Zoega's "A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic" gives "puki",m. "Devil, fiend" Hall's "A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary" gives "puca" m. "goblin" Warrack's "The Concise Scots Dictionary" gives "pouk" a mischievous sprite. Shouldn't tink he would find this geneaology offensive. Loki is another trickster. This is a good month for them or him since it was the 13th. one taken out of the calendar. CDM ---------- >From: Alex Davis <[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: help >Date: Mon, Nov 6, 2000, 7:27 AM > > One final fling at catching the Pooka. See Yeats's entry on "The Pooka" in > _Fairy and Folk Tales of Ireland_: "The Pooka, recte Puca, seems > essentially an animal spirit. Some derive his name from poc, a he-goat; > and speculative persons consider him the forefather of Shakespeare's > "Puck". . . He has many shapes--is now a horse, now an ass, now a bull, > now a goat, now an eagle. Like all spirits, he is only half in the world > of form." Beware: he is a November spirit. > > Regards, > Alex > > At 07:39 03/11/00 -0800, you wrote: >>Actually "puck" is obviously closer in English. See OED p.2350 "whether it >>was originally Teutonic or Celtic is unsettled." So are a lot of other >>things in this brave new world. >> >>---------- >>>From: Alex Davis <[log in to unmask]> >>>To: [log in to unmask] >>>Subject: Re: help >>>Date: Fri, Nov 3, 2000, 3:35 AM >>> >> >>> Dear Alex, >>> >>> Irish: Puca--hobgoblin is the closest approximation in English. > Don't >>> bother with Websters, see a Gearrfhhocloir Gaeilge-Bearla (Irish-English >>> dictionary), if you can lay your hands on one. >>> Best >>> Alex >>> >>> At 16:22 01/11/00 +0100, you wrote: >>>>Dear Pounders, >>>> >>>>I am doing a new translation of ALL Coney-Island-poems by Ferlinghetti > for a >>>>publisher in Berlin and cannot refer to my own 1972 translation (Sel. >>> Poems) as >>>>that contained only a selection of Coney (and other LF volumes). Therefore >>> this >>>>call for help. >>>> >>>>In poem # 11 we have these 2 lines: >>>> >>>> "and a stray Connemara Pooka" >>>> (life size)" >>>> >>>>Obviously not one of my numerous dictionaries (including "I Hear America >>>>Talking", "The American Heritage Dictionary" and a very good Websters >>> PAPER-ed.) >>>>offers help as to what a "Connemara Pooka" might be. Must be an (exotic?) >>>>animal. >>>> >>>>I don't want to ask LF directly - or wd only do so if no Pounder out > there cd >>>>offer an explanation. >>>> >>>>Thanks anyway, >>>> >>>>alex >>>> >>>> >>>>________________________________________________________________________ >>>> >>>> Alexander Schmitz - Kleine Moorstrasse 8A - D-21640 Horneburg - Germany >>>>Ph:(49)4163-7565 - Fx: 7549 - Mob: 0177-5128767 - eM: [log in to unmask] >>>> >>> >> >