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Pixie
A pixie (also called pisky, pixy, pixi, pizkie, piskie, or pigsie in parts of Cornwall and Devon) is a mythical creature of British folklore. Pixies are speculated to be particularly concentrated in the high moorland areas around Devon and Cornwall, suggesting some Celtic origin for the belief and name. However, the word 'pixie' (under various forms) also appears in Dorset, Somerset and to a lesser extent in Sussex, Wiltshire and Hampshire. Similar to the Irish and Scottish ''Aos Sí'' (also spelled ''Aos Sidhe''), pixies are believed to inhabit ancient underground sites such as stone circles, barrows, dolmens, ringforts, or menhirs. In traditional regional lore, pixies are generally benign, mischievous, short of stature, and childlike; they are fond of dancing and wrestling outdoors, of which they perform through the night. In the modern era, they are usually depicted with pointed ears, often wearing a green outfit and pointed hat. Traditional stories describe them as wearin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Legendary Creature
A legendary creature is a type of extraordinary or supernatural being that is described in folklore (including myths and legends), and may be featured in historical accounts before modernity, but has not been scientifically shown to exist. In the classical era, monstrous creatures such as the Cyclops and the Minotaur appear in heroic tales for the protagonist to destroy. Other creatures, such as the unicorn, were claimed in accounts of natural history by various scholars of antiquity. Some legendary creatures are Hybrid beasts in folklore, hybrid beasts. Some legendary creatures originated in traditional mythology and were believed to be real creatures--for example, dragons, griffins and unicorns. Others are based on real encounters or garbled accounts of travellers' tales, such as the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary, a sheeplike animal which supposedly grew tethered to the earth. Creatures A variety of mythical animals appear in the art and stories of the classical era. For exampl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tumulus
A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones built for various purposes, may also originally have been a tumulus. Tumuli are often categorised according to their external apparent shape. In this respect, a long barrow is a long tumulus, usually constructed on top of several burials, such as passage graves. A round barrow is a round tumulus, also commonly constructed on top of burials. The internal structure and architecture of both long and round barrows have a broad range; the categorization only refers to the external apparent shape. The method of may involve a dolmen, a cist, a mortuary enclosure, a mortuary house, or a chamber tomb. Examples of barrows include Duggleby Howe and Maeshowe. Etymology The word ''tumulus'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Breton Language
Breton (, , ; or in Morbihan) is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic languages, Celtic language group spoken in Brittany, part of modern-day France. It is the only Celtic language still widely in use on the European mainland, albeit as a member of the Insular Celtic languages, insular branch instead of the extinct Continental Celtic languages, continental grouping. Breton was brought from Great Britain to Armorica (the ancient name for the coastal region that includes the Brittany peninsula) by migrating Britons (Celtic people), Britons during the Early Middle Ages, making it an Insular Celtic language. Breton is most closely related to Cornish language, Cornish, another Southwestern Brittonic language. Welsh language, Welsh and the extinct Cumbric language, Cumbric, both Western Brittonic languages, are more distantly related, and the Goidelic languages (Irish language, Irish, Manx language, Manx, Scottish Gaelic) have a slight connection due to both of their origi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tylwyth Teg
(Middle Welsh for "Fair Family"; ) is the most usual term in Wales for the mythological creatures corresponding to the fairy folk of Welsh and Irish folklore . Other names for them include ("Blessing of the Mothers"), and . Origins The term is first attested in a poem attributed to the 14th-century , in which the principal character gets perilously but comically lost while going to visit his girlfriend: "" ("(The) weak enchantment (now) flees, / (the) long burden of the ''Tylwyth Teg'' (departs) into the mist"). Attributes In later sources the are described as fair-haired and covet golden-haired human children whom they kidnap, leaving changelings (or , ) in their place. They dance and make fairy rings and they live underground or underwater. They bestow riches on those they favour but these gifts vanish if they are spoken of, and fairy maidens may become the wives of human men. These fairy wives are however still bound by traditional taboos. They must be careful to av ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mooinjer Veggey
is the Manx for '' little people'', a term used for fairies in Gaelic lore. The equivalent Irish and Scottish Gaelic are and . Manx folklore In Manx folklore, the are small creatures ranging in height, otherwise very like mortals. They wear red caps and green jackets and are most often seen on horseback followed by packs of little hounds of all the colours of the rainbow. They are rather inclined to be mischievous and spiteful. The phrase is borrowed by the Anglo-Manx dialect to refer to fairies. Belief in fairies is or was formerly widespread in the Isle of Man. They live in green hillsides, more especially ancient tumuli. Anyone straying near these on a fine summer's evening would probably hear delightful music; but he must take care, especially if he is a musician, not to linger lest he should be entrapped. They are visible to people only when they choose. Some of them are benevolent, curing men of diseases and delivering them from misfortune. Others are malevolent, s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manx Language
