Divination involving communication with spirits; necromancy.


Elysian

Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon
Sebastiaen Vrancx

From Latin Elysium (from Ancient Greek Ἠλύσιον (Ēlúsion, “Elysium; an Elysian Field; one of the Elysian Fields”)) + -an (adjective-forming suffix).

der

(Greek mythology) Elysium (“the home of the blessed after death”).


shifter

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

(mythology, science fiction, fantasy) A shape-shifter; a person or other being capable of changing their physical form, especially a lycanthrope.


Pontus

From Latin Pontus, from Ancient Greek Πόντος (Póntos, “Black Sea, Pontus”), from πόντος (póntos, “sea”), from Mycenaean Greek 𐀡𐀵 (po-to). Doublet of pons.

Pont

a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea

(Greek mythology) A sea god, particularly of the Black Sea.


bottomless pit

1769, The Bible, King James Version, Oxford Standard Text, Revelation, 9:11,
And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.


Govinda

From Sanskrit गोविन्द (Govinda, “finder of cows”).


Ganga

Transliteration of Hindi गंगा (gaṅgā) or Sanskrit गङ्गा (gaṅgā). Doublet of Ganges.

The river Ganges, especially as a deity.


Lares

en-noun

Lares pl (normally plural, singular Lar)

From Latin Lares, plural form of lār, from Etruscan [Term?].

Coordinate term: lemures

(Roman mythology) The household deities watching over one's family and tutelary deities watching over some public places.


Galaxia

(mythology) In new age mythology, the mother goddess corresponding to Gaia, but on a higher, galactic, level


ifrit

→ Japanese: イフリート (ifurīto)

Then she flew firmament-wards to circle it, as was her custom, and met an Ifrit on the wing who saluted her and she said to him, "Whence comest thou?"

1885, Richard F. Burton, chapter XXI, in The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, volume I, The Burton Club, page 211:

(Arab mythology) A demon, evil spirit, often associated with the underworld.


Sif

From Old Norse, from sif (“kindred, kinswoman”), from Proto-Germanic *sibjō; see also Old English sibb (“kinship”) (whence Middle English sib (“having kinship; kinsmen”), whence English sib, sibling), German Sippe (“tribe”).

cog

As already stated, Thor was, according to the Edda, married to Sibil, that is to say, the Sibylla, and the Edda adds that this Sibil is called Sif in the North. In the Teutonic mythology Thor's wife is the goddess Sif.

1889, Viktor Rydberg, Teutonic Mythology, page 60:

For some contemporary Heathens, Lammas is sacred to Sif and Thunor (see Our Troth online Chapter LIII). In Snorri's Skaldskaparmal (see Faulkes 1998 [1987]: 96), Loki cropped Sif’s (presumably blonde or flaxen) hair, seemingly out of spite, a cropping which compares to the harvesting of corn.[…]Sif’s golden hair is a contemporary kenning for the cornfield as it is caressed by the breeze and makes gentle waves.

2005, Nathan J. Johnson, Robert J. Wallis, Galdrbok: Practical Heathen Runecraft, Shamanism and Magic, page 309:

(Norse mythology) A golden-haired goddess associated with earth, mother of Ullr and wife of Thor.


lindworm

Cognate with Old Norse linnormr (“constrictor snake”), Norwegian lindorm (“serpent”), German Lindwurm (“dragon”).

A draconic creature, similar to a wyvern.


aition

From Ancient Greek αἴτιον (aítion, “cause”).

This helps us to understand why Greek initiatory rituals are so often accompanied by an explanatory story—technically, the aition—in which the god appears twice, as the adversary of the people and as their protector. These aitia typically follow a three-part scenario […]

2020, David M. Halperin et al., editors, Before Sexuality, Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 123:

(Greek mythology) An origin story or myth in Ancient Greece.


Asura

Transliteration of Sanskrit असुर (asura). Doublet of Ahura. Compare English Æsir.

translit

(Hinduism) Power-seeking deities involved in constant conflict with the more benevolent Devas.


Shani

(Hinduism) The Hindu god associated with the planet Saturn


Vayu

(Hinduism) The god of wind in Hindu and Vedic religion. A primary deity, father of Bhima and the spiritual father of Lord Hanuman.


Mahabharata

/mə.ɦɑːˈbʱɑː.ɾə.t̪ə/

Transliteration of Sanskrit महाभारत (mahābhārata).

(Hinduism, mythology) An ancient Sanskrit epic concerning some text of the Bhagavad Gita, including elaborations on theology and morality.


Vasuki

(Hinduism) The goddess of snakes in Hindu mythology.


Balarama

Borrowed from Sanskrit बलराम (balarāma).

(Hinduism) Balarama, son of Vasudeva, and Rohini, brother of Subhadra, and Krishna, who uses a plough as his weapon.


Middle Earth

From Middle English middelerthe, myddyl erthe; an alteration of earlier middel-erde, middelerd; in turn an alteration of earlier middenerd; from Old English middaneard (“Middle Earth”), variant of middanġeard (“Earth, the world”, literally “the middle yard, enclosure, or realm”) mis- or reinterpreting its meaning, from Proto-Germanic *midjagardaz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“middle”) and *gʰórdʰos (“enclosure”). Cognate with Norwegian & English Midgard (q.v.) and Danish, Norwegian, & Swedish Midgård.

(chiefly Norse mythology) synonym for Midgard, the world of traditional Germanic cosmology, conceived as a realm between heaven (Asgard) and hell (Niflheim).


Vidar

From Old Norse Víðarr, from víðr (“wide”) + herr (“army”).


Lancelot

en-proper noun

Lancelot (countable and uncountable, plural Lancelots)

From Middle English Launcelot, from Old French Lancelot, from Frankish *Lanzo, hypocoristic form of names beginning in *Land-, from Proto-Germanic *landą (“land”), and diminutive Old French endings -el and -ot.
Related to Old English Landbeorht (modern English Lambert).

(Arthurian legend) One of the Knights of the Round Table, a lover of Guinevere.


Night

"In this prayer, Sigdrifa calls upon powers of Nature - Day, Night, Earth - and the gods and goddesses as a group.

1993, Our Troth, Ring of Troth and other True Folk, Ring of Troth, page 383

Hail to Night and her daughters.

1993, Teutonic Religion, Kveldulf Gundarsson, Llewellyn Publications, page 316

In another story, the Allfather, the original sky god from early Wyrd culture, took Night and her son Day, and gave to each of them a horse and chariot and put them in the sky, so that they should ride around the world every twenty-four hours.

1996, The Wisdom of the Wyrd, Brian Bates, Rider, page 48

(Germanic paganism) The goddess of the night in Heathenry.


Yggdrasil

Borrowed from Old Norse Yggdrasill; commonly accepted as being composed Yggr (“terrible”) + drasill (“steed”), where “steed” refers to a hanging tree or possibly from *dʰer- (“to hold, support”).

Yet it is not easy to pluck out the heart of its mystery; and the descriptions of certain ancient representatives of Yggdrasil do not lessen the difficulty.

1863, The London Quarterly Review, volumes 113-114, page 117:

With nostrils and legs akimbo, she towered over him like some human Yggdrasill, blotting out the sun.

1963, Spike Milligan, chapter 1, in Puckoon, page 1:

1996, Carolyne Larrington (editor and translator), The Seeress's Prophecy, The Poetic Edda, page 6,
I know that an ash-tree stands called Yggdrasill,
a high tree, soaked with shining loam;
from there come the dews which fall in the valley,
ever green, it stands over the well of fate.

In Norse mythology, for example, the World Tree, or Yggdrasil, connected the nine existences that straddled the worlds of gods and men with its mighty roots. Yggdrasil was reputedly a gigantic ash tree (and was the central feature of Norse cosmology), around the base of which the serpent Níôhöggr had twisted its body.

2007, Bob Curran, Ian Daniels, Walking with the Green Man: Father of the Forest, Spirit of Nature, page 66:

“Yggdrasil!” Gudbjartur's voice was filled with awe. “It is Yggdrasil, the world-tree!” He looked at Halfdan, his eyes wide. “The Sacred Grove is here in this land!”

