The Boogeyman

The Bogeyman (; also spelled boogeyman, bogyman, bogieman, boogie monster, boogieman, or boogie woogie) is a type of mythic creature used by adults to frighten children into good behavior. Bogeymen have no specific appearance and conceptions vary drastically by household and culture, but they are most commonly depicted as masculine or androgynous monsters that punish children for misbehavior. The Bogeyman or conceptually similar monsters can be found in many cultures around the world. Bogeymen may target a specific act or general misbehaviour, depending on what purpose needs serving, often based on a warning from the child's authority figure. The term is sometimes used as a non-specific personification or metonym for terror, and in some cases, the Devil.

Etymology

The word ''bogey'' originated in the mid-19th century, originally as a quasi-proper name for the devil."bogy , bogey, n.1." OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2021. Web. 23 May 2021. It may derive from the Middle English ''bogge'' or ''bugge'', meaning a terror or scarecrow. It relates to ''bugbear'', from ''bug'', meaning goblin or scarecrow, and ''bear'', an imaginary demon in the form of a bear that ate small children. It was also used to mean a general object of dread. The word '' bugaboo'', with a similar pair of meanings, may have arisen as an alteration of ''bugbear''.

The word is known in Indo-European languages as '' puck'' (English), ''bogle'' (Scots), ''púca,'' ''pooka'' or ''pookha'' ( Irish), ''pwca'', ''bwga'' or ''bwgan'' (Welsh), ''bucca'' ( Cornish), ''buse'' or ''busemann'' (Norwegian), ''puki'' (Old Norse), ''bøhmand'' or ''bussemand'' (Danish), ''bûzeman'' ( Western Frisian), ''boeman'' (Dutch), ''Butzemann'' (German), ''bòcan'', ''bogu'' ( Slavonic), ''buka'' or '' Babay/Babayka'' (Russian, бука), ''bauk'' ( Serbian), ''bubulis'' ( Latvian), ''baubas'' ( Lithuanian), ''bobo'' (Polish), bubák ( Czech), bubák ( Slovak), ''bebok'' (Silesian), ''papão'' (Portuguese), ''babulas'' ( el, μπαμπούλας), ''bua'' ( Georgian, ბუა), ''babau'' (Italian), Бабай (Ukrainian), baubau (Romanian), and ''papu'' (Catalan).Cooper, Brian. "Lexical reflections inspired by Slavonic *bogǔ: English bogey from a Slavonic root?" ''Transactions of the Philological Society'', Volume 103, Number 1, April 2005, pp. 73–97(25) In Hungarian, a Uralic language, bogeyman is ''mumus''.

Physical description and personality

While the description of the Bogeyman differs on a cultural level, there are often some shared similarities to the creatures. Many of the Bogeymen are depicted as having claws, talons, and sharp teeth. Along with that, the majority of Bogeymen are of the spirit variety, while the minority are demons, witches, and other legendary creatures. Some are even described to have certain animal features such as horns, hooves, and bug like appearances.

When looking at the personality traits of the Bogeymen, they are most easily divided into three categories; the kind that punishes misbehaved children, the kind that are more prone to violence, and the kind that protect the innocent. They all relate in the same way, being that they all exist to teach young children lessons. The large majority of Bogeymen are there to just frighten children with punishments, and not actually inflict much damage. The more vicious Bogeyman is said to steal the children at night, and even eat them