Goblin
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A goblin is an evil or merely mischievous creature of folklore, often described as a grotesquely disfigured or gnome-like phantom.
Description
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Goblins are described in folklore as grotesque fairies ranging in height from that of a dwarf to that of a human. They are attributed with various (sometimes conflicting) abilities, temperaments and appearances.
Goblin Characteristics in Folklore
- They have some traits of old men, which can include shortsightedness, but they are described as wiser than humans.
- Goblins have been portrayed as green in color, although they are sometimes said to be mostly invisible to the human eye.[specify]
- They are alleged to steal human women and children and hide them away underground.
- Stories tell how Goblin women steal human babies and dump them, replacing them with ugly goblin babies (changelings).
- Goblin changelings are sometimes known as "oafs" or "crimbils".
- Goblins ( in some cultures ) are described as an entirely male race.[citation needed]
- Female goblins are referred to as "hags" or "crones"
- Goblins are reported to be members of the Unseelie Court.
- Goblins are reputed to mimic human actions in a sardonic way, twisting human rituals and culture to demonstrate their the worst aspects.
- Goblin are alleged to play pranks include hiding small objects, tipping over pails of milk, and altering signposts.
- Goblins are often associated with fire, or have the ability to create it.
- Goblins are said to borrow horses and ride them all night. If a horse is tired in the morning, then according to folklore, a goblin rode it. Similarly if a horse is panicking, a goblin is trying to mount it.[citation needed]
- Goblins are reported as loving mushrooms, and use them for housing, recreation, and as food.
Etymology
According to some traditions, goblin comes from Gob or Ghob, the king of the gnomes, whose inferiors were called Ghob-lings.[citation needed] However, according to "The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English" the name is probably derived from the Anglo-French gobelin (medieval Latin gobelinus), which is probably a diminutive of Gobel, a name related to the word kobold. Goblin is also related to the French lutin.
Places
One fabled origin for Goblins is in France, in a cleft of the Pyrenees, from which they spread rapidly throughout Europe. They hitched a ride with Viking ships to get to Britain. They have no homes, being nomadic, dwelling temporarily in mossy cracks in rocks and tree roots. Bryn y Ellyllon 'The Hill of the Goblins' is a place in Somerset. The Gap of Goeblin is a hole and underground tunnel in Mortaine France.
Sir Walter Scott in his Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft ascribed gnomes, kobolds and goblins, along with Scottish bogles to all correspond with a caricature of the Sami people.
Sources:
- British Goblins: Welsh Folk-lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions by Wirt Sikes
- Encyclopedia of Things That Never Were by Michael Page & Robert Ingpen
- The Complete Encyclopedia of Elves, Goblins, and Other Little Creatures by Pierre Dubois
- Goblins! and The Goblin Companion by Brain Froud