Moss people
Encyclopedia
The moss people or moss-folk , also referred to as the wood people or wood-folk (Holzleute, "wood-folk") or forest-folk (Waldleute, "forest-folk"), are a class of fairy-folk, variously compared to dwarves, elves
, or spirit
s, described in the folklore of Germany
as having an intimate connection to tree
s and the forest
. In German
the words Schrat and Waldschrat are also used for a moss person. (Compare Old Norse
skratti, "goblin".)
They are sometimes described as similar to dwarves, being the same size as children, "grey and old-looking, hairy, and clad in moss." In other descriptions they are said to be pretty or even have butterfly wings.
According to legend, these fairies would occasionally borrow items from people but would always compensate the owners generously. In certain myths, the moss folk would ask humans for breast milk to feed their young.
They were often but not always the object of the Wild Hunt
. According to folklore, in order to escape the hunt they enter the trees that woodsmen have marked with a cross that will be chopped down.
The moss people are similar to hamadryad
s. Their lives are "attached to the trees; if any one causes by friction the inner bark to loosen a Wood-woman dies."
Jacob Grimm
believed that Gothic
skōhsl, used to translate Koine Greek
δαιμόνιον (daimonion), "demon
", in the New Testament
, was related to Old Norse skōgr and Old English sceaga, both meaning "forest", and therefore represented a cognate of the moss people in Gothic folklore. Subsequent authors, however, have related skōhsl with English
"shuck
" (from Old English scucca, "evil spirit") and German
Scheusal,
"monster" (from Middle High German
schūsel, though by folk etymology identified with scheuen, "to dread", and -sal, a noun suffix).
Parallels have been drawn between the moss people and woodwoses
. Early descriptions of Germanic
beliefs include descriptions of "wood people" by the 6th century Roman
historian Jordanes
and "woodland women" by the 11th-century Rhenish
bishop Burchard of Worms
. Furthermore, Grimm recorded the terms wildiu wīp, wildero wībo, wilder wībe, wilden wībe, wildaz wīp (all meaning "wild wife") and wilde fröuwelīn ("wild maiden") from various early medieval
texts.
According to Jacob Grimm
:
Des Knaben Wunderhorn
records "folk-songs [that] make the huntsman in the wood start a dark-brown maid, and hail her: 'whither away, wild beast?', but his mother did not take to the bride."
Elf
An elf is a being of Germanic mythology. The elves were originally thought of as a race of divine beings endowed with magical powers, which they use both for the benefit and the injury of mankind...
, or spirit
Spirit
The English word spirit has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body.The spirit of a living thing usually refers to or explains its consciousness.The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap,...
s, described in the folklore of Germany
German folklore
German folklore shares many characteristics with Scandinavian folklore and English folklore due to their origins in a common Germanic mythology. It reflects a similar mix of influences: a pre-Christian pantheon and other beings equivalent to those of Norse mythology; magical characters associated...
as having an intimate connection to tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
s and the forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
. In German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
the words Schrat and Waldschrat are also used for a moss person. (Compare Old Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
skratti, "goblin".)
They are sometimes described as similar to dwarves, being the same size as children, "grey and old-looking, hairy, and clad in moss." In other descriptions they are said to be pretty or even have butterfly wings.
According to legend, these fairies would occasionally borrow items from people but would always compensate the owners generously. In certain myths, the moss folk would ask humans for breast milk to feed their young.
They were often but not always the object of the Wild Hunt
Wild Hunt
The Wild Hunt is an ancient folk myth prevalent across Northern, Western and Central Europe. The fundamental premise in all instances is the same: a phantasmal, spectral group of huntsmen with the accoutrements of hunting, horses, hounds, etc., in mad pursuit across the skies or along the ground,...
. According to folklore, in order to escape the hunt they enter the trees that woodsmen have marked with a cross that will be chopped down.
The moss people are similar to hamadryad
Hamadryad
Hamadryads are Greek mythological beings that live in trees. They are a particular type of dryad, which in turn are a particular type of nymph. Hamadryads are born bonded to a particular tree. Some believe that hamadryads are the actual tree, while normal dryads are simply the entities, or...
s. Their lives are "attached to the trees; if any one causes by friction the inner bark to loosen a Wood-woman dies."
