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Witcher (mythology)
In Slavic mythology, a vidmak ( be, вядзьмак, вядзьмар; bg, вещер; hr, vještac; cz, vědmák; mk, вештер; pl, wiedźmak; russian: ведьмак; sr, вештац; uk, відьмак) is a warlock or male witch, the female equivalent (witch) being ''vedma'', but unlike the latter, the vedmak may also possess positive qualities. For example, they treat people and animals. On the other hand, they are thought to be people connected to the devil, and are capable of bringing harm by sending illnesses, killing cattle, spoiling a harvest, etc.Yefimova's Modern Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian language, 2000. The word was also used as an insult. A vedmak can turn into any animal or any object. ''Vedmak'' stems from Proto-Slavic *vědět ("to know") and Old East Slavic вѣдь ("knowledge; witchcraft", compare the use of the term "cunning" in English folklore). Under the influence of '' The Witcher'' fantasy saga by Andrzej Sapkowski, the ter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slavic Paganism
Slavic mythology or Slavic religion is the religious beliefs, myths, and ritual practices of the Slavs before Christianisation, which occurred at various stages between the 8th and the 13th century. The South Slavs, who likely settled in the Balkan Peninsula during the 6th–7th centuries AD, bordering with the Byzantine Empire to the south, came under the sphere of influence of Eastern Christianity, beginning with the creation of writing systems for Slavic languages (first Glagolitic, and then Cyrillic script) in 855 by the brothers Saints Cyril and Methodius and the adoption of Christianity in Bulgaria in 863. The East Slavs followed with the official adoption in 988 by Vladimir the Great of Kievan Rus'. The West Slavs' process of Christianization was more gradual and complicated. The Moravians accepted Christianity as early as 831, the Bohemian dukes followed in 845, Slovaks accepted Christianity somewhere between the years 828 and 863, but the Poles accepted it much late ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neologism
A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted into mainstream language. Neologisms are often driven by changes in culture and technology. In the process of language formation, neologisms are more mature than '' protologisms''. A word whose development stage is between that of the protologism (freshly coined) and neologism (new word) is a ''prelogism''. Popular examples of neologisms can be found in science, fiction (notably science fiction), films and television, branding, literature, jargon, cant, linguistics, the visual arts, and popular culture. Former examples include '' laser'' (1960) from Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation; ''robot'' (1941) from Czech writer Karel Čapek's play '' R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)''; and ''agitprop'' (1930) (a portmanteau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russian Mythology
Slavic mythology or Slavic religion is the religious beliefs, myths, and ritual practices of the Slavs before Christianisation, which occurred at various stages between the 8th and the 13th century. The South Slavs, who likely settled in the Balkan Peninsula during the 6th–7th centuries AD, bordering with the Byzantine Empire to the south, came under the sphere of influence of Eastern Christianity, beginning with the creation of writing systems for Slavic languages (first Glagolitic, and then Cyrillic script) in 855 by the brothers Saints Cyril and Methodius and the adoption of Christianity in Bulgaria in 863. The East Slavs followed with the official adoption in 988 by Vladimir the Great of Kievan Rus'. The West Slavs' process of Christianization was more gradual and complicated. The Moravians accepted Christianity as early as 831, the Bohemian dukes followed in 845, Slovaks accepted Christianity somewhere between the years 828 and 863, but the Poles accepted it much later ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ukrainian Mythology
Slavic mythology or Slavic religion is the religious beliefs, myths, and ritual practices of the Slavs before Christianisation, which occurred at various stages between the 8th and the 13th century. The South Slavs, who likely settled in the Balkan Peninsula during the 6th–7th centuries AD, bordering with the Byzantine Empire to the south, came under the sphere of influence of Eastern Christianity, beginning with the creation of writing systems for Slavic languages (first Glagolitic, and then Cyrillic script) in 855 by the brothers Saints Cyril and Methodius and the adoption of Christianity in Bulgaria in 863. The East Slavs followed with the official adoption in 988 by Vladimir the Great of Kievan Rus'. The West Slavs' process of Christianization was more gradual and complicated. The Moravians accepted Christianity as early as 831, the Bohemian dukes followed in 845, Slovaks accepted Christianity somewhere between the years 828 and 863, but the Poles accepted it much later ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slavic Legendary Creatures
Slavic, Slav or Slavonic may refer to: Peoples * Slavic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group living in Europe and Asia ** East Slavic peoples, eastern group of Slavic peoples ** South Slavic peoples, southern group of Slavic peoples ** West Slavic peoples, western group of Slavic peoples ** Slavic Americans, Americans of Slavic descent * Anti-Slavic sentiment, negative attitude towards Slavic peoples * Pan-Slavic movement, movement in favor of Slavic cooperation and unity * Slavic studies, a multidisciplinary field of studies focused on history and culture of Slavic peoples Languages, alphabets, and names * Slavic languages, a group of closely related Indo-European languages ** Proto-Slavic language, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages ** Old Church Slavonic, 9th century Slavic literary language, used for the purpose of evangelizing the Slavic peoples ** Church Slavonic, a written and spoken variant of Old Church Slavonic, standardized and widely adopted b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Krsnik (vampire Hunter)
