Likho
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Likho, liho ( uk, Лихо, be, лі́ха, pl, licho russian: Лихо) is an embodiment of evil fate and misfortune in
Slavic mythology Slavic mythology or Slavic religion is the religious beliefs, myths, and ritual practices of the Slavs before Christianisation, which occurred at various stages between the 8th and the 13th century. The South Slavs, who likely settled in the B ...
, a creature with one eye, often depicted as an old, skinny woman in black (Лихо одноглазое, One-eyed Likho) or as an evil male
goblin A goblin is a small, grotesque, monstrous creature that appears in the folklore of multiple European cultures. First attested in stories from the Middle Ages, they are ascribed conflicting abilities, temperaments, and appearances depending on t ...
of forests. Rather than being included in the major canon of the Slavic belief system, the Likho is traditionally found in
fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...
s.


Story

There are several basic versions of tales about how a person meets with Likho, with different morals of the tale. *A person eventually cheats Likho. *A person cheats Likho, runs away (with Likho chasing him), sees a valuable thing, grabs it out of greed, the person's hand sticks to it and they have to cut off their hand. *Likho cheats a person and rides on his neck. The person wants to drown Likho, jumps into a river, drowns himself, but Likho floats out, to chase other victims. *Likho is received or passed to another person with a gift. Within the framework of
superstition A superstition is any belief or practice considered by non-practitioners to be irrational or supernatural, attributed to fate or magic, perceived supernatural influence, or fear of that which is unknown. It is commonly applied to beliefs and ...
s, Likho was supposed to come and eat a person. In particular, this was used to scare small children. In Ukrainian folklore, it is sometimes portrayed as type of a bad spirit that can cling to one's neck.


Nomenclature

''Likho'' is not a real
proper name A proper noun is a noun that identifies a single entity and is used to refer to that entity (''Africa'', ''Jupiter'', '' Sarah'', ''Microsoft)'' as distinguished from a common noun, which is a noun that refers to a class of entities (''continent, ...
, but a noun meaning bad luck in modern Ukrainian and the odd number in Polish (obsolete). Several
proverb A proverb (from la, proverbium) is a simple and insightful, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and use formulaic speech, formulaic language. A proverbial phra ...
s utilize this term such as the "Не буди лихо, поки воно тихо" or the Russian "Не буди лихо, пока оно тихо", meaning "Don't wake likho while it is quiet", "let the sleeping dogs lie" and the Polish "Cicho! Licho nie śpi", translated as "Quiet! Evil does not sleep" and "Licho wie", literally "Licho nlyknows", used to mean that a given piece of information is known by no one. In old Russian, the root meant "excessive", "too much", "remaining" and "odd number" (contrasted with chetno in the
chetno i likho Cetno i licho is a simple game of chance, of ancient European provenance (see ''par-impar''), where the players had to guess if the hidden objects were ''even'' (''czetno'', ''cetno'', ''cet'' or ''čet'') or ''odd'' (''licho'', see likho, or ''l ...
game) with pejorative connotations, similar to the unlucky 'odd man out'. Compare to Russian ''lishniy'' – one in excess. The word is likely to be related to Indo-European ''leikw'' meaning something to remain, to leave. The derived adjective ''likhoy'' can be used to describe someone who is a bit too daring or brave. In
Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...
, ''lichý'' means odd (number), idle, vain. In
Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
, ''lichy'' means shoddy, poor, flimsy. In
Belarusian language Belarusian ( be, беларуская мова, biełaruskaja mova, link=no, ) is an East Slavic language. It is the native language of many Belarusians and one of the two official state languages in Belarus. Additionally, it is spoken in some p ...
, ''ліхі'' means bad, evil (like in prayer), odd (side of clothing). In
Ukrainian language Ukrainian ( uk, украї́нська мо́ва, translit=ukrainska mova, label=native name, ) is an East Slavic language of the Indo-European language family. It is the native language of about 40 million people and the official state langu ...
, it is type of bad luck or incident.


See also

*
Cyclopes In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, the Cyclopes ( ; el, Κύκλωπες, ''Kýklōpes'', "Circle-eyes" or "Round-eyes"; singular Cyclops ; , ''Kýklōps'') are giant one-eyed creatures. Three groups of Cyclopes can be distinguish ...
*
Likhoradka Likhoradka ( Russian: ''Лихорадка'', Serbian: ''Милоснице'' or ''Milosnice'') or tryasavitsa is a female spirit in Slavic mythology. Likhoradka was purported to be able to possess a person's body and cause sickness. In some tales ...
*
Chetno i likho Cetno i licho is a simple game of chance, of ancient European provenance (see ''par-impar''), where the players had to guess if the hidden objects were ''even'' (''czetno'', ''cetno'', ''cet'' or ''čet'') or ''odd'' (''licho'', see likho, or ''l ...
game of chance


References

* Slavic fortune deities {{Europe-myth-stub