A bogle, boggle, or bogill is a Northumbrian''Rambles in Northumberland, and on the Scottish border ...'' by

William Andrew Chatto William Andrew Chatto (1799–1864) was an English writer. He used the pseudonym Stephen Oliver (Junior). Life The only son of William Chatto, a merchant who died at Gibraltar in 1804, was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne on 17 April 1799. After educat ...

, Chapman and Hall, 1835 and Scots term for a ghost or folkloric being,''The local historian's table book, of remarkable occurrences, historical facts, traditions, legendary and descriptive ballads c.connected with the counties of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northumberland and Durham.'' by

Moses Aaron Richardson Moses Aaron Richardson (1793–1871) was an English publisher and antiquary. Life He was the younger son of George Richardson (d. 1806), master of Blackett's charity school, Newcastle; his elder brother was Thomas Miles Richardson, the artist. Ric ...

, M. A. Richardson, 1843 used for a variety of related folkloric creatures including

Shellycoat In Scottish and Northern English folklore, a shellycoat is a type of bogeyman that haunts rivers and streams. Name The name comes from the coat of shells these creatures are said to wear, which rattle upon movement. Distribution Many places ...

s,''Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border'' by Walter Scott, Sr.

Barghest In Northern English folklore, the Barghest or Barguest is a mythical monstrous black dog with large teeth and claws, This in turn cites: *Wirt Sikes, ''British Goblins'' (1880) *''Notes and Queries'', first series, ii. 51. *Joseph Ritson, ''Fai ...

s, Brags,

the Hedley Kow "The Hedley Kow" is an English fairy tale, particular to the village of Hedley on the Hill in Northumberland. It was collected by Joseph Jacobs in ''More English Fairy Tales'' in 1894. The story concerns a shapeshifting trickster known as the Hed ...

and even giants such as those associated with Cobb's Causeway (also known as "ettins", "yetuns" or "yotuns" in

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

and "Etenes", "Yttins" or "Ytenes" in the South and South West).''Northumberland Words – A Glossary of Words Used in the County of Northumberland and on the Tyneside -, Volume 1'' by Richard Oliver Heslop, Read Books, 2008, They are reputed to live for the simple purpose of perplexing mankind, rather than seriously harming or serving them.

Etymology

The name is derived from the Middle-English ''Bugge'' (from which the term '' bogey'' is also derived) which is in turn a cognate of the German term word ''bögge'' (from which ''böggel-mann'' (''"Goblin"'') is derived) and possibly the Norwegian dialect word ''bugge'' meaning "important man".''The Merriam-Webster new book of word histories'', Merriam-Webster, 1991, , p.71 The Welsh ''Bwg'' could also be connected, and was thought in the past to be the origin of the English term; however, it has been suggested that it is itself a borrowing from

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...

. The Irish Gaelic word "bagairt" meaning "threat" could also be related. Terms such as ''ettin'' and ''yotun'' are derived from Middle English ''eten'', ''etend'', from Old English ''eoten'' (“giant, monster, enemy”), from

Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic branc ...

*''etunaz'' (“giant, glutton”), from

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...

*h₁ed- (“to eat”) and is cognate with

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

jötunn A (also jotun; in the normalised scholarly spelling of Old Norse, ; ; plural / ) or, in Old English, (plural ) is a type of supernatural being in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, they are often contrasted with gods (Æsir and Vanir) ...

''.

Usage

One of the most famous usages of the term was by

Gavin Douglas Gavin Douglas (c. 1474 – September 1522) was a Scottish bishop, makar and translator. Although he had an important political career, he is chiefly remembered for his poetry. His main pioneering achievement was the ''Eneados'', a full and fai ...

, who was in turn quoted by

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...

at the beginning of '' Tam O' Shanter'':

Of Brownyis and of Bogillis full is this Buke.

There is a popular story of a bogle known as Tatty Bogle, who would hide himself in potato fields (hence his name) and either attack unwary humans or cause blight within the patch. This bogle was depicted as a

scarecrow A scarecrow is a decoy or mannequin, often in the shape of a human. Humanoid scarecrows are usually dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage birds from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops.Lesley B ...

, "bogle" being an old name for "scarecrow" in various parts of England and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. Another popular Scottish reference to bogles comes in ''The Bogle by the Boor Tree'', a Scots poem written by W. D. Cocker. In this ghostly ode, the Bogle is heard in the wind and in the trees to "fricht wee weans". In the

Scottish Lowlands The Lowlands ( sco, Lallans or ; gd, a' Ghalldachd, , place of the foreigners, ) is a cultural and historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Lowlands and the Highlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowl ...

circa 1950, a bogle was a ghost as was a

bogeyman The Bogeyman (; also spelled boogeyman, bogyman, bogieman, boogie monster, boogieman, or boogie woogie) is a type of mythic creature used by adults to frighten children into good behavior. Bogeymen have no specific appearance and conceptions var ...

, and a Tattie-Bogle was a scarecrow, used to keep creatures out of the potato fields. All three words were in common use among the children. It is unclear what the connection is between "Bogle" and various other similarly named creatures in various folklores. The "Bocan" of the

Highlands Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau. Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to: Places Albania * Dukagjin Highlands Armenia * Armenian Highlands Australia *Sou ...

may be a cognate of the Norse Puki however, and thus also the English " Puck".''Quoth the maven'' by William Safire The ''Larne Weekly Reporter'' of 31 March 1866, in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, carried a front-page article entitled Bogles in Ballygowan, detailing strange goings on in a rural area where a particular house became the target for missiles being thrown through windows and on one occasion through the roof. Local people were terrified. The occurrences appeared to have ceased after several months and were being blamed on the fact that the house in question had been refurbished using materials from an older house that was apparently the preserve of the "little people". This is one of the few references in Northern Ireland to "bogles" although the phrase "bogey man" is widely used.

References

External links

Brooklands or Bogle Bridge, Dumfries and Galloway
{{Fairies Scottish legendary creatures Northumbrian folklore Northumbrian folkloric beings Scottish folklore Devils

Etymology

Usage

See also

References

External links