Ogre

An ogre (feminine: ogress) is a legendary monster depicted as a large, hideous, man-like being that eats ordinary human beings, especially infants and children. Ogres frequently feature in mythology, folklore, and fiction throughout the world. They appear in many classic works of literature, and are most often associated in fairy tales and legend with a taste for infants.

In mythology, ogres are often depicted as inhumanly large, tall, and having a disproportionately large head, abundant hair, unusually colored skin, a voracious appetite, and a strong body. Ogres are closely linked with giants and with human cannibals in mythology. In both folklore and fiction, giants are often given ogrish traits (such as the giants in "Jack and the Beanstalk" and "Jack the Giant Killer", the Giant Despair in ''The Pilgrim's Progress'', and the Jötunn of Norse mythology); while ogres may be given giant-like traits.

Famous examples of ogres in folklore include the ogre in " Puss in Boots" and the ogre in "Hop-o'-My-Thumb". Other characters sometimes described as ogres include the title character from " Bluebeard", the Beast from ''Beauty and the Beast'', Humbaba from the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'', Grendel from ''Beowulf'', Polyphemus the Cyclops from Homer's ''Odyssey'', the man-eating giant in "Sinbad the Sailor", the oni of Japanese folklore and the ghouls of pre-Islamic Arabian religion.

Etymology

The word ''ogre'' is of French origin, originally derived from the Etruscan god Orcus, who fed on human flesh. Its earliest attestation is in Chrétien de Troyes' late 12th-century verse romance ''Perceval, li contes del graal'', which contains the lines:

The ''ogres'' in this rhyme may refer to the ogres who were, in the pseudohistorical work '' History of the Kings of Britain'' by Geoffrey of Monmouth, the inhabitants of Britain prior to human settlement. The Italian author Giambattista Basile (1575–1632) used the related Neapolitan word ''uerco'', or in standard Italian, ''orco'' in some of his tales. This word is documented in earlier Italian works ( Fazio degli Uberti, 14th century; Luigi Pulci, 15th century; Ludovico Ariosto, 15th–16th centuries) and has even older cognates with the Latin ''orcus'' and the Old English ''orcnēas'' found in Beowulf lines 112–113, which inspired J.R.R. Tolkien's '' Orc''. All these words may derive from a shared Indo-European mythological concept (as Tolkien himself speculated, as cited by Tom Shippey, ''The Road to Middle-earth'', 45). The Dictionary of the Academy of France alternatively states that the name is derived from the word ''Hongrois'', which means Hungarian, as of western cultures referred to Hungarians as a kind of monstrosity.Dictionnaire de l'Académie française (1932–35) Ogre could possibly also derive from the biblical Og, last of the giants (or from the Greek river god Oiagros, father of Orpheus).

The word ''ogre'' came into wider usage in the works of Charles Perrault (1628–1703) or Marie-Catherine Jumelle de Berneville, Comtesse d' Aulnoy (1650–1705), both of whom were French authors. The first appearance of the word ''ogre'' in Perrault's work occurred in his ''Histoires ou Contes du temps Passé'' (1696). It later appeared in several of his other fairy tales, many of which were based on the Neapolitan tales of Basile. The first example of a female ogre being referred to as an ''ogress'' is found in his version of ''Sleeping Beauty'', where it is spelled ''ogresse.'' Madame d'Aulnoy first employed the word ''ogre'' in her story '' L'Orangier et l'Abeille'' (1698), and was the first to use the word ''ogree'' to refer to the creature's offspring.

Fairy tales that feature ogres

* ''Hop-o'-My-Thumb''
* '' Puss in Boots''
* ''Sleeping Beauty''
* '' The Bee and the Orange Tree''
* '' Finette Cendron'' or ''Cunning Cinders''
* '' Bearskin''
* ''Tale of the Ogre''
* ''The Flea''
* '' The Enchanted Doe''
* '' Violet''
* '' The Dove''
* '' Corvetto''
* '' The Three Crowns''
* ''Liisa and the Prince''
* '' The Selfish Giant''
* '' Garulfo''

Gallery

In illustration

File:Giovanni Lanfranco - Norandino and Lucina Discovered by the Ogre - WGA12455.jpg, Giovanni Lanfranco: '' Norandino and Lucina Discovered by the Ogre'', oil on canvas, c. 1624
File:Barbebleue.jpg, Gustave Doré (1832–1883): '' Bluebeard'', woodcut from an 1862 edition of '' Histoires ou contes du temps passé''
File:Poucet10.jpg, Gustave Doré: Illustration for '' Le Petit Poucet'', 1862
File:Poucet8.JPG, Gustave Doré: Illustration for ''Le Petit Poucet'', 1862
File:Däumling.jpg, Alexander Zick (1845–1907): Illustration for '' Der kleine Däumling''
File:Der kleine Daumling (2).jpg, The ogre and his wife, illustration for ''Hop-o'-My-Thumb'' from a late-19th-century German fairy tale book
File:Oni in pilgrim's clothing.jpg, An oni in pilgrim's clothing
File:Kyosai Oni in priest's robes.jpg, Kawanabe Kyōsai (1831–1889): An oni in wandering Buddhist priest's robes, 1864
File:Oni pelted by beans.jpg, Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849): An oni being chased away by scattered beans, detail of a print
File:Australian ogre 1900.jpg, Political cartoon from 1900 depicting Australia as an ogre and referencing its origins as a penal colony

In sculpture

File:Kleinduimpje Efteling.jpg, The ogre from ''Hop-o'-My-Thumb'' at Efteling, Netherlands
File:Ogre king at Mandalay Hill.jpg, An ogre king represented at Mandalay Hill, Myanmar
File:Sanda Muhki, Mandalay Hill, Myanmar.jpg, The ogress Sanda Muhki represented at Mandalay Hill
File:Oni.jpg, A Japanese oni
File:鬼山地獄PB060318.jpg, An oni in Beppu
File:4377 - Bern - Kindlifresserbrunnen am Kornhausplatz.JPG, Ogre Fountain (lit. "Child Eater Fountain") at Corn House Square, Bern , Switzerland .

See also

*Buggane
*Cyclopes
* Darkspawn
*Daeva
* Fictional ogres (category)
* Giant
*Goliath
* Humbaba
*Jinn
* Ghoul
*Jötunn
* Ke'let
*Mapinguari
* Oni
* Orc
*Rakshasa
*Shrek
* Stallo
*Troll
*Wendigo

References

*Rose, Carol. ''Giants, Monsters, & Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth''. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2001.
*Shippey, Tom. ''The Road to Middle-earth''. London: HarperCollins, 1992 (rev.).
*South, Malcolm, ed. ''Mythical and Fabulous Creatures: A Source Book and Research Guide.'' Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1987. Reprint, New York: Peter Bedrick Books, 1988.
*Kathrine Mary Briggs The Fairies in Tradition and Literature
*"Ogre." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 15 May 2006
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Notes

External links

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Mythological monsters
Supernatural legends
English legendary creatures
Medieval European legendary creatures
Mythic humanoids
French legendary creatures
Italian legendary creatures