WINMX Assorted Textfiles/Ebooks.tar/Text - Misc - Ghost Dictionary.txt

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Ghosts


Please note: from time to time you will see 4 digits in brackets (1095) and
this refers to the year in which that word was first used with that particular
meaning.  The source is the big 20 volume Oxford English Dictionary (see
below).


ANKOU: from the Celtic folk lore of Brittany (France?)  it means
"king of the dead" and it is a death omen that comes to collect the
souls of the dead; the ankou is the last person to die in a parish
in a given year -- sometimes portrayed as a skeleton with a
rotating head (ie it can see in every direction); it drives a
spectral cart, is accompanied by two ghosts on foot and stops at
the house of one who is about to die (for that (next) year)


APPARITION: to appear when summoned; "the supernatural; appearance
of invisible beings -- ie the apparition of a ghost" (1525); a
manifestation or something invisible being made visible to the eye"
(1533); an immaterial appearance (1601 -- Shakespeare);
encyclopedia of Ghosts also suggests that an apparition is more
often that of a living person; they appear and disappear and
reappear suddenly, they CAN cast shadows, and can walk through and
can be reflected in mirrors walls



BANSHEE: from the Gaelic "bean si" (= "fairy women") -- a death
omen -- loud wailing from a female demon just before someone dies
-- limited to "ancient families of pure descent" .... very Celtic;
they are particularly attached to irish families whose surnames
begins with "Mac" or "O"; Banshees do not (according to misguided
popular belief) "scream" -- they just cry; in Ireland and the
Scottish Highlands, the Banshee is also known as Bean-Nighe or
Little-Washer-By-the-Ford (the latter case signals a person's
imminent and violent death by washing that person's bloody clothes
in a stream); this Bean-Nighe is unlike the Bean Si in a number of
ways; the Bean Nighe is ugly and deformed (whereas the other is
beautiful) and the Bean Nighe has 1 nostril, a large protruding
front tooth, red webbed feet and long pendulous breasts; this Bean
Nighe (aka Little Washer by the Ford) is said to be the ghost of a
woman who has died prematurely in child birth and has to spend the
rest of (what would have been her allotted time on earth) washing
clothes by the river until it is the "natural" time for her to die




BEELZEBUB (also Baal-zebub): means "lord of the flies"


CHUREL: From India .. the evil ghost of a woman who dies in
childbirth or ceremonial impurity; usually of a lower caste person
whose corpse was buried face down to prevent their escape; they
have reversed feet & no mouths and haunt squalid places; they can
appear as beautiful (albeit slightly deformed( women who can
capture and hold men prisoner until they (the men) are old



CORPSE CANDLES: death omens in Wales & elsewhere in the British
Isles -- they are mysterious lights which bob over the ground and
stop at houses where a death is imminent; they are also said to
warn of those who see them or alternatively they appear halfway
between the doomed's home and their grave-to-be or presage the
death of an infant



CUCUBUTH: vampire & a werewolf together (consumes flesh and blood)



DEMON: an inferior divinity; a genius; and attendant spirit; the
devil; the name means "replete with wisdom" and is derived from the
Greek "daimon" which means "divine power" or "fate" or "god"




ELVES: Teutonic in origin; small, dwarfish, thought to act as
incubi/succubi, steal children and substitute fake ones in their
place, generally malicious beings until the 19th century; generally
more malignant than a fairy




FAIRY: plural: "fays"; small, diminutive beings having great
influence (good and bad) over the affairs of men (1393); delicate
& finely woven; the word fairy comes from the Latin "fata" meaning
"fate"; there are varying theories on their origins -- 1) Souls of
the pagan dead not baptized and therefore caught between heaven and
earth 2) the guardians of the dead 3) ghosts of venerated ancestors
4) fallen angels who were condemned with Lucifer but who were also
condemned to remain with the elements of earth and not to be in
Hell 5) nature spirits.  In Irish mythology the Fairies are  the
"TUATHA DE" (sic) or people of the goddess -- they are thought to
be strong in the craft of magic and (still in Irish myth) they are
part mortal, part spirit and part god and they can intermarry with
humans."  They are thought (also in Irish legends) to steal human
women away for wives, to steal unprotected children and leave their
in their place ("changelings"). To stay in their good graces
households left out food and drink for them (they are said to be
nocturnal). In Celtic lore, Fairies dance circular dances under
the  moonlight, especially around ancient burial cites