2007, J. A. Hunsinger, The Settlers: An Axe of Iron Novel, page 333:

(Norse mythology) An immense ash tree that is central in Norse cosmology, believed to connect the nine worlds.


Klabautermann

a water sprite (or nix) who assists sailors and fishermen on the Baltic Sea in their duties


Pandora

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Πανδώρᾱ (Pandṓrā, “all gifts”).

bor

(Greek mythology) The first woman on earth, who had been given a box by the gods and instructed not to open it, but who disobeyed the instructions out of curiosity, releasing all manner of evils into the world.


dwarfess

Gibson and his wife were among the best English-born artists of their era. He was just three feet six inches in height; she was a dwarfess of the same proportion. This little couple had nine good-sized children, and having weathered the storms of civil war, lived happily together to old age.

1847, Agnes Strickland, Lives of the Queens of England, volume XIII, page 247:

“I have no idea what they will do with it,” he [Vladimir Nabokov] said. “Of course they will have to change the plot. Perhaps they will make Lolita a dwarfess. Or they will make her 16 and Humbert 26. I just don’t know. It’s difficult to translate a book into a movie.”

1958 November 24, “Ithaca and 'Lolita'”, in Newsweek, page 155:

Beside him stood a dwarfess, even smaller than he was, snub-nosed and doll-faced.

1980, Lilli Palmer, A Time to Embrace, page 201:

1990, Tanith Lee, “White As Sin, Now”, in Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (editors), The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, Third Annual Collection, St. Martin's Press, 0-312-04450-X, page 328,
Heracty has been told that the flaxen dwarfess once had an adventure in the mock forest below the Palace.

She was a silver-haired, rather portly dwarfess...and the most powerful enchantress in Ilsdale, if not in the known world.

2004, James Haberlin, Brian Haberlin, But, But...Barbarians?, page 207:

Opening the door, I immediately see a stout dwarfess, probably the owner, behind a counter and a group of young cat-people girls in aprons serving food and alcohol to customers.

2014, Fujino Omori, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, volume 1, page 51:


Thor's hammer

(Norse mythology, Germanic paganism) Mjöllnir (Mjollnir), the distinctively T-shaped war-hammer of the Norse thunder god Thor, or a representation thereof, now used as a symbol by various pagan religious groups.


Thor's beard

Sempervivum tectorum
Sempervivum tectorum#Translingual

(Germanic paganism) The plant houseleek (Sempervivum tectorum), as used in Heathenry.


Sky Father

(Germanic paganism) Title for any of the highest gods of Heathenry, but especially Tiw/Tyr.


world-ash

Ash is a strongly runic tree by implication, the world-ash Yggdrasil being the tree from which Odin hung in order to obatin the runes.

1993, Bernard King, The elements of the Runes, Thorsons Element, →ISBN, page 95:

This eventuality would not be surprising if the world ash was, at the time, a small young tree.

1988, David A. White, The turning wheel: a study of contracts and oaths in Wagner's ring, page 108:

(Norse mythology and Germanic paganism) Yggdrasil.


Ha

(Egyptian mythology) A god of the deserts to the west of Egypt, associated with the underworld (duat) and pictured as a man wearing the symbol for desert hills on his head.


white lady

en-noun

white lady (countable and uncountable, plural white ladies)

For quotations using this term, see Citations:white lady.

(folklore) A female ghost dressed in white, who is associated with local legends of tragedy.

A sour cocktail made with gin or crème de menthe, triple sec or Cointreau, and a citrus juice, sometimes with an egg white.


Silvanus

From Latin Silvanus, a Latin cognomen, from silva (“forest”). The name Silas, from the early Christian apostle, was Latinised as Silvanus by Paul.


spae-craft

Twelfth Night is particularly a time fo fore-tellings; if there is a skilled rune-reader or someone with spae-craft in the group, this is when they should cast or speak for the year ahead.

1993, Our Troth: History and Lore, →ISBN, page 570:

The greatest tools of spae-craft seem to have been the staff and the hooded cloak.

1994, Kveldúlf Hagan Gundarsson, Teutonic Magic: The Magical & Spiritual Practices of the Germanic Peoples, Llewellyn Publications, →ISBN, page 216:

I have the privilege of having a very wise and kind idis, Ealgitha, who teaches me spaecraft and other things.

1997, Elmindreda Pukwdugie, Winifred Hodge, Lina (Heathen Journal), volume 3, number 1:

(Germanic paganism) The magical art of foretelling the future, used especially in Heathenry.


Argos

(Greek mythology) The dog of Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey.

(Greek mythology) Alternative form of Argus (“many-eyed servant of Hera”)


Laetitia

(Roman mythology) The goddess of gaiety.


oath-ring

(Germanic paganism) A ring (particularly an arm ring) on which oaths are sworn.


rainbow bridge

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

1993 The Rites of Odin, Ed Fitch, Llewellyn, →ISBN, page 273.
O High Ones of the Rainbow Bridge, Thou hast heard that which is my need And my desire.

1998 Heartland, Volume 1, Issue 3 (Heathen Journal), I Believe, Joanne Fletcher - Holloway.
With nature I give and feel her pain, In Freyja's arms I'm at peace again, And in all I've heard, And in all I've read, My life is anew, like the eagle that flew, Across the Rainbow Bridge, Myself to myself, I give to you.

2004 The Book of Seithr, Runic John, Capall Bann Publishing, →ISBN, page 82.
Asgard stands perched on the highest branches of the tree, where it is reached by crossing Bifrost, the rainbow bridge.

(Germanic paganism) The road between the realm of the gods and the realm of men in Heathenry which appears in the form of a rainbow; Bifrost.


Redbeard

Redbeard!

1989, Eldred Thorsson, A Book of Troth, Llewellyn Publications, →ISBN, page 146:

The radiant goddess, wise in womans wisdom, foresaw a future as secure as the oak pillars of redbeards hall, and knew true hearts gladness as the sacred vows were made.

1999, Thunder, issue 10, How Sif Got Her Golden Hair (Thorskegga Thorn)

(Norse mythology, sagas and Germanic paganism) The god Thor.


Norse Tradition

1997 Pagan Dawn issue 125 (Pagan magazine), Call us Heathens, Arlea Anschutz and Steven Hunt.
Norse Tradition is another similar term, but instead of being too broad, it[']s too narrow.

1998 The Norse Tradition a beginners guide, Pete Jennings, Headway, →ISBN, page 1.
The Norse Tradition, sometimes known as Odinism (after its chief god Odin), sometimes called Northern Tradition (as in Northern Europe) or Asatru (from the words meaning 'a faith in the Gods') is attractive today for many of the reasons for which it was followed long ago.

2001 Goddess of the North, Lynda C. Welch, Weisser Books, →ISBN, page 226.
While an entire book could be written about the spiritual symbols of the Norse Tradition, the purpose here is to give a brief description, without compromising the reader's own intuition concerning the symbols.

(Germanic paganism) The religion of Heathenry, a modern faith inspired by the ancient pagan beliefs of the Germanic tribes, Anglo-Saxons and Norse peoples.


Rhean

en-adj

Rhean (comparative more Rhean, superlative most Rhean)

more Rhean (comparative)
most Rhean (superlative)

(mythology) Of or relating the Titan Rhea in Greek mythology.


Titanian

As whom the fables name of monstrous size, / Titanian or earth-born, that warred on Jove, […]


Callistoan

(mythology) Of or relating to the nymph Callisto in Greek mythology.


Wild Hunt

In Germanic myth Woden, in common with his Nordic counterpart, was the leader of the spooky Wild Hunt which rides through the midwinter sky collecting the souls of the dead.

1990, Michael Howard, Understanding Runes, →ISBN, page 35:

Throughout the Continent it was originally she who led the dread and awesome Wild Hunt through the thick forest and the mid-night snows, leading ghosts, wolves, witches and elves.

1993, Ed Fitch, The rites of Odin, Llewellyn Publications, →ISBN, page 320:

The night grew lighter as we welcomed the Aelfkin and Frey to join us, the Mothers we honoured and speeches made on Woden and the Wild Hunt.

1998, “The Raven's Call”, in Heartland, volume 1, number 3:

A ghostly hunt that rides across the sky, common to English, German and Scandinavian folklore.


