| 释义 |
korrigan|ˈkɒrɪgən|
Also corrigan, and with capital initial.
[f. Breton (Vannes dial.), fem. of korrig gnome, dim. of korr dwarf. Cf. Cornish coryk.]
The name of a fairy or witch in Breton folklore, noted esp. for stealing children.
1855C. M. Yonge Hist. Sir Thomas Thumb 106 She has lost her dear little Louis; the Korrigan has taken him. 1865T. Taylor tr. Hersart de la Villemarqué's Ballads & Songs Brittany p. xiv, Vannes is the home of the legends of gnomes and spirits, of dwarfs and fairies that haunt rocks and woods, streams and fountains, of the dus and mary-morgan, the poulpican, and the korrigan. 1883J. S. Stallybrass tr. J. Grimm's Teutonic Mythol. II. xvii. 447 In Bretagne the korr, pl. korred answers to our elf, the korrigan to our elfin. Ibid. 469 A Breton story of the korrigan changing a child is in Villemarqué. 1949Funk's Stand. Dict. Folklore I. 253/2 Corrigan, in the folklore of Brittany, a female fairy: said to have been one of the ancient druidesses, and therefore malicious towards Christian priests. She is fond of pretty human children, and usually gets the blame for all changeling substitutions. 1969V. Rowe Loire i. 43 The sea-cave of the korrigans, a reminder that this is still very much a part of Brittany. The korrigans, in its [sc. Brittany's] Celtic folklore, are the pigwidgeons or leprechauns, or hobgoblins, with which most Celtic lands seem always to have been infested. |