In Irish folklore, a leprechaun (Irish: leipreachán) is a type of male fairy, usually taking the form of an old man who enjoys partaking in mischief. Like other fairy creatures, they have been linked to the Tuatha Dé Danann of Irish mythology.[1]
Popular depiction shows them as being no taller than a small child. Their trade is that of a cobbler or shoemaker. They are said to be very rich, having much buried treasure.
Etymology
The name leprechaun derives from the Irish word leipreachán, defined by Patrick Dinneen as "a pigmy, a sprite, a leprechaun". The further derivation is less certain; according to most sources, the word is thought to be a corruption of Old Irish luchorpán or luchorp, from the roots lú small and corp body.[2] The root corp, which was borrowed from the Latin corpus, attests to the early influence of Church Latin on the Irish language.[3] The alternative spelling leithprachán is due to the a folk etymology that would derive the word from leith half and bróg shoe, according to the frequent portrayal of the leprechaun as working on a single shoe.[4]
Alternative spellings in English have included lubrican, leprehaun, and lepreehawn. The first recorded instance of the word in the English language was in Dekker's The Honest Whore, Part 2 (1604): "As for your Irish lubrican, that spirit / Whom by preposterous charms thy lust hath rais'd / In a wrong circle."[4]
Folklore
A leprechaun counts his
gold in this engraving c. 1900
The leprechaun is said to be a solitary creature, whose principal occupation is making and mending shoes, and who enjoys practical jokes. According to Yeats, the great wealth of these fairies comes from the "treasure-crocks, buried of old in war-time", which they have uncovered and appropriated.[5] According to McAnally the leprechaun is the son of an "evil spirit" and a "degenerate fairy" and is "not wholly good nor wholly evil".[6]
They like to hide their gold in secret locations which can only be revealed if a person were to capture and interrogate a leprechaun for its money. Another popular belief is that you may find a leprechaun and his pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.[citation needed]
In several Irish legends leprechauns have a power of hypnotism or trickery that confuses their target, either allowing the leprechaun to escape or just to play tricks on unsuspecting victims.[citation needed]
According to legend, if anyone keeps an eye fixed upon one, he cannot escape, but the moment the gaze is withdrawn, he vanishes.[citation needed]
Appearance
A leprechaun is shown crafting
shoes in this
Engraving made in 1858. In previous years leprechauns had a less
homogenised appearance.
The leprechaun originally had a different appearance depending on where in Ireland he was found.[7] Prior to the 20th century, it was generally agreed that the leprechaun wore red and not green. Samuel Lover, writing in the 1831 describes the leprechaun as,
- ... quite a beau in his dress, notwithstanding, for he wears a red square-cut coat, richly laced with gold, and inexpressible of the same, cocked hat, shoes and buckles.[8]
According to Yeats, the solitary fairies, like the leprechaun, wear red jackets, whereas the "trooping fairies" wear green. The leprechaun's jacket has seven rows of buttons with seven buttons in each row. On the western coast, he says, the red jacket is covered by a frieze one, and in Ulster the creature wears a cocked hat, and when he is up to anything unusually mischievous, he leaps on to a wall and spins, balancing himself on the point of the hat with his heels in the air."[9]
According to McAnally, "He is about three feet high, and is dressed in a little red jacket or roundabout, with red breeches buckled at the knee, gray or black stockings, and a hat, cocked in the style of a century ago, over a little, old, withered face. Round his neck is an Elizabethan ruff, and frills of lace are at his wrists. On the wild west coast, where the Atlantic winds bring almost constant rains, he dispenses with ruff and frills and wears a frieze overcoat over his pretty red suit, so that, unless on the lookout for the cocked hat, 'ye might pass a Leprechawn on the road and never know it's himself that's in it at all.'" This dress could vary by region, however. In McAnally's account, the northern leprechaun or Logheryman wore a military "red coat and white breeches", with a "broad-brimmed, high, pointed hat", on which he would sometimes stand upside down. The Lurigadawne of Tipperary wore "an antique slashed jacket of red, with peaks all round and a jockey cap, also sporting a sword, which he uses as a magic wand." The Luricawne of Kerry was "a fat, pursy little fellow whose jolly round face rivals in redness the cut-a-way jacket he wears, that always has seven rows of seven buttons in each row". The Cluricawne of Monaghan wore "a swallow-tailed evening coat of red with green vest, white breeches, black stockings," shiny shoes, and a "long cone [hat] without a brim," sometimes used as a weapon.[10]
In a poem entitled The Lepracaun; or, Fairy Shoemaker, the 18th century Irish poet William Allingham describes the appearance of the leprechaun as:
...A wrinkled, wizen'd, and bearded Elf,
Spectacles stuck on his pointed nose,
Silver buckles to his hose,
Leather apron - shoe in his lap...[11]
Some commentators accuse Allingham of leaving the legacy of the modern image of the leprechaun.[12]
The modern image of the leprechaun is almost invariant: he is depicted as having red hair (often with a beard), wearing an emerald green frock coat.
