friendly local maggot x

sasha | 23 | one of them thems

[alexsiple]

Jeanne

[yurucamp]

interstate angel

[traversety]

the spirit is willing but the flesh is so fucking out of it rn. actually the flesh would like to pack it up and leave. it's done with the horrors.

[elodieunderglass]

Cute observation we’ve probably made before: European languages approaching the problem of naming a dragonfly.

French, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Greek, Romanian: it has wonderful balance, so we will sensibly name it “level” - as in ⚖️, balance. It’s so rare that all of us come to such a nice consensus. Hopefully it’s not because, like, English rode in roughshod and -

English, spitting: dragonfly

French, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Greek, Romanian and a whole host of others: normally you’re more with us than everyone else - did you … get that from the celts, or…?

Welsh: no. Fuckoff. snake’s servant

Irish - BIG NEEDLE

Basque, supportively - witch’s needle!

Swedish - troll’s spindle

Norwegian - eye sticker

Danish - goldsmith

Croatian - fairy’s horse

Finnish: wolf’s rod (?)

Hungarian - sieve-knitter

Turkish - little Joseph 😊

I’d like to study the rest of the world, and ask a few languages some probing questions, but there’s never enough time.

[defectivegembrain]

According to the Oxford English Dictionary however, there are some popular names among the same lines as "dragonfly", such as German drachenfliege and drachenhure, they just aren't like the standard terms! The first attestation of the English word is from 1626, but like, compounding like that is a pretty Germanic thing to do, so it makes sense.

[defectivegembrain]

Ooh according to the Historical Thesaurus of English there was a term "adderbolt" in use from 1483-1703 (can't get the tumblr link thing to show the specific page but it's category 01.04.01 if anyone wants to look it up)

[elodieunderglass]

Ahhh that’s the faint little dying sparks of the snake connection - look at the Welsh name (“gwas y neidr”) and the original English word for adder!

It looks like the “libellule” variants swept over a lot of older regional names, themes in which seemed to be snakes, magic, horses/riders, witches and devils, and needles. Normally it’s English words that do that, but in this case, English is going 🗣️ DRAGONFLY 🗣️ in a mild eddy of independence, and is clearly not guilty.

If you squint, the “spindle” and “needle” themes might go back far enough to connect to the “snake” ones!

[thriceandonce]

hang on can we get back to "Drachenhure"

[elodieunderglass]

Yeah good point guys what’s going on there

[arctic-hands]

Thank you for making me look up what hure meant in the middle of my physical therapy

[elodieunderglass]

You’re welcome

[alexseanchai]

things I was not expecting to learn when I looked up the word (PDF link):

As far as we know today, dragons featured only in German witch trials from Thuringia, Saxony, and Bavaria, i.e. from the eastern parts of today’s Germany. [...] The belief in a connection between witchcraft and dragons seems to belong to the bedrock of witch beliefs in this area. “Dragon whore” (“Drachenhure”) was a common insult in sixteenth-century Saxony. Dragons featured in the oldest eastern German trials from the early sixteenth century, and they disappeared only in the early eighteenth century when the witch hunts themselves finally petered out.

Dillinger, Johannes. "The Dragon as a Household Spirit: Witchcraft and Economics in Early Modern and Modern Sources." Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft, vol. 17 no. 2, 2022, p. 212-240. Project MUSE, https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/mrw.2022.0024.

(the thing I was expecting to learn is also in that paragraph but like)

[elodieunderglass]

We’ve come so far from the insults of Saxony tbh

[hexjulia]

look at the cute cow angel i saw when i tried to link to the correct page of that manuscript.

(the Apocalypse of Saint-Sever, (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS lat. 8878)

[walmart-the-official]

Hey, don’t cry. Free online database of Japanese folk lore

[bleu-guacamole]

Might I add, free database of mostly European folklore and myths

[bogleech]

A Book of Creatures by @a-book-of-creatures doesn't update these days but is another thing along these lines, really huge, fully illustrated all by the author and cites all sources

[anasabdin]

warmth

[yellow-cat]

the reason that wounds that break the skin hurt is because its always supposed to be dark inside your body and when your blood sees sunlight for the first time it gets scared. and that causes the pain. or maybe it doesnt

[ministarfruit]

I love this text post so I drew it

[mini-moss]

Brief encounters 🐾

Tip jar | Wallpapers | Prints | Twitter | Bluesky

[soapyysoda]

DELTARUNE TOMORROW

[lizormianillustration]

my left hand of darkness illustration as a book cover!! had so much fun with this !❄️

[snototter]

A critically endangered Indian vulture (Gyps indicus) in Madhya Pradesh, India

by yakov_oskanov

[littlemut]

me: “sorry ): can’t come!! got so much to do at home”

me as soon as im home:

[nn-ee-zz]

The passage of the seasons - Summer defeating Spring

Summer as blinding light, heatwaves, and fire

[nn-ee-zz]

''Poor Spring'' There’d be no Summer without Spring and she happily welcomes someone who surpasses her in this fight

[fial-inka]

the signal catcher 📡

[to-orrr]

here are some more cats 🍓