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In Celtic folklore, Puck is a mischievous nature sprite, demon, or fairy. "Puck" is used as a proper name of such a character, in folklore also known as Robin Goodfellow or by other names or euphemisms, but "puck" may also be used as a common noun to other groups. ==Origins and comparative folklore== According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', the etymology of the name ''Puck'' is "unsettled"; it is compared to Old Norse ''puki'' (Old Swedish ''puke'', Icelandic ''puki'', Frisian ''Puk''). Celtic origins (based on Welsh ''pwca'', Cornish Bucca and Irish púca) have also been proposed,〔Paul Devereux, ''Spirit Roads'' (2007) London : Collins & Brown〕 but as the Old English and Old Norse attestations are considerably older than the Celtic ones, loan from Germanic to Celtic seems more probable. The Old English ''púcel''〔(An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary ), Germanic Lexicon Project.〕 is a kind of half-tamed woodland spirit, leading folk astray with echoes and lights in nighttime woodlands (like the German and Dutch "Weisse Frauen" and "Witte Wieven" and the French "Dames Blanches," all "White Ladies"), or coming into the farmstead and souring milk in the churn. The etymology of ''Puck'' is examined by Katharine Mary Briggs, in ''Anatomy of Puck'' (New York: Arno) 1977.〔Katharine Mary Briggs, ''Anatomy of Puck''. New York: Arno, 1977c1959. ISBN 0405100825 〕 The term pixie is in origin a diminutive of ''puck'' (compared to Swedish word "pyske" meaning "small fairy"). Puck may also be called "Robin Goodfellow" or "Hobgoblin",〔(Keightley, Thomas. ''The Fairy Mythology'', London, H. G. Bohn, 1870 )〕 in which "Hob" may substitute for "Rob" or may simply refer to the "goblin of the hearth" or hob. The name ''Robin'' is Middle English in origin, deriving from Old French ''Robin'', the pet form for the name Robert. The earliest reference to "Robin Goodfellow" cited by the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' is from 1531. After Meyerbeer's successful opera ''Robert le Diable'' (1831), neo-medievalists and occultists began to apply the name ''Robin Goodfellow'' to the Devil, with appropriately extravagant imagery. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Puck (mythology)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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