are the circhos (and the other creatures under #scandinavian for that matter) actually part of scandinavian folklore or were they just made up in some fantasy book with norse themes? they are mentioned on the english wikipedia page for scandinavian folklore but i cant find any actual scandinavian references to them. not even the name circhos sounds similar to anything i can think of in any scandinavian language. i know wikipedia is fairly unreliable but still?
*deep breath*
Aristotle (noted ancient Greek egghead) described hermit crabs as living in nerita shells
Michael Scot (medieval translator of Aristotle) translated nerita as kiroket
Thomas de Cantimpré combined the account of the crab and the shells and garbled kiroket into cricos, turning it into a Creature of some sort
The Ortus Sanitatis took the cricos from Albertus Magnus' retelling of Thomas de Cantimpré and made it even more of a monster (it now has a human head and a shark body)
Olaus Magnus took the Ortus Sanitatis account, dropped the human head and dog feet, and now says that it lives in the ocean around Scandinavia
So... at least one person took the end product of a game of telephone that started with a Greek hermit crab and dumped it in Scandinavian waters. Good enough for the Scandinavia tag I guess?
I decided to return to its crustacean origins when I made the drawing for ABC. Besides I like drawing crabs.