Europan

(mythology) Of or relating to the princess Europa in Greek mythology.


Winter Finding

1985 The Wisdom of the Runes, Michael Howard, Rider & Company, →ISBN, page 133.
Winter Finding.

1998 The Norse Tradition a beginners guide, Pete Jennings, Headway, →ISBN, page 70.
Asatru: Sheddingmoon Bede: Halegmonath Roman Date: Sept 23 Festival: Winter-Finding Theme: Harvest end.

2006 Everything you need to know about Paganism, Selene Silverwind, David & Charles, →ISBN, page 106.
Winter Finding; is also referred to as Harvest.

(Germanic paganism) A festival celebrated in Heathenry which marks the beginning of fall, held on the autumn equinox.


Summer Finding

1985 The Wisdom of the Runes, Michael Howard, Rider & Company, →ISBN, page 133.
Summer Finding.

1989 A Book of Troth, Eldred Thorsson, Llewellyn Publications, →ISBN, page 54.
The tide of the spring fetival, Easter, is rekoned as mentioned above - the first full Moon after the spring equinox, or Summer Finding.

2006 Everything you need to know about Paganism, Selene Silverwind, David & Charles, →ISBN, page 104.
Other names for Summer Finding are Ostara and Easter.

(Germanic paganism) A festival celebrated in Heathenry which marks the beginning of spring, held on the spring equinox.


hex sign

Compound of hex + sign, coined in English.

(Germanic paganism) A protective symbol used in Heathenry comprising a six-petaled flower or star set within a circle, as a New Age adaptation of the above.


trefot

1984 Futharc A Handbook of Runic Magic, Eldred Thorson, Weser, →ISBN, page 108.
Trefot - dynamic power from the three realms of being and the threefold evolutionary force.

1993 Our Troth, by the Ring of Troth and other true folk, The Ring of Troth, →ISBN, page 668.
Trefot - also called triskelion (swirling form).

1997 Theod Volume IV Number 1 (Heathen Journal), Two Charms Against Dwarves, Eric Lord Wodening.
If so we can be assured that the crosses were substituted for some heathen symbol, valkntR, trefot or fylfot.

(Germanic paganism) A three-armed spiral symbol used in Heathenry to represent the god Woden or the Norns.


Asafolk

The first element is cognate to the first element of Ásatrú, and derives from Old Norse or Icelandic áss (“god”). The second element is folk.

All Asatru organizations, publications, independent kindreds, and just plain Asafolk are asked to take part.

1996, Lina, Ostara, volume 1, issue 4 (Heathen Journal), An Open Message to All Asafolk

Gamlinginn claims pines have spiritual significance for Asafolk.

1997, Lina, volume 2, issue 4 (Heathen Journal), Second Annual Yggdrasil Day (Charles Spratling)

Most Asafolk seem to have the attitude 'I found the gods, and I'm better off for it.'

1998, Lina, volume 4, issue 2 (Heathen Journal), News and Announcements (Dave Haxton)

(uncommon, modern Germanic paganism) Followers of Heathenry.


Ases' Garth

1993 Our Troth, the Ring of Troth and other true folk, →ISBN, page 262.
There are nine worlds: the Ases' Garth (or God Home), Light Alf-Home, the Middle-Garth (Middenerd, Middle-Earth, or Man Home), Nibel-Home, Etin Home, Muspell-Home, Wan-Home, Swart Alf-Home, and Hel-Home (which also includes Niflhel), Misty-Dark Hel, a lower realm into which, according to Vafthrudnismal, men die out of Hel.

1997 Teutonic Religion, Kveldulf Gundarsson, Llewellyn Publications, →ISBN, page 10.
Ases' Garth

1997 Lina Volume 3, Issue 2 (Heathen Journal), Love Songs for Sif and Thor, Winifred Hodge.
My Sif, Even the wide plains, Even Middle Garth's broad reaches, Even Ase's Garth itself Cannot hold our love enclosed.


Agni

(Hinduism) A Hindu and Vedic deity of fire.


Methone

From Latin Methōnē, from Ancient Greek Μεθώνη (Methṓnē). Doublet of Methoni and Modon.

(Greek mythology) One of the Alkyonides.


Eurydice

From Latin Eurydicē, from Ancient Greek Εὐρυδίκη (Eurudíkē).

(Greek mythology) A nymph and the wife of Orpheus.

(Greek mythology) The name of various figures in Greek mythology.


Erebus

From Latin Erebus. Doublet of rajas.
[Alt: Mount Erebus]

(Greek mythology) One of the Greek primordial deities who was the personification of darkness and shadow, brother-husband of Nyx and son of Chaos.

Nay, were he Deul, as he is no man,
Yet in reuenge of faire Zenocrate,
UUhome he detayneth in deſpight of vs,
This arme ſhould ſend him downe to Erebus,
To ſhroud his ſhame in darkneſſe of the night.

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 IIII, scene i:

(Greek mythology) The dark and gloomy cavern between the earth and Hades; the underworld.


Euphrosyne

Translingual: Euphrosyne

From Ancient Greek Εὐφροσύνη (Euphrosúnē).

(Greek mythology) One of the three Charites and the goddess of joy.


lustrate

en-verb

lustrate (third-person singular simple present lustrates, present participle lustrating, simple past and past participle lustrated)

lustrates (present singular third-person)
lustrating (participle present)
lustrated (participle past)
lustrated (past)

From Latin lustrātus (“lustrated”), perfect passive participle of lustrō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from lustrum (“ritual purification”) + -ō (first conjugation verb-forming suffix), q.v. In reference to imparting luster, further via senses of Middle French lustre, from Old Italian lustro.

af

We must purge, and cleanse, and lustrate the whole city.

c. 1650, Henry Hammond, Miscellaneous Theological Works..., Vol. 3, Sermon 23, p. 503 (1850 ed.)

"Well," said Hypatia, more and more listlessly; "it might be more prudent to show them first the fairer and more graceful side of the old Myths... I wish to lustrate them afresh for the service of the gods."

1853, Charles Kingsley, chapter 20, in Hypatia:

Mid-zenith hangs the fascinated day
In wind-lustrated hollows crystalline.

1909, Edith Wharton, “An Autumn Sunset”, in Artemis to Actaeon and Other Poems:

(transitive) Synonym of purify, to ritually cleanse or renew, particularly to do so with a propitiatory offering or (historical) the lustration, quinquennial ritual of the Roman censor to cleanse the city after a census.


Romulus

(Roman mythology) The legendary founder of Rome and the twin brother of Remus.


Remus

(Roman mythology) The legendary founder of Rome and the twin brother of Romulus.


duppy

Jamaica, circa 18th century. From Bube dupe (“ghost”) (compare Akan adɔpe).

(Jamaica, games) A drawn game of noughts and crosses (in Jamaica tii-taa-tuo).


Dioscuri

From Latin Dioscūrī, from Ancient Greek Διόσκουροι (Dióskouroi, “the youths of Zeus”).

der

Or, alas, might not one rather attribute it to Diana in the shape of Hunger? To some twin Dioscuri, OPPRESSION and REVENGE; so often seen in the battles of men?

1837, Thomas Carlyle, chapter III, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume I (The Bastille), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book IV (States-General):

Cæsar, either more ambitious or less confident in his services, raised a new and costly row of columns in front of the Capitol. He built a temple to the Dioscuri, and he charmed the populace with a show of gladiators unusually extensive.

1879, James Anthony Froude, chapter XI, in Cæsar: A Sketch, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 108:

(Greek mythology) The twin brothers Castor and Pollux together.


vegetable lamb

A shortened version of vegetable lamb of Tartary.

(mythology) A legendary plant believed to grow sheep from its branches.


Minos

At length we arrived at the gate of Elysium. Here was a prodigious crowd of spirits waiting for admittance, some of whom were admitted, and some were rejected; for all were strictly examined by the porter, whom I soon discovered to be the celebrated judge Minos.

1749, Henry Fielding, “A Journey from this World to the Next”, in Thomas Roscoe, editor, The Works of Henry Fielding: Complete in One Volume, Henry G. Bohn, published 1851, page 602:

That the Cyclades were subject to Minos, is confirmed by numerous traces; and the general belief of the ancients was, that he founded colonies even in Lemnos and Thrace.