Related creatures
A
cluricaun with a jug of wine. The cluricaun is often confused with the leprechaun.
The leprechaun is related to the clurichaun and the far darrig in that he is a solitary creature. Some writers even go as far as to substitute these second two less well-known spirits for the leprechaun in stories or tales to reach a wider audience. The clurichaun is considered by some to be merely a leprechaun on a drinking spree.[13]
In politics
In the politics of the Republic of Ireland, leprechauns have been used to refer to the twee aspects of the tourist industry in Ireland[14][15]. This can be seen from this example of John A. Costello addressing the Oireachtas in 1963: "For many years, we were afflicted with the miserable trivialities of our tourist advertising. Sometimes it descended to the lowest depths, to the caubeen and the shillelagh, not to speak of the leprechaun.[16]
Popular culture
Films, television cartoons and advertising have popularised a specific dim-witted image of leprechauns which bears scant resemblance to anything found in the cycles of Irish mythology. Irish people can find the popularised image of a leprechaun to be little more than a series of offensive Irish stereotypes.[17]
The stereotypical image of a leprechaun bedecked in green is particularly strong in the United States, where it is widely used for a variety of purposes, both commercial and non-commercial.
The University of Notre Dame, home of the Fightin' Irish, has a mascot with fists raised to fight as its mascot.
The mascot of the Boston Celtics is a leprechaun depicted holding a basketball.
The popular breakfast cereal Lucky Charms uses a leprechaun mascot named "Lucky" who boasts that his cereal is "magically delicious", which for many is a topic of hot debate.
The leprechaun legend has spawned the successful Leprechaun horror film series, which began in 1993 with the Jennifer Aniston-starring Leprechaun. Five sequels have been released, all of them featuring Warwick Davis as the titular character. Another movie made about the leprechaun is Walt Disney's classic Darby O'Gill and the Little People.
See also
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Notes
- ^ Squire, Charles (1912). Mythology of the Celtic People. London. p. 403. ISBN 0091850436.
- ^ Patrick S. Dinneen, Foclóir Gaedhilge agus Béarla (Dublin: Irish Texts Society, 1927); Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. "leprachaun", (accessed 12 May 2009, subscription needed); see also Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language, s.v. "luchorp", "luchorpán" (accessed May 12, 2009).
- ^ American Heritage Dictionary, s.v. "leprechaun", (accessed 12 May 2009).
- ^ a b Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. "leprechaun" (accessed May 12, 2009).
- ^ Yeats, Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry, 80.
- ^ McAnally, Irish Wonders, 140.
- ^ Little Guy Style
- ^ From Legends and Stories of Ireland
- ^ From Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry.
- ^ McAnally, Irish Wonders, 140–142.
- ^ William Allingham - The Leprechaun
- ^ Criticism of William Allingham's The Fairies
- ^ Yeats, Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry, 321.
- ^ Dáil Éireann - Volume 495 - 20 October, 1998 - Tourist Traffic Bill, 1998: Second Stage.
- ^ Dáil Éireann - Volume 206 - 11 December, 1963 Committee on Finance. - Vote 13—An Chomhairle Ealaoín.
- ^ Dáil Éireann - Volume 206 - 11 December, 1963 Committee on Finance. - Vote 13—An Chomhairle Ealaoín.
- ^ Negra, The Irish in Us.[page needed]
Bibliography
- Briggs, Katharine. "An Encyclopedia of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures]]. New York: Pantheon, 1978.
- Croker, T. C. (1862) Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland
- Dineen, E. (1932) "Round Edges"
- Hyde, D. (1910) Beside The Fire
- Keightley, T. (1870) The Fairy Mythology: Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various Countries
- Lover, S. (1831) Legends and Stories of Ireland
- McAnally, David Rice. Irish Wonders. New York: Weathervane Books, 1888.
- Negra, D. (ed.) (2006) The Irish in Us: Irishness, Performativity and Popular Culture. (Durham : Duke University Press)
- Wilde, Jane [Speranza, pseud.]. Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland. London : Ward and Downey, 1888.
- Yeats, William Butler Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry. London, W. Scott, 1888.
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