Jacob Grimm
Jacob Grimm
Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm was a German philologist, jurist and mythologist. He is best known as the discoverer of Grimm's Law, the author of the monumental Deutsches Wörterbuch, the author of Deutsche Mythologie and, more popularly, as one of the Brothers Grimm, as the editor of Grimm's Fairy...
believed that Gothic
Gothic language
Gothic is an extinct Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from the Codex Argenteus, a 6th-century copy of a 4th-century Bible translation, and is the only East Germanic language with a sizable Text corpus...
skōhsl, used to translate Koine Greek
Koine Greek
Koine Greek is the universal dialect of the Greek language spoken throughout post-Classical antiquity , developing from the Attic dialect, with admixture of elements especially from Ionic....
δαιμόνιον (daimonion), "demon
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
", in the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
, was related to Old Norse skōgr and Old English sceaga, both meaning "forest", and therefore represented a cognate of the moss people in Gothic folklore. Subsequent authors, however, have related skōhsl with English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
"shuck
Black Shuck
Black Shuck, Old Shuck, Old Shock or simply Shuck is the name given to a ghostly black dog which is said to roam the coastline and countryside of East Anglia...
" (from Old English scucca, "evil spirit") and German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
Scheusal,
"monster" (from Middle High German
Middle High German
Middle High German , abbreviated MHG , is the term used for the period in the history of the German language between 1050 and 1350. It is preceded by Old High German and followed by Early New High German...
schūsel, though by folk etymology identified with scheuen, "to dread", and -sal, a noun suffix).
Parallels have been drawn between the moss people and woodwoses
Wild man
The wild man is a mythical figure that appears in the artwork and literature of medieval Europe, comparable to the satyr or faun type in classical mythology and to Silvanus, the Roman god of the woodlands.The defining characteristic of the figure is its "wildness"; from the 12th century...
. Early descriptions of Germanic
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...
beliefs include descriptions of "wood people" by the 6th century Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
historian Jordanes
Jordanes
Jordanes, also written Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th century Roman bureaucrat, who turned his hand to history later in life....
and "woodland women" by the 11th-century Rhenish
Rhineland
Historically, the Rhinelands refers to a loosely-defined region embracing the land on either bank of the River Rhine in central Europe....
bishop Burchard of Worms
Burchard of Worms
Burchard of Worms was the Roman Catholic bishop of Worms in the Holy Roman Empire, and author of a Canon law collection in twenty books, the "Collectarium canonum" or "Decretum".-Life:...
. Furthermore, Grimm recorded the terms wildiu wīp, wildero wībo, wilder wībe, wilden wībe, wildaz wīp (all meaning "wild wife") and wilde fröuwelīn ("wild maiden") from various early medieval
Early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages was the period of European history lasting from the 5th century to approximately 1000. The Early Middle Ages followed the decline of the Western Roman Empire and preceded the High Middle Ages...
texts.
According to Jacob Grimm
Jacob Grimm
Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm was a German philologist, jurist and mythologist. He is best known as the discoverer of Grimm's Law, the author of the monumental Deutsches Wörterbuch, the author of Deutsche Mythologie and, more popularly, as one of the Brothers Grimm, as the editor of Grimm's Fairy...
:
Between LeidheckenFlorstadtFlorstadt is a town in the Wetteraukreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located approx. 26 kilometers northeast of Frankfurt am Main. It received town privileges in 2007.-Rivers:The river Nidda and its tributary the Horloff flow through the area of the town....
and Dauernheim in the WetterauWetterauThe Wetterau is a fertile undulating tract, watered by the Wetter, a tributary of the Nidda River, in the western German state of Hesse, between the hilly province Oberhessen and the north-western Taunus mountains....
stands the high mountainVogelsberg MountainsThe Vogelsberg Mountains are a group duct of ancient volcanic activity and are separated from the Rhön Mountains by the Fulda River and its valley....
, and on it a stone, der welle fra gestoil (the wild woman's chairs); there is an impression on the rock, as of the limbs of human sitters. The people say the wild folk lived there 'wei di schtan noch mell warn,' while the stones were still soft; afterwards, being persecuted, the man ran away, the wife and child remained in custody at Dauernheim until they died.
Des Knaben Wunderhorn
Des Knaben Wunderhorn
Des Knaben Wunderhorn is a collection of German folk poems edited by Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano, and published in Heidelberg, in the Grand Duchy of Baden, between 1805 and 1808...
records "folk-songs [that] make the huntsman in the wood start a dark-brown maid, and hail her: 'whither away, wild beast?', but his mother did not take to the bride."