1856, Leonhard Schmitz, Connop Thirlwall, A History of Greece From the Earliest Times to the Destruction of Corinth, 4th edition, Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, page 37:

Whether or not Minos really existed and ruled at Knossos, the ruins on Kephala hill today are known by the name Evans gave them.

2003, Chris Scarre, Rebecca Stefoff, The Palace of Minos at Knossos, Oxford University Press, page 38:

(Greek mythology) The mythological first king of Crete, a son of Zeus by Europa, who imprisoned the Minotaur in a labyrinth and after death was made a judge of the dead in Hades; a putative corresponding historical person.

Dante Alighieri
Gustave Doré
Inferno (Dante)


Pelops

From Ancient Greek Πέλοψ (Pélops, “dark face, eye”).

uder

(Greek mythology) A Greek mythological figure, the son of Tantalus, and king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus.


Muspell

Borrowed from Old Norse Muspell. The ultimate origin is disputed, but one suggestion includes Latin mundus (“world”) + Proto-Germanic *spilþijaną (“to kill, ruin, murder”), thus meaning "destruction of the world." More at Muspilli.
Cognates include Old Saxon mūdspelli, Old High German muspilli. More at spill.

der

At the beginning of time there was Muspell, which was the realm of Fire.

2003, Kim Farnell, Reading the Runes, A Beginner's Guide, Zambezi Publishing, →ISBN, page 21:

Certainly the encounter between the cold of Niflheim and the fires of Muspel suggests the chemical reactions that led to the evolution of the planetary surface and its atmosphere.

2005, Diana Paxson, Taking Up the Runes, Weiser Books, →ISBN, page 323:

(Norse mythology and Germanic paganism) The primordial realm of fire which existed to the south of Ginnungagap.


Tritonian

(Greek mythology) Of or pertaining to the classical Greek god Triton.


Avalon

From Latin Avallōnia and īnsula Avallōnis, from Proto-Brythonic *aβal (“apple”), from Proto-Celtic *abūl, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ébōl.

(Arthurian legend) An island, represented as an earthly paradise in the western seas, to which King Arthur and other heroes were carried at death.

Avalon

earthly paradise in the western seas, in the Arthurian legend


Lavinia

Latin Lavinia, of obscure meaning. Lavinium was a town in ancient Latium.

(Roman mythology) The daughter of Latinus and wife of Aeneas.


Ishtar

Learned borrowing from Akkadian 𒀭𒈹 (Ištar). Doublet of Astarte and Ashtoreth. Despite modern folk-etymology, not related in any way to English Easter.

lbor

(Mesopotamian mythology) A goddess of fertility, love, sex, and war. In the Babylonian pantheon, she was the divine personification of the planet Venus; the Assyrian and Babylonian counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to the northwest-Semitic goddess Astarte.

عشتار

Mesopotamian goddess of fertility, love, sex, and war


Inanna

As popular with the mythmakers as Enki, or even more so, was his granddaughter Inanna, city goddess or^([sic]) Uruk and one of the most complex figures in the Mesopotamian pantheon.

1996, Cecil Roth, Encyclopaedia Judaica: Ur-Z, Encyclopaedia Judaica, page 1505p:

During the second half of the third and early part of the second millennia B.C.E., the Sumerian goddess Inanna was worshiped in seven cities of southern Mesopotamia (among them Zabala, Agade, and Kish), but principally in her temple Eana at Uruk.

1999, Serinity Young, Encyclopedia of Women and World Religion: A-K, Macmillan, page 466:

Even at this period, Inanna appears in various manifestations, each of which seems to possess a separate cult, temples with cultic functionaries, and the right to receive offerings.

2002, The SSEA Journal, Volume 29, Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities, page 17:

(mythology, Mesopotamian mythology) A Sumerian goddess of sexual love, fertility, and warfare, known by the Akkadians as Ishtar and later identified with Astarte, Aphrodite, and Venus.


tengu

(Japanese mythology, Shinto, mythology) A mythical Japanese creature, typically birdlike and having a long nose.


Mara

(Slavic mythology) The Slavic goddess of winter and death; Marena or Maržanna.


Indra

Transliteration of Sanskrit इन्द्र (índra).

translit

(Hinduism, Vedic religion) The god of war and weather; also the King of the Gods or Devas and Lord of Heaven or Svargaloka in Hinduism.


Sarasvati

The Hindu goddess of knowledge and the arts.

A female given name from Sanskrit used in India.


Parvati

(Hinduism) A Hindu goddess, the goddess of love, devotion and power; nominally the second consort of Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction and rejuvenation.


Yama

Borrowed from Sanskrit यम (yamá). Doublet of Enma.

(Hinduism, Buddhism) The Hindu lord of death, who rides a buffalo.


Aditya

A male given name from Sanskrit mainly used in India and Nepal.


Bhaga

(Hinduism) One of the Adityas, a god of wealth and marriage in Hinduism. In the Rigveda Bhaga is the god who supervises the distribution of goods and destiny to each man corresponding to his merits.


Chimera

Apulia
Chimera (mythology)
Chimera of Arezzo
Etruscan civilization
Louvre
Mount Chimaera
Strabo

As the mythological beast, a variant case form of chimera, q.v. As an ancient mountain, directly from Latin mons Chimaera (“Mount Chimera”), from Ancient Greek Χίμαιρα (Khímaira), attested in Strabo.

CHIMERA, a fabulous monſter...

1771, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1st ed., Vol. II, p. 184

(Greek mythology) A supposed fire-breathing monster in Lycia with the head of a lion, body of a goat, and tail of a dragon or snake, killed by the hero Bellerophon.

քիմեր

Greek myth: monster killed by Bellerophon


Kore

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek κόρη (kórē, “girl, maiden”).

lbor

(Greek mythology) The birth name of Persephone/Proserpina, the queen of the Underworld/Hades, and goddess of the seasons and of vegetation. She is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter; and the wife of Hades.


Hypnos

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Ὕπνος (Húpnos, literally “Sleep”).

bor

(Greek mythology) The god and personification of sleep. The son of Nyx and Erebus, twin brother of Thanatos, husband of Pasithea, and the father of the Oneiroi. His Roman counterpart is Somnus.


Jahannam

Borrowed from Arabic جَهَنَّم (jahannam). Doublet of Gehenna and Gehinnom.

bor+

(Islam) Islamic concept of hell, where unfaithful Muslims not true to their religion will be punished, but will eventually be forgiven.


sweet hereafter

Lord, what thou doest noo, an' why,
We maunna seek to ken;
But sune the sweet hereafter comes,
An' thou wilt tell us then.

1885, Mary Lee Demarest, "The Pathway o' the Sea," in A Library of Religious Poetry by Philip Shaff and Arthur Gilman (eds.), Funk and Wagnalls, New York, page 885

Miss Lacy Stafford of Taylorville was struck by an Illinois Central train at the Sangamon street crossing at 3 o'clock and in the eyes of the spectators she was wafted directly into the sweet hereafter by lightning express.

1903, "Woman Roiled Into Ditch by Train," The Daily Review (Decatur, Illinois), 22 Mar.

Owing to his sugarcane habit, his stubby front teeth are all pretty much gone to the sweet hereafter.

2003, Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible, →ISBN, page 174:

(idiomatic) Heaven; paradise as enjoyed in the afterlife.


Shakti

From Sanskrit शक्ति (śákti, “power, energy”).

In yoga the feminine principle is Shakti, the Great Goddess experienced by all initiates of the Tantric process of transformation.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 115:

(Hinduism) The Hindu concept or personification of the divine feminine aspect, sometimes referred to as 'The Divine Mother'. Shakti represents the active, dynamic principles of feminine power.


Nanna

Uncertain, possibly from Proto-Germanic *nanþ- (“brave,daring”), from *ninþaną (“to dare”); or from an Old Norse baby talk word for "mother," as in nanna, nanny.

onomatopoeic

baby talk

(Norse mythology) A goddess, the wife of Balder.


