| Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
|---|---|---|
| King name "Virtus" | Roman | The Roman personification of manly valour. She was represented with a short tunic, her right breast uncovered, a helmet on her head, a spear in her left hand, a sword in the right, and standing with her right foot on a helmet. There was a golden statue of her at Rome, which Alaricus, king of the Goths, melted down. Roman |
| God name "Vulcan" | Greek | The Roman smith god, identified with the Greek god Hephaestus. He was traditionally introduced to Rome by either Romulus or Titus Tatius. There were no specific legends concerning Vulcan but he played an important part in the success of various heroes by providing invincible armour for them. In Virgil's Aeneid, Vulcan made a superb suit of armour for Aeneas at Venus' request. He made a shield (called the Aegis) and thunderbolts for Jupiter and in return received Venus as his wife. |
| God name "Wadj Wer (the mighty green one)" | Egypt | Fertility god. Sometimes depicted in androgynous form, he personifies the Mediterranean Sea or the major lakes of the Nile delta. He is depicted carrying the ankh symbol of life, and a loaf. The figure often appears pregnant and is åśśociated with the richness of the Nile delta waters.... |
| King name "Waking a Witch" | Britain | If a witch was obdurate, the most effectual way of obtaining a confession was by what was termed "waking her." For this purpose an iron bridle or hoop was bound across her face with four prongs thrust into her mouth. The "bridle" was fastened behind to the wall by a chain in such a manner that the victim was unable to lie down; and in this position she was kept sometimes for several days, while men were constantly by to keep her awake. Britain |
| God name "Wamala" | Bunyoro / Uganda, East Africa | God of plenty. A sanctuary has existed near the royal palace and Wamala is propitiated to give the boon of children, domestic animals and crops. He is also seen in an oracular capacity and has an official intermediary.... |
| Spirit name "Wendigo" | Anishinaabe | A spirit in Anishinaabe mythology. It has also become a stock horror character much like the vampire or werewolf, although these fictional depictions often do not bear much resemblance to the original mythology. |
"Were-Wolf" | Germanic | A human being, sometimes in one form and sometimes in another. |
"Werwolf" | Europe | Werewolf. A bogie who roams about devouring infants, sometimes under the form of a man, sometimes as a wolf followed by dogs, sometimes as a white dog, sometimes as a black goat, and occasionally invisible. Its skin is bullet-proof, unless the bullet has been blessed in a chapel dedicated to St. Hubert. This superstition was once common to almost all Europe, and still lingers in Brittany, Limousin, Aurergne, Servia, Wallachia, and White Russia. In the fifteenth century a council of theologians, convoked by the Emperor Sigismund, gravely decided that the Werwolf was a reality. |
| Spirit name "White Lady" | Ireland | White Lady Of Ireland the banshee or domestic spirit of a family. |
"Wild Huntsman" | German | The German tradition is that a spectral hunter with dogs frequents the Black Forest to chase the wild animals. The English name is "Herne the Hunter," who was once a keeper in windsor Forest. In Winter time, at midnight, he walks about Herne's Oak, and blasts trees and cattle. He wears horns, and rattles a chain in a "most hideous manner". Another legend is that a certain Jew would not suffer Jesus to drink out of a horse-trough, but pointed to some water in a hoof-print as good enough for "such an enemy of Moses," and that this man is the "Wild Huntsman." Various |
| God name "Willow Pattern" | s | The tradition. The mandarin had an only daughter named Li-chi, who fell in love with Chang, a young man who lived in the island home represented at the top of the pattern, and who had been her father's secretary. The father overheard them one day making vows of love under the orange-tree, and sternly forbade the unequal match; but the lovers contrived to elope, lay concealed for a while in the gardener's cottage, and thence made their escape in a boat to the island home of the young lover. The enraged mandarin pursued them with a whip, and would have beaten them to death had not the gods rewarded their fidelity by changing them both into turtle-doves. The picture is called the willow pattern not only because it is a tale of disastrous love, but because the elopement occurred "when the willow begins to shed its leaves." |
"Wokey" | Britain | Wicked as the Witch of Wokey. Wookey-hole is a noted cavern in Somersetshire, which has given birth to as many weird stories as the Sibyls' Cave in Italy. The Witch of Wokey was metamorphosed into stone by a "lerned wight" from Gaston, but left her curse behind, so that the fair damsels of Wokey rarely find "a gallant." Britain |
| Goddess name "Wosret" | Egypt | Localized guardian goddess. With a cult center at Thebes, Wosret is, according to some inferences, an early consort of the creator god AMUN and was superseded by MUT. She is identified with the protection of the young god HORUS. Also Wosyet.... |
| Ghost name "Wraith" | Scotland | The ghost of a person shortly about to die or just dead, which appears to survivors, sometimes at a great distance off. Scotland |
| God name "Xevioso" | Dahomey | A god of thunder in the So region. He is the twin brother of Gun, and is one of the children of Mawu and Lisa. Dahomey |
| Goddess name "Xilonen" | Aztec / Mesoamerican / Mexico | Minor vegetation goddess. An aspect of the maize goddess Chicomecoatl, personifying the young maize plant.... |
| Goddess name "Xochiquetzal" | Aztec | A goddess of flowers, fertility, games, dancing and Agriculture, as well as craftsmen, prostitutes and pregnant women. She was originally a moon and love goddess. Aztec |
| Goddess name "Xochiquetzal" | Aztec / classi cal Mesoamerican / Mexico | Goddess of fertility and childbirth. The mother of the demigoddess (unnamed) whose consort was Piltz intecuhtli and who engendered the first mortals Oxomoco and CIPACTONAL. One of the group clåśśed as the TETEOINNAN complex. A popular deity among Aztec women, the goddess is invoked particularly to make a marriage fruitful. The bride plaits her hair and coils it around, leaving two plumes representing the feathers of the Quetzal which is sacred to Xochiquetzal. Pottery figurines are adorned with plumes of feathers. Worshiped at various sites, including Tula (Hidalgo). Also recognized as the patron goddess of weavers.... |
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