A krsnik (female: krsnicaNada Kerševan, ''Vəkuli riti v garžet: Zgodbe s Kraškega roba do Brkinov, Sežane in Razdrtega'', 2016, p.75/ref>) or kresnik is a type of vampire hunter, a shaman whose spirit wanders from the body in the form of an animal. The ''krsnik'' turns into an animal at night to fight off the ''kudlak'', his evil vampire antithesis, with the ''krsnik'' appearing as a white animal and the ''kudlak'' as a black one. The ''krsnik''s soul leaves the body, either voluntarily or due to a higher power, to fight evil agents and ensure good harvest, health, and happiness. The legend evolved from a pre-Christian myth present in Slovenia and Croatia (mainly Istria and the islands), where the celestial pagan god Perun is locked in eternal combat with the evil snake of the underworld, Veles. The ''krsnik'' is taught magic by '' Vile'' (fairies), and in traditional medicine has the ability to heal people and cattle. However, due to the undocumented nature of oral trad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Witchcraft
Belief in witchcraft in Europe can be traced to classical antiquity and has continuous history during the Middle Ages, culminating in the Early Modern witch trials and giving rise to the fairy tale and popular culture "witch" stock character of modern times, as well as to the concept of the "modern witch" in Wicca and related movements of contemporary witchcraft. In medieval and early modern Europe, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have used magic to cause harm and misfortune to members of their own community. Witchcraft was seen as immoral and often thought to involve communion with evil beings, such as a "Deal with the Devil". It was believed witchcraft could be thwarted by protective magic or counter-magic, which could be provided by the cunning folk. Suspected witches were also intimidated, banished, attacked or lynched. Often they would be formally prosecuted and punished if found guilty. European witch-hunts and witch trials in the early modern p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Witch (etymology)
The word ''witch'' derives from the Old English nouns ('male witch, warlock') and ('female witch'). The word's further origins in Proto-Germanic and Proto-Indo-European are unclear. History Throughout history there has not been a consistent definition of the term ''witch''. Johannes Nider and other 15th century writers used the Latin term to mean witch—a person who performed , harmful acts of sorcery, against others. The witch hunts of medieval Europe differed from pre-Christian practices in condemning the witch as a moral corruption, rather than focusing on whether the act of sorcery was harmful, expanding the customary understanding of the concept. The introduction of the idea of demonic forces empowering the acts of gave the term ''witch'' new connotations of idolatry and apostasy that were adopted by , but these remained disputed despite papal injunctions to take action against witches. Germanic etymology The Old English verb has a cognate in Middle Low German ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cognate
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the sound and the meaning of a word, cognates may not be obvious, and often it takes rigorous study of historical sources and the application of the comparative method to establish whether lexemes are cognate or not. Cognates are distinguished from loanwords, where a word has been borrowed from another language. The term ''cognate'' derives from the Latin noun '' cognatus blood relative'. Characteristics Cognates need not have the same meaning, which may have changed as the languages developed independently. For example English '' starve'' and Dutch '' sterven'' 'to die' or German '' sterben'' 'to die' all descend from the same Proto-Germanic verb, '' *sterbaną'' 'to die'. Cognates also do not need to look or sound sim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrzej Sapkowski
Andrzej Sapkowski (; born 21 June 1948) is a Polish fantasy writer, essayist, translator and a trained economist. He is best known for his six-volume series of books '' The Witcher'', which revolves around the eponymous "witcher," a monster-hunter, Geralt of Rivia. It began with the publication of ''Blood of Elves'' (1994) and was completed with the publication of standalone prequel novel ''Season of Storms'' (2013). The saga has been popularised through television, cinema, stage, comic books, computer games and translated into 37 languages making him the second most-translated Polish science fiction and fantasy writer after Stanisław Lem. He was born in Łódź and initially pursued a career as an economist after graduating from the University of Łódź. He turned to writing, first as a translator and later as an author of fantasy books, following the success of his first short story ''The Witcher'' published in 1986 in the ''Fantastyka'' magazine. Described as the "Poli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monster
A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fear. Monsters usually resemble bizarre, deformed, otherworldly and/or mutated animals or entirely unique creatures of varying sizes, but may also take a human form, such as mutants, ghosts and spirits, zombies or cannibals, among other things. They may or may not have supernatural powers, but are usually capable of killing or causing some form of destruction, threatening the social or moral order of the human world in the process. Animal monsters are outside the moral order, but sometimes have their origin in some human violation of the moral law (e.g. in the Greek myth, Minos does not sacrifice to Poseidon the white bull which the god sent him, so as punishment Poseidon makes Minos' wife, Pasiphaë, fall in love with the bull. She co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Witcher
''The Witcher'' ( pl, Wiedźmin ) is a series of six fantasy novels and 15 short stories written by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The series revolves around the eponymous "witcher", Geralt of Rivia. In Sapkowski's works, "witchers" are beast hunters who develop supernatural abilities at a young age to battle wild beasts and monsters. ''The Witcher'' began with a titular 1986 short story that Sapkowski entered into a competition held by ''Fantastyka'' magazine, marking his debut as an author. Due to reader demand, Sapkowski wrote 14 more stories before starting a series of novels in 1994. Known as ''The Witcher Saga'', he wrote one book a year until the fifth and final installment in 1999. A standalone prequel novel, ''Season of Storms'', was published in 2013. The books have been described as having a cult following in Poland and Central and Eastern European countries. They have been translated into 37 languages and sold over 15 million copies worldwide as of December 2019 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