Nanna

Borrowed from Sumerian 𒀭𒋀𒆠 (ᵈnanna /Nanna/).

bor+

The god of the moon in Sumerian mythology.


rakshasa

A race of one-eyed beings / All feared and shunned / Rakshasa demon

2006, Mastodon (lyrics and music), “Circle of Cysquatch”:

(Hinduism) A member of a race of mythical fanged demons that eat human flesh and blood, somewhat like vampires.


Izanagi

Borrowed from Japanese 伊邪那岐 (いざなぎ, Izanagi).

(Japanese mythology, Shinto) A Japanese creator god; he is Izanami's elder brother and spouse, and the father of Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, Susanoo and Kagutsuchi.


Izanami

Borrowed from Japanese 伊邪那美 (いざなみ, Izanami).

(Japanese mythology, Shinto) A Japanese creator goddess who is also (along with the Shinigami and Enma) a goddess of death and the underworld; she is Izanagi's younger sister and spouse, and the mother of Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, Susanoo and Kagutsuchi.


Amaterasu

/ɑːmətɛɹˈɑːsuː/

Borrowed from Japanese 天照 (Amaterasu), from 天 (ama, “sky, the heavens”) + 照らす (terasu, “to illuminate something”).

(Japanese mythology, Shinto) The Japanese sun goddess, and most important Shinto deity; she is the daughter of Izanagi and Izanami and the sister of Susanoo, Tsukuyomi, Ōyamatsumi, and Kagutsuchi.


Savitr

From Sanskrit सवितृ (savitṛ, “stimulator, rouser, vivifier”).

bor

However, Savitṛ represents, as has been rightly pointed out by Sāyaṇa, the natural phenomenon of the setting and rising sun, whereas Sūrya represents the sun after it is risen and before it approaches the setting frame.

2003, Malati J. Shendge, The Civilized Demons: The Harappans in Rigveda, Abhinav Publications, →ISBN, page 319:

(Hinduism) A solar deity (Deva) and one of the Adityas. He is sometimes identified with, and at other times distinguished from, the chief Sun deity Surya.


nis

No farm-house goes on well without there is a Nis in it, and well is it for the maids and the men when they are in favour with him.

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

The people of the Feroes call the Nisses or Brownies Niagruisar, and describe them as little creatures with red caps on their beads, that bring luck to any place where they take up their abode.

1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 259:

A nix; a hobgoblin, especially one that resides in a farm house.


Edda

Likely from Old Norse edda (“great-grandmother”).

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

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

A collection of Old Norse poems and tales from two medieval manuscripts found in Iceland.


Surya

From Sanskrit सूर्य (sū́rya, “the sun or its deity”). Doublet of sun.

(Hinduism) The chief solar deity, one of the Adityas, son of Kasyapa and one of his wives Aditi, of Indra, or of Dyaus Pita (depending by the versions). Portrayed with golden arms and hair, Surya drives through the heaven in his triumphal chariot harnessed by seven horses or one horse with seven heads, which represent the seven colours of the rainbow or the seven chakras.


Rāhu

Transliteration of Sanskrit राहु (rāhu).

(Hinduism, Buddhism) The ascending lunar node. An asura and god of the solar eclipse.

(Tibetan Buddhism) A supernatural being in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, particularly the Nyingma lineage. Usually depicted as dark blue in colour and having nine heads one of which is that of a raven. He has a face in his belly the mouth of which swallows up the moon or sun during eclipses. He is master of the nine planets and the god of solar and lunar eclipses.


Ketu

(Hinduism) The descending lunar node. In Hindu mythology, Ketu is generally referred to as a "shadow" planet, believed to have a tremendous impact on human lives and also the whole creation.


Kamadeva

Borrowed from Sanskrit कामदेव (kā́ma-deva).

bor+

(Hinduism) The Hindu deity of love, son of the goddess Sri and the incarnation of Pradyumna, Krishna's son.


Vasu

Borrowed from Sanskrit वसु (vásu, “dwelling, dweller”).

bor

(Hinduism) Any of the attendant deities of Indra, and later Vishnu. They are eight elemental gods representing aspects of nature.


Makemake

(mythology) The creator deity in the mythology of Easter Island.


Euamerion

From Ancient Greek Εὐαμερίων (Euameríōn), from εὐ- (eu-) + ἁμἐρα (hamera) + -ίων (-íōn).

af

(Greek mythology) Alternative name for Telesphoros


Mentor

en-proper noun

Mentor (countable and uncountable, plural Mentors)

From Ancient Greek Μέντωρ (Méntōr, “Mentor”).

(Greek mythology) Odysseus's trusted counselor. He was assigned the responsibility of raising Odysseus's son Telemachus while Odysseus was away fighting in Troy.


Sexet

(Egyptian mythology) Egyptian goddess of malevolent fire, sister of Bast, the bringer of ill-fortune


Tuna

Tuna was carried down by the flood; and when Maui saw him in the net he stretched forth his arm and with a blow of his stone axe smote Tuna and cut off his head, and it and the tail fell into the ocean. [...] The head became fish, and the tail became the koiro (ngoiro—conger-eel).

1887, John White, The Ancient History of the Maori, page 84:

(Maori mythology) A god, considered the son of Manga-wai-roa and source of eels.


Svartálfar

(Norse mythology) a race of black or dark elves that populate Svartálfaheimr, one of the nine realms


Leander

From Ancient Greek Λέανδρος (Léandros), from λέων (léōn, “lion”) + ἀνήρ (anḗr, “man”).

Leander, he would have lived many a fair year, though Hero had turned nun, if it had not been for a hot midsummer night.

(Greek mythology) The lover of Hero who swam every night across the Hellespont to meet her, and finally was drowned.


ghost story

There are the books full of Underground ghost stories. An invisible runner pounds along the platforms at Elephant & Castle; children scream in the basement of what used to be the surface building of Hyde Park Corner, [...]

2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 261:

A story about ghosts or the supernatural, often meant to be frightening.


Procrustes

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Προκρούστης (Prokroústēs).

bor+

(Greek mythology) A celebrated legendary highwayman of Attica, who tied his victims upon an iron bed, and, as the case required, either stretched or cut off their legs to adapt them to its length.


ghost ship

When Hayes turned to Jephson's contribution, he found that it commenced with a description of the famous ghost ship, the Marie Celeste, being towed into Gibraltar harbor.

2014, Valerie Martin, The Ghost of the Mary Celeste, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

(nautical) An abandoned ship, or (science fiction, by extension) spaceship, that is haunted and possibly adrift.

vaixell fantasma

abandoned, possibly adrift ship that is haunted


Megaera

From Ancient Greek Μέγαιρα (Mégaira, “the jealous one”), from μεγαίρω (megaírō, “to grudge, envy”).

bor

(Greek mythology) One of the Furies, Erinyes in Greek mythology, the cause of jealousy and envy, who punishes people who commit crimes, especially marital infidelity.


Stymphalides

From Latin Stymphālides, from Ancient Greek Στυμφαλίδες ὄρνιθες (Stumphalídes órnithes, “birds of Stymphalus”).

der

Στυμφαλίδες ὄρνιθες

(Greek mythology) In Greek mythology, a flock of metallic man-eating birds that haunted Lake Stymphalis in Arkadia. They were slain by Herakles as part of his sixth Labour, who took advantage of their sensitive sense of hearing.


Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (canonical)

en-au-Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.ogg

"This is a graph of the death rate from infectious disease in this country. The heroes of my field have slain one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. While the heroes of your field gathered in the desert to create a new one."

2015 May 4, Randall Munroe, xkcd (webcomic), Degree-Off:

(biblical) Four beings in Revelation 6:1–8 that bring about the Apocalypse, each embodied as a horseman riding a different-colored horse that represents a different aspect of the Apocalypse.

אַרְבַּעַת פָּרָשֵׁי הָאָפּוֹקָלִיפְּסָה

náhodeesdzáago dįltʼéego łį́į́ʼ bił níjééʼ


Haumea

From Hawaiian hau (“ruler”) (archaic) + mea (“reddish brown”), "red ruler".

(Hawaiian mythology) The goddess of fertility and childbirth.


nether region

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

At this instant old Roger Chillingworth thrust himself through the crowd—or, perhaps, so dark, disturbed, and evil was his look, he rose up out of some nether region.

