[Old English ēarwicga]
The tiny insect with pincer-like appendages protruding from its abdomen, once thought to penetrate a person's head through the ear, was perceived to be a disguise of the devil in Irish folklore. By custom they were to be killed as soon as they were seen. James Joyce draws on earwig lore in constructing the persona of HCE in Finnegans Wake (1939). Modern Irish gaillseach; Scottish Gaelic fiolan; Manx gollage; Welsh chwilen glust; Cornish gorlosten; Breton garlostenn.
