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Folklore lets people escape from repressions imposed upon them by society. Folklore validates culture, justifying its rituals and institutions to those who perform and observe them. Folklore is a pedagogic device which reinforces morals and values and builds wit. Folklore is a means of applying social pressure and exercising social control.
Folk etymology – also known as (generative) popular etymology, [1] analogical reformation, (morphological) reanalysis and etymological reinterpretation [2] – is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more familiar one through popular usage.
Schmidt, Gerard, and Wlislocki, all three sometime residents of Transylvania, identified the word as Romanian, and even proponents of the "nosophoros" etymology (as well as most other commentators) seem to have little doubt that this is correct; Wlislocki particularly was regarded as an expert in Transylvanian languages and folklore and was a ...
In Arab folklore it is known as Abu Fanoos . In folklore, will-o'-the-wisps are typically attributed as ghosts, fairies or elemental spirits meant to reveal a path or direction. These wisps are portrayed as dancing or flowing in a static form, until noticed or followed, in which case they visually fade or disappear.
A goblin is a small, grotesque, monstrous humanoid creature that appears in the folklore of multiple European cultures. First attested in stories from the Middle Ages, they are ascribed conflicting abilities, temperaments, and appearances depending on the story and country of origin, ranging from mischievous household spirits to malicious, bestial thieves.
A nymph (Ancient Greek: νύμφη, romanized: nýmphē; Attic Greek: [nýmpʰɛː]; sometimes spelled nymphe) is a minor female nature deity in ancient Greek folklore. Distinct from other Greek goddesses , nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature; they are typically tied to a specific place, landform, or tree, and are ...
Folklore was the original term used in this discipline. [citation needed] Its synonym, folklife, came into circulation in the second half of the 20th century, at a time when some researchers felt that the term folklore was too closely tied exclusively to oral lore.
Lindow states that the etymology of the word "troll" remains uncertain, though he defines trolls in later Swedish folklore as "nature beings" and as "all-purpose otherworldly being[s], equivalent, for example, to fairies in Anglo-Celtic traditions". They "therefore appear in various migratory legends where collective nature-beings are called for".