1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, ch. 23:

None of them were sorry when Faust was duly consigned to the nether regions.

1890, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Firm of Girdlestone, ch. 25:

The other, dwarfed and prehensile, might in its uncanny silhouette have been an imp of darkness from the nether regions.

1921, William MacLeod Raine, Gunsight Pass, ch. 1:

(often pluralized) Hell; a realm beneath the surface of the earth conceived as the abode of the souls of the dead and, sometimes, as the abode of demons or evil spirits.


fachan

A fachan is a large, fierce monstrosity that is as dangerous as it is strange. A fachan has one eye in the middle of its forehead, a single arm in the middle of its chest and one leg supporting it from underneath. The fachan's[…]

(Can we date this quote?), RuneQuest Monsters, Mongoose Publishing, →ISBN, page 63:

"I can handle a fachan on my own,” Sir Celes said. “Don't worry, my regiment is...” “My father...” It felt so cold all of a sudden. Like a cloud had covered the sun. A fachan. A horrible, one-eyed giant. A terrifying monster that had taken something[…]

2020 April 27, Nao Wakasa, The Extraordinary, the Ordinary, and SOAP! Volume 1, J-Novel Club, →ISBN:

(folklore and now also fantasy) A giant in Irish and Scottish folklore, which has one central leg, one hand protruding from its chest, and one eye.


Ankou

Borrowed from French Ankou, from Breton Ankoù.

In the blackness of the night the muttering or yelling figures moved about like some spectral creatures from hellish regions—the Ankous of Brittany who call to those about to die[.]

1906, Baroness Orczy, chapter 27, in I Will Repay, London:

(Celtic mythology) The personification of death in Celtic mythology.


Ah Puch

(Maya mythology) The personification of death in Maya mythology.


Aeolus

From the Latin Aeolus, from the Ancient Greek Αἴολος (Aíolos, “moving, swift”).

(Greek mythology) The name of a number of characters in Greek mythology, including the founder of the Aeolian race, and a god with power over wind.


Freyr

Learned borrowing from Old Norse Freyr, from Proto-Germanic *frawjô (“lord”). Compare Freya, from the feminine counterpart.

(Norse mythology) A Vanir god associated with kingship and virility in the North Germanic corpus, in which he rides the shining boar Gullinbursti and wields an antler as a weapon. He is sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr.


werefox

Lycanthropy also was common, in early times at least, and belief in werewolves and werefoxes existed among all tribe.

1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 183:

(mythology) A person who transforms into a fox or foxlike form.

weervos

shapeshifter assuming the shape of a fox


firebird

From fire + bird, so called because of their bright red or orange plumage.

(Slavic mythology) A magical and prophetic glowing or burning bird from a faraway land, which is both a blessing and a harbinger of doom to its captor

жар-пту́шка

glowing or burning bird (Slavic mythology)


zombification

en-noun

zombification (countable and uncountable, plural zombifications)

Both the threat and the fact of zombification confer on the bokor a potent means of social control, if he chooses to use it.

1988, Wade Davis, Passage of Darkness: The Ethnobiology of the Haitian Zombie:


valkyrie

Borrowed from Old Norse valkyrja sg (“chooser of the slain”), plural valkyrjur pl, from Proto-Germanic *walakuzjǭ. Cognate to Old English wælcyrġe. First attested in English as a proper noun (Valkyries) in the 1770s; attested as a common noun (valkyries) since the 1880s.

bor

Wagner's “Der Ring des Nibelungen” (1853) famously features valkyries.

(Norse mythology) Any of the female attendants of Odin, figures said to guide fallen warriors from the battlefield to Valhalla.

walkure

any of the female attendants, or handmaidens of Odin


sea monster

(mythology) A large and aggressive creature living in or under the sea that attacks ships.


hippocamp

(Greek mythology) A mythological creature, a cross between a horse and a fish.


Lanka

(mythology, Hinduism) The island city of Ravana in the ancient Indian epic Ramayana.


Lemminkäinen

Borrowed from Finnish Lemminkäinen, a proper name derived from lempi (“love”) from Proto-Finnic *lempi.

(Finnic mythology, literary, poetic) Lemminkäinen of Kalevala; a young handsome charming but aloof legendary Hero of the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala.


lampad

(Greek mythology) nymph of the Underworld


zombielike

en-adj

zombielike (comparative more zombielike, superlative most zombielike)

more zombielike (comparative)
most zombielike (superlative)

Similar to a zombie, having the appearance or character of a zombie.


Sessrúmnir

(Norse mythology) Freyja's hall in the Fólkvangr, her room for half of the those slain on the battlefield.


patupaiarehe

(mythology) One of a legendary fair-skinned fairy race said to have inhabited Polynesia before the arrival of human beings.


aphroditic

aphroditic (comparative more aphroditic, superlative most aphroditic)

more aphroditic (comparative)
most aphroditic (superlative)

(Greek mythology) Of or pertaining to Aphrodite


Vahagn

Borrowed from Armenian Վահագն (Vahagn). Doublet of Verethragna.

(Armenian mythology) Ancient Armenian god of war, fire and courage. A dragonslayer. Lover of Astghik.


shieldmaiden

From shield + maiden. Calque from Old Norse skjaldmær (“shieldmaiden”).

The shield-maiden (skölde-mö) was dedicated to Odin, and forbidden to wed; her love brought calamity.

1845 [1832–1836], Erik Gustaf Geijer, translated by J. H. Turner, The History of the Swedes, London: Whittaker and Co., Ave Maria Lane, translation of Svenska folkets historia (in Swedish), page 33:

The Anglosaxon belief in the Shieldmaidens comes to us indeed in a darkened form, yet we can hardly doubt that it survived.

1849, John Mitchell Kemble, The Saxons in England:

Störkud rushed through the ranks with a drawn sword and killed one after another; he cut down Hjört; whereupon Visma, shieldmaiden, who carried the standard of Harald, met him.

1890, Paul Belloni Du Chaillu, The Viking Age: The Early History, Manners, and Customs of the Ancestors of the English-speaking Nations, volume 2:

There goes a lord who tamed a wild shieldmaiden of the North!

1955, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Return of the King, →ISBN, page 262:

(Norse mythology) A female virgin who had chosen to fight as a warrior in battle.

skjoldmø

Norse female virgin who had chosen to fight in battle


folkish

folkish (comparative more folkish, superlative most folkish)

more folkish (comparative)
most folkish (superlative)

universalist

chiefly US; related to their opponents, neopagan groups that support marginalized people

From folk + -ish. (Compare Old English folcisc, and German völkisch.)

neo-völkisch

related to far-right or racist neopagan groups

(religion, Germanic paganism) Practicing a form of Heathenry that is traditional.

(religion, Germanic paganism, especially in white supremacy and Nazism) Practicing far-right and racist forms of Heathenry that are hostile towards minorities, Christians, and Jewish people; and also supporting Nazi influences.


barghest

The etymology of this word is disputed; it is perhaps from Old English burh-ghest (“town-ghost”), or from German Berg-geist (“mountain spirit”) or Bär-geist (“bear-spirit”).

In English folklore, a barghest is a monstrous dog with huge claws and teeth. This creature is said to roam around Yorkshire, and anyone who sees the dog will die soon after. There are barghests reported in Tennessee. On the grounds of Rotherwood Mansion in Kingsport, a monstrous black dog is said to roam, howling mournfully. Locally, he's called "Hound of Hell." Again, anyone who sees this creature is certain to suffer imminent death.

1999, Charles Edwin Price, Mysterious Knoxville: Ghost Stories, Monster Tales, and Bizarre Incidents from the “Gateway to the Smokies”, Johnson City, Tenn.: The Overmountain Press, →ISBN, page 58:

"Folklore often portrays barghests as guardians who lead lost travelers home," I said, not answering his question in the least, or mentioning that more often barghests were considered portents of death.

2012, Kalayna Price, chapter 20, in Grave Memory: An Alex Craft Novel, New York, N.Y.: Roc Books, New American Library, →ISBN:

(mythology, British) A legendary monstrous black dog, said to possess large teeth and claws, and (sometimes) to be capable of changing form.

