gāst-genīþla, m.n: a persecutor or foe of souls, the devil. (GAHST-yeh-NEETH-la)
This week’s Wordhord Wednesday post is on Old English professions and surnames. Read it on Patreon.
Category Archives: monsters
nīþ-gæst
nīþ-gæst, m.n: a malicious, malignant demon / stranger / guest / foe). [NEETH-gast]
This week’s Wordhord Wednesday post is about peace-candles. Read it on Patreon.
The Virgin Mary beats up a devil; an angel carrying a rescued soul observes. The Taymouth Hours. England (London?), 14th century. British Library, Yates Thompson 13, f. 155v. [bl.uk]
līg-draca
līg-draca, m.n: a fire-drake, dragon vomiting flames. (“LEE-DRAH-kah”)
It’s St George’s Day. I couldn’t find a medieval George fighting a fire-breathing dragon, so I’ve included a bonus image.
A miniature of George killing the dragon in the Legenda Aurea. Paris, 1382. British Library, MS Royal 19 B XVII, f. 109r. [blogs.bl.uk]
Dragon in Peraldus’s Theological Miscellany. England, 3rd quarter of the 13th century. British Library, MS Harley 3244, f. 59r. [bl.uk]
eges-grime
eges-grime, n: (fem.) a witch, sorceress; (masc.) a horrible mask, a creature that has assumed a horrible form, a spectre. (“ay-yes-gree-meh”)
Happy Halloween!
draca
draca, m.n: a dragon; a serpent (can sometimes indicate the devil). (“drah-kah”)
Dragon and lion in the Macclesfield Psalter at The Fitzwilliam Museum. England (East Anglia), c. 1330.
mōr-stapa
mōr-stapa, m.n: moor-stepper, traverser of the moors. (“mohr-stah-pah”)
Image of Grendel found here; artist unknown.
un-tȳdre
un-tȳdre, m.n: an evil growth, evil progeny, a monstrous birth. (“un-teed-reh”)
un-holda
un-holda, m.n: a fiend. (“un-hol-dah”)
Miniature of a dead man and the devil. The soul was believed to exit the body through the mouth, so the devil is positioning himself for a timely catch. From Justinian’s Digestum Vetus with glossa ordinaria. France, S. (Toulouse?), c. 1300 – c. 1310. British Library, MS Arundel 484, fol. 245r. [British Library]
pūcel
pūcel, m.n: a goblin or demon (like Shakespeare’s sprite called Puck in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. (“pook-el”)
hell-cniht
hell-cniht, m.n: an infernal servant, a devil as servant. (“hel-k-nit”)
Image from Bibliothèque nationale de France: Matfré Ermengau, Breviari d’amor et Lettre à sa soeur; Chansonnier occitan. France, 1301-1400.
