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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

moss-folk en · NOUN

Etymology

Calque of German Moosleute.

Meanings

  1. (Germanic, plural, plural-only) A type of wood spirit that wears a covering of moss, lichen, and leaves.
    • "In the vile," says Dr. Krauss, " also known as Samovile, Samodivi, and Vilivrjaci, we have near relations to the forest and field spirits or the wood and moss-folk of Middle Germany, France and Bavaria the wild people of Hesse, Eifel, Salzburg and the Tyrol, the wood-women and woodmen of Bohemia[.]" 1920, Lewis Spence, An Encyclopædia of Occultism, London: George Routledge and Sons, page 370, column 2:
    • The wild hunter pursues the moss-folk, the little wood-wives; he remains unseen, but you hear him bluster in the air, that it crickles and crackles. 1882, Jacob Grimm, translated by James Steven Stallybrass, Teutonic Mythology, volume III, London: George Bell and Sons, page 929:

Synonyms

moss-people