Yet another possibility is that the headless man is a barghest, sometimes referred to and spelled as 'barguest', 'bahrgeist' or 'boguest'. These are creatures primarily associated with the north of England – Northumberland, Durham, Yorkshire and Lancashire. They assume at will the form of a headless man, a headless lady, a white cat, a rabbit, or dog, or a black dog. The barghest is a fiend that is attached to a particular place, more often than not an isolated piece of land, a wooded area, cloughs or wasteland. The barghest is known as a portent of disaster or death for those who see it; it is also said that death may not visit the person who sees the barghest but could kill a family member instead.

2016, Alexander L. Kaufman, “‘And Many Oþer Diuerse Tokens …’: Portents and Wonders in ‘Warkworth’s’ Chronicle”, in Jaclyn Rajsic, Erik Kooper, Dominique Hoche, editors, The Prose Brut and Other Late Medieval Chronicles: Books Have Their Histories. Essays in Honour of Lister M. Matheson, Woodbridge, Suffolk: York Medieval Press in association with The Boydell Press and the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, →ISBN, page 61:

(mythology, British) Any ghost, wraith, hobgoblin, elf, or spirit.


kykeon

en-noun

kykeon (usually uncountable, plural kykeons)

From Ancient Greek κυκεών (kukeṓn), from κυκάω (kukáō, “I mix”).

An Ancient Greek drink made mainly of water, barley and herbs. Closely tied to Demeter and the seasonal celebrations of Crete.


Baba Yaga

/ˌbɑːbə ˈjɑːɡə/

Ultimately from Proto-Slavic *baba ęga (literally “hag of terror”), probably through Russian Ба́ба-Яга́ (Bába-Jagá).

der

[L]ooking like the hut, minus the fat chicken legs, of Baba Yaga, the old witch with iron teeth and an appetite for a human supper.

2020, Ben Creed, City of Ghosts, London: Welbeck Publishing, →ISBN, page 143:

(Slavic mythology) In Russian, Finno-Ugric, Polish and Bulgarian tales, a hag who lives in a hut standing on chicken legs and who flies through the air in a mortar, using the pestle as a rudder. She behaves ambivalently and may be either amiable or hostile.

بَابَا يَاجَا

hag in Slavic mythology who flies in a mortar


haunted house

en-noun

haunted house (countable and uncountable, plural haunted houses)

بَيْت أَشْبَاح

house believed to be a center for supernatural occurrences

It was easy to see that it was an avoided house—a house that was shunned by the village, to which my eye was guided by a church spire some half a mile off—a house that nobody would take. And the natural inference was, that it had the reputation of being a haunted house.

1859, Charles Dickens, “The Mortals in the House”, in The Haunted House:

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see haunted, house.


Elissa

From Ancient Greek Ἔλῐσσᾰ (Élĭssă); probably from Phoenician 𐤀𐤋𐤀𐤎𐤕 (ʾlʾst /Elishat/), 𐤀𐤋𐤀𐤎 (ʾlʾs /Elisha/).

(Greek mythology) Dido, queen of Carthage.


maenad

From Latin maenas (“bacchant”), from Ancient Greek μαινάς (mainás, “raving, frantic”), from Ancient Greek μαίνομαι (maínomai, “be furious”).

uder

Blanche Stroeve was in the cruel grip of appetite. Perhaps she hated Strickland still, but she hungered for him, and everything that had made up her life till then became of no account. She ceased to be a woman, complex, kind and petulant, considerate and thoughtless; she was a Maenad. She was desire.

1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 30”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:

(Greek mythology) A female follower of Dionysus, associated with intense reveling.


Electra

From Ancient Greek Ἠλέκτρα (Ēléktra), from ἤλεκτρον (ḗlektron, “amber”), related to ἠλέκτωρ (ēléktōr, “shining sun”).

(Greek mythology) Any of several mythical women, including a daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, one of the Pleiades, and one of the daughters of Oceanus and Tethys.


dhampir

(mythology, fiction, fantasy) A half-human, half-vampire hybrid.


universalist

en-adj

universalist (comparative more universalist, superlative most universalist)

more universalist (comparative)
most universalist (superlative)

(religion, US, paganism, Germanic paganism) Following a form of neopaganism, especially Germanic neopaganism, that is supportive of minorities and marginalized groups.


barometz

Friedrich Justin Bertuch
Sir Richard Clayton, 1st Baronet

Possibly a corruption of Russian баране́ц (baranéc, “species of club moss (genus Lycopodium)”, from бара́н (barán, “ram (male sheep)”) + -ец (-ec, diminutive suffix)).

refn

From D[emetrius] de La Croix (1791) Richardus Clayton [i.e., Sir Richard Clayton, 1st Baronet], transl., Connubia florum latino carmine demonstrata, Bath, Somerset: Ex. typographia S. Hazard, →OCLC.

From F[riedrich] J[ustin] Bertuch (1806) Bilderbuch für Kinder: enthaltend eine angenehme Sammlung von Thieren, Pflanzen, Blumen, Früchten, Mineralien, Trachten und allerhand andern unterrichtenden Gegenständen aus dem Reiche der Natur, der Künste und Wissenschaften, alle nach den besten Originalen gewählt, gestochen, und mit einer kurzen wissenschaftlichen, und den Verstandes-Kräften eines Kindes angemessenen Erklärung begleitet, Weimar: Im Verlage des Industrie-Comptoirs, →OCLC.

der

Much wonder is made of the Boramez, that ſtrange plant-animall or vegetable Lamb of Tartary, which Wolves delight to feed on, which hath the ſhape of a Lamb, affordeth a bloudy juice upon breaking, and liveth while the plants be conſumed about it; and yet if all this be no more then the ſhape of a Lamb in the flower or ſeed, upon the top of the ſtalk, as we meet with the formes of Bees, Flies and Dogs in ſome others, he hath ſeen nothing that ſhall much wonder at it.

1650, Thomas Browne, “Of Some Others”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC, 3rd book, page 152:

Cradled in ſnow and fann'd by arctic air / Shines, gentle Barometz! thy golden hair; / Rooted in earth each cloven hood deſcends, / And round and round her flexile neck ſhe bends; / Crops the grey coral moſs, and hoary thyme, / Or laps with roſy tongue the melting rime; [...]

1789, [Erasmus Darwin], The Botanic Garden; a Poem, in Two Parts. […], London: J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1791, →OCLC, part II (The Loves of the Plants; 3rd edition), page 30, lines 283–288:

[...] I say to you what I should say if any little Barometzes should come under my care. It is more on the imaginary side than the matter of fact.

1919 February 15, The Garden: […], volume 83, London: Hudson and Kearns, →OCLC, page 69, column 3:

It seemed to be at least as good a vegetable lamb as Lepas was an unripe vegetable bird, and one version of the story itself is probably explained by it. That is the version in which the barometz grows out of the ground, being attached to its root system by its umbilical cord and capable of feeding only as far as that cord will reach—a perfect counterpart to the Jidra of the Talmud.

1948, Willy Ley, The Lungfish, the Dodo and the Unicorn: An Excursion in Romantic Zoology, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, →OCLC, page 82:

One has only to consult [Jorge Luis] Borges's own "Book of Imaginary Beings" to encounter chimeras, phoenixes, basilisks, barometzes (the last a kind of vegetable lamb) and the like.

1987 April 12, Cynthia Ozick, “The Library of Nonexistent Classics”, in The New York Times Book Review, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2017-11-05, page 12:

However, one night when I was hard at work in one of the powder mills outside the fortress, I was captured along with some others by a band of Tartars and carried off so deep into their territory that I not only saw borametz, the legendary sheep-shaped melon, growing, I ate it.

1999, Johann Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen, “On the Short and Diverting Road by which He Came Home to His Da”, in Mike Mitchell, transl., Simplicissimus, Sawtry, Cambridgeshire: Dedalus Books, published 2010, →ISBN:

(mythology) A purported zoophyte, half-animal and half-plant, said to grow in the form of a sheep.

