tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950999049789394042.post6850631579937440722..comments2024-03-27T06:42:26.250-07:00Comments on Seven Miles of Steel Thistles: The 'man in the oke' and others Katherine Langrishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12529700103932422873noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950999049789394042.post-38439653803277692132016-11-24T07:49:15.074-08:002016-11-24T07:49:15.074-08:00I agree, Sue, and 'nickers' and 'nixie...I agree, Sue, and 'nickers' and 'nixies' are doubtless the same as well. I'd love to find uses for some of the odder of these, though. Gallybeggars and hudskins... hmmm!<br /> Katherine Langrishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12529700103932422873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950999049789394042.post-67928357268229943272016-11-23T03:40:15.225-08:002016-11-23T03:40:15.225-08:00Great post, as always!
I didn't spot 'hobb...Great post, as always!<br />I didn't spot 'hobbit' but I did spot 'mawkin' because that's a Black Country word. Found in the dictionary as 'malkin', it means 'simpleton.' I'm not convinced it was ever anything supernatural.<br />I think in Scot's list, he may well have been putting together anything and everything supernatural he could think of. Or, he may have been using 'nymph' and other classical terms to represent native beliefs he knew of which were much the same. After all, classical nymphs, dryads and so on, were spirits of particular trees, waterways, meadows and so on - and in British and Nordic belief there was certainly a belief in such local spirits, such as house-spirits and the 'wise man in the stone' in Icelandic folklore. The man in the oke might have been a British dryad.<br /><br />There's probably a lot of doubling-up in the lists too, simply because putting all the names together is so much fun - and makes the point about widespread superstition so well. For instance, Padfoot, Moddy Doo, Shuck, Grim and Gurt Dog all refer to much the same legend. There were scores of different local names for the bogles that haunted lanes and had various inventive ways of giving people a fright. (Such as following them in the shape of a haystack. Terrifying.)<br />In the same way, there were lots of local names for the old gods. Frey was also known as Ing - and it's probable that Balder was another of his names. Snorri gives some names of his 'servants': Barley and Wheat. I think Davidson argues that these were probably local names of Frey, and that the Christian Snorri, a little confused by all these names, decided that they must be servants.<br />I think a lot of the bogies and boneslesses in the list probably came about in the same way. As time went on most of them were forgotten because, as communication expanded beyond a small local audience, one or another of the names came to dominate.Susan Pricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07738737493756183909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950999049789394042.post-48743489386285426972016-11-17T18:11:51.666-08:002016-11-17T18:11:51.666-08:00*takes notes**takes notes*Becca McCallumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09339982441409936532noreply@blogger.com