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Kobold
Definitions
- 1 An ambivalent, sometimes vindictive, spirit that is capable of materialising as an object or human, often a child; a sprite. German
"1904, Andrew Lang (collector), author and translator not identified, The Mermaid and the Boy, The Brown Fairy Book, page 176, At this point a cock crew, and the youth jumped up hastily saying : 'Of course I shall ride with the king to the war, and if I do not return, take your violin every evening to the seashore and play on it, so that the very sea-kobolds who live at the bottom of the ocean may hear it and come to you.'"
- 2 A mischievous elf or goblin, or one connected (and helpful) to a family or household. German
"a. 1867, George MacDonald, The Shadows, 2000 [1980], The Golden Key and Other Stories, page 96, The king had seen all kinds of gnomes, goblins, and kobolds at his coronation; […] ."
- 3 One of a diminutive and usually malevolent race of beings, often with a reptilian or dog-like appearance.
"There were also various trolls like great smiling badgers, brownies darting about laughing, dwarves with large gray heads, sensuous mermaids, stony kobolds, green gnomes, sirens and many elves, who were busy purifying the sacred hilltop in a mythological cooperation marvelous to the soul's perception."
Etymology
Borrowed from German Kobold. Doublet of cobalt.
See also for "kobold"
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