Category Archives: Etymology

Angling for the Saxons

Posted on April 24, 2021 by Nathan

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s idea for an America First Caucus based on Anglo-Saxon values sounds kind of bizarre to those of us who don’t run in white supremacist circles. Like, why Anglo-Saxon in particular, and why would a group focusing on … Continue reading →

Posted in Arthurian Legend, Authors, British, Celtic, Colonization of America, England, Ethnicity, Etymology, History, J.R.R. Tolkien, Language, Lewis Carroll, Monarchy, Monsters, Mythology, Names, Norse, Politics, Prejudice, Roman Empire, United Kingdom | Tagged america first, angles, anglo-saxon attitudes, britons, dragons, english, geoffrey of monmouth, hengest, historia regum britanniae, horsa, jutes, king alfred the great, king arthur, king vortigern, marjorie taylor greene, mary rambaran-olm, merlin, nationalism, normans, odin, picts, racism, robin hood, rowena, saxons, through the looking-glass, time magazine, vikings | 1 Comment

Far and Few

Posted on March 14, 2021 by Nathan

When I posted about Edward Lear’s Jumblies, I received a comment from Ceridwen Silverhart mentioning Jumbies, creatures from Caribbean folklore. They’re basically evil spirits, and the name varies from one place to another. It’s sometimes spelled as “Jumbies” and other … Continue reading →

Posted in African, Authors, Carribean, Edward Lear, Etymology, History, Monsters, Music, Mythology | Tagged bacoo, baku, chooriles, douen, duende, duppies, dutchman jumbies, folklore, ghosts, guyana, jinn, jumbees, jumbies, moko jumbies, moongazer, ole higue, the jumblies, tracey baptiste, trinidad and tobago, vampires, zombies | 2 Comments

We Belong Dead

Posted on November 8, 2020 by Nathan

Today, I’m back from the dead (that might have worked better if I hadn’t just written yesterday) to talk about three Frankenstein movies. There are SPOILERS for all of them, as well as the original novel. Frankenstein – The original … Continue reading →

Posted in Etymology, Magic, Medicine, Monsters, Names, VoVat Goes to the Movies | Tagged boris karloff, bride of frankenstein, elsa lanchester, frankenstein, helena bonham carter, kenneth branagh, lord byron, mary shelley, mary shelley's frankenstein, percy bysshe shelley, prometheus, robert de niro, tom hulce | 2 Comments

Snally Boy

Posted on August 25, 2020 by Nathan

I noticed that one of the other monsters described in William Cox’s Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods, the same book as the Squonk, is the Snoligoster. (WARNING: The passage is pretty racist.) That’s a name I thought I knew, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Cartoons, Characters, Etymology, Food, German, L. Frank Baum, Monsters, Mythology, Oz, Oz Authors, Television, The Flintstones, Urban Legends | Tagged barney rubble, dewayo, fearsome creatures of the lumberwoods, florida, fred flintstone, fred flintstone and the snallygaster show, lake okeechobee, maryland, ork, president theodore roosevelt, snallygasters, snoligosters, the scarecrow of oz, william t. cox, wilma flintstone, wolves | Leave a comment

Sorting Out Sorcery

Posted on July 30, 2020 by Nathan

One running theme in Glinda of Oz is that there are several different types of magic in Oz, all of which have their specialties, but none of them can do everything. L. Frank Baum contrasts the fairy magic of Ozma … Continue reading →

Posted in Alchemy, Characters, Etymology, Games, Jack Snow, John R. Neill, L. Frank Baum, Language, Magic, Magic Items, Oz, Oz Authors, Politics, Religion, Ruth Plumly Thompson, Technology, Theosophy | Tagged abrog, akbad, belfaygor, blinkie, conjo, cookywitches, dorothy and the wizard in oz, dr. pipt, dungeons and dragons, fanny the weather witch, flatheads, gayelette, glinda, glinda and the red jinn, glinda of oz, good witch of the north, gorba, grampa in oz, great book of records, gwig, handy mandy in oz, imperial squawmos, jack pumpkinhead of oz, kadj the conjurer, krumbic witch, magicians, mangaboos, miserable mesmerizer, mombi, mooj, necromancers, ojo in oz, oz magic, oziana, ozma, ozwoz, paul dana, peter brown, pirates in oz, potaroo, prophecy, queen coo-ee-oh, red jinn, robert pattrick, rora flathead, soob the sorcerer, soothsayers, sorcerers, speedy in oz, supreme dictator of the flatheads, the cowardly lion of oz, the giant horse of oz, the gnome king of oz, the lost princess of oz, the marvelous land of oz, the patchwork girl of oz, the runaway in oz, the scarecrow of oz, the shaggy man of oz, the wonderful wizard of oz, three adepts at magic, ugu the shoemaker, unexplored territory in oz, waddy, wicked witch of the east, wicked witch of the west, witches, wizard of oz, wizard of wutz, wizards, wozards, wumbo, yookoohoos | Leave a comment

What’s Buggane You?

