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| Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
|---|---|---|
| King name "Befana" | Italian | The good fairy of Italian children, who is supposed to fill their stockings with toys when they go to bed on Twelfth night. Some one enters the children's bedroom for the purpose, and the wakeful youngsters cry out, "Ecco la Befana." According to legend, Befana was too busy with house affairs to look after the Magi when they went to offer their gifts, and said she would wait to see them on their return; but they went another way, and Befana, every Twelfth night, watches to see them. The name is a corruption of Epiphania. |
| Monster name "Bugaboo" | Italian | A monster, or goblin, introduced into the tales of the old Italian romancers. |
"Cacus" | Greek | A fabulous Italian shepherd, brother of Caca, who was believed to have lived in a cave, and to have committed various kinds of robberies. Among others, he also stole a part of the cattle of Hercules or Recaråñuś and, as he dragged the animals into his cave by their tails, it was impossible to discover their traces. But when the remaining oxen påśśed by the cave, those within began to bellow, and were thus discovered. Greek |
| Hero name "Caeculus" | Greek | An ancient Italian hero of Praeneste. The account which Servius gives of him runs as follows: At Praeneste there were pontifices and indigetes as well as at Rome. There were however two brothers called indigetes who had a sister. Greek |
| King name "Corythus" | Greek | 1. An Italian hero, a son of Jupiter, and husband of Electra, the daughter of Atlas, by whom he became the father of Jasius and Dardåñuś. He is described as king of Tuscia, and as the founder of Corythus. 2. A son of Paris and Oenone. He loved Helena and was beloved by her, and was therefore killed by his own father. Greek |
"Divus Pater Falacer" | Italian | An ancient and forgotten Italian divinity, considered to be the same as Jupiter. |
"Falacer" | Italian | An ancient and forgotten Italian divinity, considered to be the same as Jupiter. |
"Fata" | Italian | An Italian fay, or white lady. |
"Februus" | Roman | An ancient Italian divinity, to whom the month of February was sacred, for in the latter half of that month great and general purifications and lustrations were celebrated, which were at the same time considered to produce fertility among men as well as beasts. Roman |
| God name "Hephaestus" | Greek | The god of fire, was, according to the Homeric account, the son of Zeus and Hera The Romans, when speaking of the Greek Hephaestus, call him Vulcan or Vulcåñuś, although Vulcåñuś was an original Italian divinity. Later traditions state that he had no father, and that Hera gave birth to him independent of Zeus, as she was jealous of Zeus having given birth to Athena independent of her. Greek |
"Libitina" | Italian | An ancient Italian divinity, who was identified by the later Romans sometimes with Persephone on account of her connection with the dead and their burial, and sometimes with Aphrodite. |
"Lua" | Roman | Also called Lua mater or Lua Saturni, one of the early Italian divinities, whose worship was forgotten in later times. Roman |
"Luperca" | Roman | Or Lupa, an ancient Italian divinity, the wife of Lupercus, who, in the shape of a she-wolf, performed the office of nurse to Romulus and Remus. Roman |
"Lupercus" | Roman | An ancient Italian divinity, who was worshipped by shepherds as the protector of their flocks against wolves, and at the same time as the promoter of the fertility among sheep, whence he was called Inuus. Roman |
"Mania" | Etruscan | An ancient and formidable Italian, probably Etruscan, divinity of the lower world, is called the mother of the Manes or Lares |
| Spirit name "Mania" | Etruscan | An ancient and formidable Italian, probably Etruscan, divinity of the lower world, is called the mother of the Manes or Lares. As regards her being the mother of the Manes or Lares, the idea seems to have been, that the souls of the departed on their arrival in the lower world became her children, and either there dwelt with her or ascended into the upper world as beneficent spirits. |
"Marcåśśin" | Italian | The Prince of the Italian fairies. |
| God name "Mars" | Roman | An ancient Roman god, who was at an early period identified by the Romans with the Greek Ares, or the god delighting in bloody war, although there are a variety of indications that the Italian Mars was originally a divinity of a very different nature. Roman |
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