Simonside Dwarfs

Simonside Dwarfs
For the Dungeons & Dragons creatures, see Duergar (Dungeons & Dragons).

The Simonside Dwarfs also known as Brownmen, Bogles and Duergar are a race of ugly dwarfs, particularly associated with the Simonside Hills of Northumberland, in northern England. Their leader was said to be known as Roarie[1] .

In F Grice's telling of the traditional story The Duergar in Folk Tales of the North Country (1944), one of them is described as being short, wearing a lambskin coat, moleskin trousers and shoes, and a hat made of moss stuck with a feather.

The legendary dwarfs of Simonside were mentioned in the local newspaper, the Morpeth Gazette, in 1889, and in Tyndale’s Legends and Folklore of Northumbria, 1930. They delighted in leading travellers astray, especially after dark, often carrying lighted torches to lead them into bogs, rather like Will-o'-the-wisps[2] . The menacing creatures would often disappear at dawn.

The word duergar is likely to be derieved from the Old Norse word for dwarf or dwarfs (dvergar), however it may also come from the dialectual words for "dwarf" on the Anglo-Scottish border which include dorch, dwerch, duerch, Duergh and Duerwe amongst others [3][4][5] with the added Norse -ar plural[3]. These Border words for "dwarf", like the Standard English form, all derive from the Old English dweorh or dweorg via the Middle English dwerg[6][7][8].

See also

References

  1. ^ Ghosts of The North Country, Henry Tegner, 1991 Butler Publishing ISBN 0-946928-40-1, page.62
  2. ^ Ghosts of The North Country, Henry Tegner, 1991 Butler Publishing ISBN 0-946928-40-1, page.62
  3. ^ a b Familiar letters of Sir Walter Scott, Volume 1, Sir Walter Scott, Houghton Mifflin, 1894, page. 151
  4. ^ Concise Scots dictionary Mairi Robinson, Edinburgh University Press, 1999, ISBN 1902930010, 9781902930015 page. 162-166
  5. ^ dictionary.reference.com/browse/dwarf
  6. ^ Online Etymology Dictionary
  7. ^ Concise Scots dictionary Mairi Robinson, Edinburgh University Press, 1999, ISBN 1902930010, 9781902930015 page. 162-166
  8. ^ dictionary.reference.com/browse/dwarf
  • Grice, F, Folk Tales of the North Country (Thomas Nelson & Sons Ltd, London & Edinburgh, 1944) pp130–133
  • Simonside Folklore

External links


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