FETCH: In Irish and Welsh folklore, the term for one's double, [to
see yourself then, literally and symbolically] an apparition of a
living person (sometimes called a "co-walker" in England).  In
general, seeing one is a sign of ill-boding although in Irish lore,
to see a fetch in the morning means you will have long life but at
night means death




GENIUS (GENII): protective spirits who guide human beings; in
Etruscan & Roman art they were portrayed as naked winged (male)
youths but since the 17th century they can be either male or
female; Genius was also a Roman deity, a personification of the
creative powers invested in man (the female equivalent is Juno);
every man has his own "genius"





GHOST: a disembodied spirit ... has root words possibly connected
to "terrify" and "anger." The etymology is "to wound, tear, pull to
pieces" (OED) also "anger" (Dict of Ety.).  "The soul or spirit as
the principle of life" (900 AD); "the immaterial part of man
associated with feeling, thought and moral action" (1000 AD); "an
corporeal  being" (1297); a good being (900); and evil being
(1000); the soul of a deceased person inhabiting the unseen world"
(800); and "the soul of a deceased person appearing in visible form
or otherwise making its presence known to humans" (1385 -- Chaucer)




GHOST DOGS/CATS: in Wales and Scotland and there are special
GUARDIAN SPIRITS called BLACK DOGS; there is also the BARGHEST (aka
BARGUEST) from Cornwall and Northern England -- it is a death omen
and in Lancashire it is called a "SHRIKER" after  the shrieks it
makes when it is invisible



GHOSTESS: a female Ghost (1842)






GHOUL: a demon (usually female) feeding on flesh, dead or alive
... often associated with a house where tragedy has taken place but
they also tend to live alone in desolate spots and/or graveyards.
Strictly speaking, Lamia are ghouls (ie they hang out in
cemeteries, disinter bodies and eat the flesh). Also, Arabic: an
evil spirit who robs graves and preys on human corpses. The
etymology is "to seize"; first occurrence is Beckford's Vathek
(1786); comes from Arabic terms ghul (masculine) and ghula
(feminine); in Islamic lore it is the female ghul who is to be most
feared since she can (unlike the male) appear as a fully normal
person




GIAOUR: a non-Moslem (Christian usually)






GLAMOUR: any bewitched illusion satanically inspired; a magic
enchantment or spell; "a magical or fictitious beauty" (1840)




GOBLIN: mischievous, ugly spirit (1327) often (not always) conjured
up by rogues ; the prefix "hob" (ie hob-goblin") usually
differentiates the merely mischievous ones from the malicious ones;
either way they are believed to live in grottos but are said to be
attracted to homes that have beautiful children; when they move in
to a home they can help with the children (giving them presents
when they are good and punishing them when they are bad) and the
goblins can also help with household chores (!!) if they have the
whim to do so




GOLEM: an artificial human (a la Frankenstein) but created by (in
this case) magical means.  The term is used to describe Adam's body
in its first hours of existence before it gets consciousness and a
soul.  To raise one, walk around it using the appropriate
combination of letters & mystical names of God; to kill it walk the
other way and say the words backwards!!!!   See also German film
Der Golem (1920)



GRATEFUL DEAD: no, not the band; this is a MOTIF in which ghosts of
the deceased return to bestow rewards on living people




GRAY LADIES: the ghosts of women who have died violently for the
sake of love OR pined away for the loss of love (say, Aeneas'
Dido); they are said (often) to be dressed in gray but can also
appear in white, black or brown




GREMLIN: a small, pesky spirit that appeared in British aircraft
during WWI; they are generally friendly, have a great knowledge of
aviation and navigation but can play mischievous pranks; many WWI
pilots allege they saw them on their planes when they were flying
missions but no one officially reported these sightings until 1922
(perhaps out of the belief that it is bad luck to acknowledge the
spirits ... but WHO KNOWS???); by WWII pilots who allegedly saw
them claimed (variously) that they were 6 inches high with black
leather suction boots, others said they looked like a cross between
a jack rabbit and a bull terrier others said they were humanoid and
1 foot tall; others that they had webbed feet with fins on the
heels




INCUBI and SUCCUBI were thought to be interchangeable and were
thought to ejaculate the sperm they collected as a succubus ...
hence they are a sort of hermaphroditic critters; their main raison
d'etre (1205) was to seek carnal intercourse with humans


HAUNT: comes from the same root as "home"

JINN: The appellation for a class of demonic beings in Pre-Islamic
times; originally nature spirits, later a sub-class of ghouls
who(originally) were only female spirits