植物羊

half-animal and half-plant said to grow in the form of a sheep — see also vegetable lamb

A singular vegetable production met with in the deserts, concerning which various fables have been related, is a kind of fern called the barometz, or Scythian lamb; the latter name being given to it from its woolly body, attached to the ground by a long slender stalk, affording a distant resemblance to a lamb grazing.

1807, J[ohn] Aikin, “Chinese Tatary”, in Geographical Delineations, or A Compendious View of the Natural and Political State of All Parts of the Globe, Philadelphia, Pa.: Printed for F. Nichols, by Kimber, Conrad, & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 256–257:

[page 7] The Tartarian, or Scythian lamb, or borametz, is a plant, of which many miraculous tales are told. Travellers say that it exactly resembles a lamb, and that its pulp is similar to the flesh of lamb; and that it contains blood, &c.; but these accounts require confirmation. [...] [page 8, footnote †] [The plants] appear to be originally the roots or stalks of certain vegetables, probably of the capillary kind, covered with a woolly moss, which, naturally naturally bearing resemblance to the figure of a lamb, have been helped out and brought nearer to it by art, and the addition of new parts. Sir Hans Sloane, and Breynius [Jacob Breyne], give us the figures and descriptions of such borametzes in their collections.

1826, Eliza P. Reid, “Part I. Rice, Licorice, Maize, or Indian Wheat, and Some Other Plants.”, in Historical and Literary Botany, […], volume III, Windsor, Berkshire: C. Andrews, […], →OCLC, pages 7 and 8:

Nor can we affirm that this plant of [Gustav] Kunze is not that which gave rise to the tales of wonder, for, although the species was first botanically determined by Kunze from [Hugh] Cuming's Philippine Island specimens, and although it is shown to be a native also of Sumatra, yet we have lately (in 'Kew Garden Miscellany,' vol. ix. p. 334) had occasion to record the fact of our having received specimens of the same Fern from Hongkong, Chusan, and South China, of which country the Barometz is considered a native.

1861, William Jackson Hooker, “Introductory Notice”, in The British Ferns; […], London: Lovell Reeve, […], →OCLC, footnote:

A portion of the Baromez does present a rude resemblance in its shape to the figure of an animal, and is covered by a soft downy substance, which may be compared to a silky fleece, of a reddish-brown colour, and which gives to it more the appearance of a dog than a lamb.

[1866], “The Field and the Heath”, in Beauties and Wonders of Vegetable Life; […], London: The Religious Tract Society, […], →OCLC, page 263:

Cibotium. This is a small distinct genus of robust-growing and highly ornamental plants; and, though generally considered Tree Ferns, some species have a decumbent rhizome, of which the Barometz, or Vegetable Lamb, is a good example.

1868, Benjamin Samuel Williams, “Descriptive List of Exotic Ferns”, in Select Ferns and Lycopods: British and Exotic. […], London: Published and sold by the author, →OCLC, page 93:

Cibotium Barometz frond resembles the Cibotium Scheidei but the growth is different as well as the color. The Barometz is more stiff and upright where the Scheidei droops and is more delicate and lighter green.

1949, The Begonian: […], Long Beach, Calif.: American Begonia Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 265, column 2:

A golden chicken fern or woolly fern (Cibotium barometz), the rhizomes of which are covered in furry brown hair; the legend (sense 1) is supposed to have arisen because, when inverted, the rhizomes with stalks growing out of them resemble lambs.


Jocasta

(Greek mythology) The mother and wife of Oedipus.


Utu

(mythology) A Sumerian deity, the son of the moon god Nanna and the goddess Ningal.


Bel

From Latin Bēlus, from Ancient Greek Βῆλος (Bêlos), ultimately from Akkadian 𒂗 (bēlum).

Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 50:2:

(mythology) A Babylonian deity, corresponding to the Semitic Baal.

(Armenian mythology) An evil giant who ruled Babylon prior to his defeat by the Armenian culture hero Hayk.


hodag

A fictional animal in Wisconsin folklore, having a head like an ox, the bulging eyes of a frog, huge claws, a row of spikes down its back, and a dinosauric body and tail.


squonk

Have you ever seen a squonk's tears? Well, look at mine / The people on the street have all seen better times

1974, Donald Fagen, Walter Becker (lyrics and music), “Any Major Dude Will Tell You”, performed by Steely Dan:

(mythology) A mythical creature, said to inhabit Pennsylvanian forests, where it hides from view for being ashamed of its own appearance, and to dissolve into a pool of tears if captured.


Swaminarayan

(Hinduism) A deity worshiped in the Swaminarayan faith of Hinduism.


hamingja

(Norse mythology) A female guardian angel in Norse mythology, believed to accompany a person and decide their luck and happiness.


merperson

en-noun

merperson (plural merpersons or merpeople)

A mythological creature with a human upper half (head, arms, and torso) and a piscine lower half.


baku

Borrowed from Japanese 獏 (“spirit that feeds on nightmares”).

bor

2005, David Booth, Story Drama, 2nd edition, Pembroke Publishers, page 49,
The creature explained that he was a baku. A baku eats dreams and nightmares. To a baku, a bad dream is delicious!

2008, "Baku", entry in Brenda Rosen, The Mythical Creatures Bible, Octopus Publishing Group, page 113,
A person awakening from a nightmare should call three times saying, "Baku, eat my dreams." Thus summoned, the Baku will turn bad omens into good fortune by devouring evil influences.

Shouting out "Devour my dream, Baku!" is said to bring Baku to a child's side to take away his or her bad dreams. Not only does Baku take the dreams away, but he also leaves good fortune in their place.

2012, Kris Bradley, Mrs. B's Guide to Household Witchery, Weiser Books, page 28:

(Japanese mythology) A type of supernatural being said to devour nightmares.


saturnal

From Latin saturnalis, itself from the Roman god Saturnus + -alis '-al'.

This increased period extends in the trans-Saturnal sphere of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.

2004, Mantak Chia, Dirk Oellibrandt, Taoist Astral Healing: Chi Kung Healing Practices Using Star and Planet Energies, →ISBN, page 92:

(Roman mythology, astrology) Of or pertaining to the Ancient Roman god Saturn or to the corresponding planetary entity in astrology.


Mimas

From Ancient Greek Μίμᾱς (Mímās), earlier Μίμανς (Mímans).

(Greek mythology) A son of Gaia; one of the Gigantes.


lycanthropia

Of this Fury there be divers kindes,[…]. The moſt knowne are theſe, Lycanthropia, Hydrophobia, Chorus ſancti viti. Lycanthropia, which Avicenna calles Cucubuth, others Lupinam inſaniam, or Woolfe madneſſe, when men runne howling about graues and fields in the night, and will not be perſwaded but that they are Wolues, or ſome ſuch beaſts.

1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Dotage, Phrensie, Madnesse, Hydrophobia, Lycanthropia, Chorus sancti viti, Extasis”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy, […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 1, section 1, member 1, subsection 4, page 13:


vetala

From Hindi वेताल (vetāl, “sprite, vetaal”), from Sanskrit वेताल (vetāla, “vampire, spirit, goblin”).

uder

A vampire-like being in Hindu mythology that inhabits corpses.


ork

(fantasy, mythology) Alternative spelling of orc.


taur

His character was a husky taur with dark red fur.

Tails and wings both greatly affect clothing choices, same with taur species.

2021, Ian Madison Keller, Mary E. Dowd, Furry Fiction Is Everywhere: A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Anthropomorphic Characters, Rainbow Dog Books, →ISBN, page 58:

(furry fandom) An anthropomorphic character, often a furry, with a human-like upper body and four-legged lower body, similar to a centaur.


Golden Age

(mythology) The oldest and best of the Classical Ages of Man, when people lived innocent lives of happiness and prosperity.


Lilith

bor

Hebrew לִילִית (lîlîṯ)

(mythology) A Mesopotamian storm demon, a bearer of disease and death.


Hyacinthus

/ˌhaɪəˈsɪnθəs/

From Latin Hyacinthus, from Ancient Greek Ὑάκινθος (Huákinthos).

(Greek mythology) A Spartan youth loved and accidentally killed by Apollo. The flower hyacinth sprang from his blood.

Հիակինթոս

a Spartan youth loved and accidentally killed by Apollo