Kobold

This article is about the sprite from Germanic folklore. For other uses, see Kobold (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Kobald.

kobold of Hildesheim
The kobold of Hildesheim
―Illustrated by William A. McCullough, Nymphs, Nixies and Naiads (1895)[1]

A kobold (kobolt, kobolde, kobolde,[2] cobold) is a general or generic name for the household spirit in German folklore. A hausgeist.

It may invisibly make noises (i.e., be a poltergeist), or helpfully perform kitchen chores or stable work. But it can be a prankster as well. It may expect a bribe or offering of milk, etc. for its efforts or good behaviour. When mistreated, its reprisal can be utterly cruel.

A hütchen (Low German: hodeken) meaning "little hat" is one subtype; this and other kobold sprites are known for its pointy red cap, such as the niss (cognate of nisse of Norway) or puk (cognate of puck fairy) which are attested in Northern Germany, alongside drak, a dragon-type name, as the sprite is sometimes said to appear as a shaft of fire, with what looks like a head. There is also the combined form Nis Puk].

A house sprite Hinzelmann is a shape-shifter assuming many forms, such as a feather or animals. The name supposedly refers to it appearing in cat-form, Hinz[e] being an archetypical cat name. The similarly named Heinzelmänchen of Cologne (recorded 1826) is distinguished from Hinzelmann.[7]

The Schrat is cross-categorized as a wood sprite and a house sprite, and some regional examples correspond to kobold, e.g., Upper Franconia in northern Bavaria.[8][10] The kobold is sometimes conflated with the mine demon kobel or Bergmännlein/Bergmännchen, which Paracelsus equated with the earth elemental gnome. It is generally noted that there can be made no clear demarcation between a kobold and nature spirits.[11]

The Klabautermann aboard ships are sometimes classed as a kobold.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference evans1895 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Grimms-DW-kobold was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference EtymWortb2012-ed-kluge&seebold-heinzelmaenchen was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference HdA-WeiserAall-kobold was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference lecouteux-dict-bergmännchen was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference schaefer&pisarek&gritsch2020 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Heinz- and Hinzelmann once treated as interchangeable by Grimm, and by others like Thomas Keightley following his footsteps. However, and the entry for "Heinzelmänchen" in the Etymologisches Wörterbuch explains the distinction.[3] Heinzelmänchen, is in the "kobold" article for Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens, but classified neither under "C, Appearance-based names" with the cat-name Hinzelmann nor under "E pet names/shortened affectionate names of people", but under H. literary names.[4] Lecouteux's dictionary gives "Heinzelmännchen" as one "coined from first names", and groups it with Wolterken, Niss, Chimken (all kobold names),[5] in contrast to HdA. Note a recent publication has a "Kobold" chapter has included a map of Germany plotting subtype kobold names for each region, but the Cologne area is left blank.[6]
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference HdA-Ranke-schrat was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Ranke (1936), p. 1288.
  10. ^ The area is described as "southeastern Germany", with the cited sources pointing to the general area of Northern Bavarian including the Upper Palatinate onto Vogtland which extends to Thuringia.[9] (Cf. Schrat and § Cretin names below)
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference Lurker-dict-kobold was invoked but never defined (see the help page).