KNOCKER: In Cornwall -- a spirit that lives and works in the mines,
especially in tin mines; they are friendly and helpful, they can be
mischievous but they are NOT evil (the German KOBOLD is a malicious
German equivalent); they are also (in Cornwall) known as  GATHORNS,
KNACKERS, NICKERS, NUGGIES, SPRIGGANS.  They are thought to be the
ghosts of Jews who worked in the mines (the Jews did not work in
the Cornish mines until the 11th & 12th centuries).  They cannot
tolerate the sign of the cross so miners avoid marking anything
with an X (remember these knockers are friendly).  Knockers are
industrious and often toil through the night; whistling offends
them.  Food and tallow must be left for them, otherwise there will
be trouble.  In America they are called TOMMYKNOCKERS; there are
said especially to be in the Mamie R Mine on Raven Hill in Cripple
Creek, Colorado where they were said to lure miners in to the mines
and kill them (by jumping on beams to cause a collapse) and then
laughing




LEMURES: In ancient Rome, the ghost of a person who died without
any surviving issue; if you died before producing offspring you
could become a lemure.  Exorcism was accomplished by banging drums




LILITH: Called "the night hag" at Isaiah 34:14; meaning is "she of
the night"; the plural is "lilin";




LEPRECHAUNS: a little old man with a wrinkled old face: they know
the location of buried treasure which they will reveal in exchange
for liberty BUT

               1) take your eyes off him for a split
                  second and he'll disappear
               2) treasure disappears as soon as mortals
                  find it





NARI: among the Slavs, demonic beings who seem to have been in
origin the souls of dead children




PHANTOM (PHANTASMA): a mental delusion dream of deception; an
illusion or dream; imaginary (=subjective ghost); an illusion
(1300); a lie (1325); a ghost (1382); "a mental illusion in a
dream" (1590 -- Spenser)




POLTERGEIST:  From German ... "noisy ghost" or "rocketing ghost";
hence a spirit who makes its presence known by noises




PSYCHOPOMP: a supernatural being (human or animal, although in some
cases it is thought to be dogs or even Dolphins) who conduct souls
into the afterlife (Hermes in Greek, Toth and Anubis in Egyptian
lore





PUCA (aka POOKA): in Irish lore, a spirit that is both helpful and
mischievous; it is a shape-shifter and is often seen in the form of
a black animal or a black half animal; if treated well they will
clean up the house during the night and they can also bedevil grave
robbers.  In England the puca is also known as PUCK (see Misdsummer
Night's Dream) -- a Medieval house spirit who was particualry
malicious and who was closely connected with the devil




RADIANT BOYS: also known as KINDERMORDERINN ... boys murdered by
their mothers





REVENANT: the dead who return from the grave



RUSALKA (plural is Rusalki): in Russian folklore, the spirit of a
maiden who drowns by accident or by force or becomes a ghost and
haunts the spot where she died; they secretly help poor fishermen



SIRENS: half women half birds with beautiful voices (Odyssey)



SORCERER: a magician (1526)



SPECTRE: an apparition or phantom or ghost that is TERRIFYING
(1605); also  -- "an unreal object of thought (a phantasm of the
brain)" (1711); and by 1801 it's "an image or phantom produced by
a reflection or other natural cause" (1801); a horrid spectacle or
sight (1763)




SPUNKIE: In Scottish lore, a goblin or trickster ghost, commonly
believed to be the devil's agent he tricks travellers who have lost
their way; he presents a light that the traveller thinks is a ought
from a window but when the traveller gets to where the light is it
is actually a precipice and over s/he goes




WARLOCK: "an oath-breaker" (1023); " a wicked person, a scoundrel"
(1000); "a savage or hostile creature hostile to me -- usually
applied to a giant, cannibal, a mythic beast" (1000); "one in
league with the devil, a sorcerer or wizard" (1550); "a conjurer"
(1721)


WITCH: "a man who practises magic, sorcery, wizardry; " (890 AD);
"a female magician or sorceress supposed to have dealings with the
devil" (1000 AD); (from wica = "to bend")



WIZARD: "a philosopher or wise man" (1440); a man practised in the
occult arts or a male witch (1550);



ZOMBIE: usually does not rise unless it has been summoned; a corpse
reanimated by witchcraft or by a sorcerer called a BOKOR; the
Zombie acts as a slave to the Bokor


Suggested Further Reading: Try Rosemary Ellen Guiley's The Encyclopedia of
Ghosts and Spirits Facts-on-File-Books, 1992.
Also try the BIG Oxford English Dictionary (20 Volumes) but be careful ..  if
you read it all at once you will most certainly hurt yourself.