Manx ( or , or ), also known as Manx Gaelic, is a Goidelic language, Gaelic language of the insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, itself a branch of the Indo-European language family. Manx is the heritage language of the Manx people. Although few children native to the Isle of Man speak Manx as a first language, there has been a steady increase in the number of speakers since the death of Ned Maddrell in 1974. He was considered to be the last speaker to grow up in a Manx-speaking community environment. Despite this, the language has never fallen completely out of use, with a minority having some knowledge of it as a heritage language, and it is still an important part of the island's Culture of the Isle of Man, culture and cultural heritage. Manx is often cited as a good example of language revitalization efforts; in 2015, around 1,800 people had varying levels of second-language conversational ability. Since the late 20th century, Manx has become more visible ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sandhi
Sandhi ( ; , ) is any of a wide variety of sound changes that occur at morpheme or word boundaries. Examples include fusion of sounds across word boundaries and the alteration of one sound depending on nearby sounds or the grammatical function of the adjacent words. Sandhi belongs to morphophonology. Sandhi occurs in many languages, e.g. in the phonology of Indian languages (especially Sanskrit, Tamil, Sinhala, Telugu, Marathi, Hindi, Pali, Kannada, Bengali, Assamese and Malayalam). Many dialects of British English show linking and intrusive R. A subset of sandhi called tone sandhi more specifically refers to tone changes between words and syllables. This is a common feature of many tonal languages such as Burmese and Chinese. Types Internal and external sandhi Sandhi can be either: * internal, at morpheme boundaries within words, such as ''syn- + pathy'': ''sympathy'', or * external, at word boundaries, such as the pronunciation "''tem books''" for ''ten books' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
''The Chambers Dictionary'' was first published by William and Robert Chambers as ''Chambers's English Dictionary'' in 1872. It was an expanded version of ''Chambers's Etymological Dictionary'' of 1867, compiled by James Donald. A second edition came out in 1898, and was followed in 1901 by a new compact edition called ''Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary''. The dictionary is widely used by British crossword solvers and setters, and by ''Scrabble'' players (though it is no longer the official ''Scrabble'' dictionary). It contains many more dialectal, archaic, unconventional and eccentric words than its rivals, and is noted for its occasional wryly humorous definitions. Examples of such definitions include those for ''éclair'' ("a cake, long in shape but short in duration") and ''middle-aged'' ("between youth and old age, variously reckoned to suit the reckoner"). These jocular definitions were removed by the publisher in the 1970s, but many of them were reinstated in 1983 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fairy
A fairy (also called fay, fae, fae folk, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, generally described as anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic, found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic mythology, Celtic, Slavic paganism, Slavic, Germanic folklore, Germanic, and French folklore, French folklore), a form of Supernatural#Spirit, spirit, often with metaphysical, supernatural, or preternatural qualities. Myths and stories about fairies do not have a single origin but are rather a collection of folk beliefs from disparate sources. Various folk theories about the origins of fairies include casting them as either demoted angels or demons in a Christian mythology, Christian tradition, as deities in Paganism, Pagan belief systems, as Spirit (supernatural entity), spirits of the dead, as Prehistory, prehistoric precursors to humans, or as spirits of nature. The label of ''fairy'' has at times applied only to specific Magic (su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victorian Era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the Georgian era and preceded the Edwardian era, and its later half overlaps with the first part of the ''Belle Époque'' era of continental Europe. Various liberalising political reforms took place in the UK, including expanding the electoral franchise. The Great Famine (Ireland), Great Famine caused mass death in Ireland early in the period. The British Empire had relatively peaceful relations with the other great powers. It participated in various military conflicts mainly against minor powers. The British Empire expanded during this period and was the predominant power in the world. Victorian society valued a high standard of personal conduct across all sections of society. The Victorian morality, emphasis on morality gave impetus to soc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pointy Ears
Pointy ears or pointed ears are a characteristic of many animals, a genetic condition in humans, as well as a cliché in popular culture, particularly in the fantasy genre. They are commonly known as elf ears for their depiction in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film series. Non-human animals "Pointy ears" is a characteristic of some animals. Some examples are the cat, vampire bats, civets and genets of the viverridae family, red pandas, and African bush pigs. Humans One of the characteristics of the Williams syndrome has been described as "pointed ears". Some cases of pointed ears may be due to trauma to ears during labor, and the ear crease may unfold with time. The pointed ear(s) in Stahl's ear is caused by misshapen cartilage. It is characterized by an extra horizontal fold of cartilage (crus). Normally, there are two: superior and inferior. In Stahl's ear, there is a third horizontal crus. The helix (or upper portion of the ear) may uncurl, giving the ear a point ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Country Dance
A country dance is any of a very large number of social dances of a type that originated in England in the British Isles; it is the repeated execution of a predefined sequence of figures, carefully designed to fit a fixed length of music, performed by a group of people, usually in couples, in one or more sets. The figures involve interaction with your partner and/or with other dancers, usually with a progression so that you dance with everyone in your set. It is common in modern times to have a "caller" who teaches the dance and then calls the figures as you dance. Country dances are done in many different styles. As a musical form written in or time, the contredanse was used by Beethoven and Mozart. Beethoven's 6 Ecosaises WoO83 are dated to 1806. Mozart's 6 Ländlerische Tänze, K.606 are dated to 1791. Introduced to South America by French immigrants, Country Dance had great influence upon Latin American music as contradanza. The ''Anglais'' (from the French word meanin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