Posted on July 7, 2020 by Nathan

The Buggane is a monster in the folklore of the Isle of Man, which I suppose makes it a Manxome foe, like the Jabberwock. As an American, the main thing I know about the place is the tailless cats. Since … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, British, Christianity, Etymology, Fairy Tales, Language, Magic, Monsters, Mythology, Religion | Tagged bogeyman, boggarts, bugganes, chicken rock, fairies, fionn mac cumhaill, giants, greeba mountain, isle of man, kitterland, pookas, st. trinian's church | Leave a comment

Where There’s a Will, There’s a Wisp

Posted on March 25, 2020 by Nathan

The term “Will o’ the Wisp” refers to a sort of light that appears over swamps and marshes, caused by photon emissions from gases. Or at least that’s the scientific explanation. There’s a lot of folklore devoted to these weird … Continue reading →

Posted in Animal Crossing, Animals, Authors, British, Christianity, Dragon Quest, Etymology, Fairy Tales, Final Fantasy, German, J.R.R. Tolkien, Japanese, Lewis Carroll, Magic, Monsters, Mythology, Plays, Poetry, Religion, Science, Scottish, South American, Video Games, William Shakespeare | Tagged a midsummer night's dream, ariel, boitata, bram stoker, dracula, dragon quest iv, fairies, frodo baggins, ghosts, gollum, hobbits, ignis fatuus, irrwisch, jack o' lantern, john milton, karl haupt, lord of the rings, lost souls, paradise lost, puck, rogue wispers, samwise gamgee, snarks, st. elmo's fire, st. erasmus of formia, the hunting of the snark, the tempest, tonberries, umibozu, will o' the wisp, wisp, wisps, yokai | Leave a comment

Such Shellfish Women

Posted on June 29, 2019 by Nathan

I’m not really not that knowledgeable about Pokémon, but I have played Pokémon Yellow and picked up a few other things here and there. These are mostly about the original Pokémon, though, and there have been so many others since … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Chinese, Etymology, Japanese, Magic, Monsters, Mythology, Pokémon, Video Games | Tagged baku, carp, dragon gate, dragons, drowzee, fish, froslass, futakuchi-onna, gyarados, hermit crabs, kappa, lombre, magikarp, mawile, namazu, sazae-oni, shellder, slowbro, slowking, slowpoke, snails, top snail, turban snail, whiscash, yuki-onna | 1 Comment

A Foray Into Animated Enchantresses

Posted on October 15, 2018 by Nathan

A few days ago, Tavie brought up how both Disney and Warner Bros. cartoons have witches named Witch Hazel, both voiced by June Foray, and said I should write a post about that. From the brief research I did, it … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, Cartoons, Comics, Disney Afternoon, Etymology, Halloween, Holidays, Humor, Magic, Names, Television, William Shakespeare | Tagged bea benaderet, bewitched bunny, broom-stick bunny, bugs bunny, carl barks, casper the friendly ghost, chuck jones, donald duck, ducktales, huey dewey and louie, june foray, little lulu, looney tunes, macbeth, madam mim, magica de spell, scrooge mcduck, the sword in the stone, trick or treat, witch hazel, witches | 1 Comment

Worm Your Way

Posted on May 23, 2018 by Nathan

Looking into mythology and fiction involving giant worms is a little tricky because it seems like a lot of early societies thought worms and snakes were variations on the same thing. I guess they didn’t want to investigate all that … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Authors, Cartoons, Etymology, Final Fantasy, Futurama, Greek Mythology, J.R.R. Tolkien, Language, Monsters, Mythology, Science, Television, Video Games, Zelda | Tagged a link to the past, al gore, alien, annelids, arrakis, asclepius, beetlejuice, beowulf, carl linnaeus, dragons, dune, earthworms, final fantasy v, final fantasy vi, final fantasy X, frank herbert, glurmo, gobi desert, gogo, graboids, indus river, indus worm, john schoenherr, lambton worm, link, moldorms, mongolian death worm, moon worms, neitherworld, olgoi-khorkhoi, orcs, philip j. fry, professor hubert farnsworth, sandworms, saturn, skolex, slurm, slurm queen, sockburn worm, the battle of the five armies, the hobbit, tim burton, tremors, turanga leela, were-worms, worms, wormulon, wyrms, xenomorphs, zone eater | 2 Comments

Category Archives: Etymology

Angling for the Saxons

Far and Few

We Belong Dead

Snally Boy

Sorting Out Sorcery

What’s Buggane You?

Where There’s a Will, There’s a Wisp

Such Shellfish Women

A Foray Into Animated Enchantresses

Worm Your Way

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