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Monday, September 24, 2007

Hobgoblin

Posted by John Holbo on 09/24/07 at 11:28 AM

For no very pressing reason I found myself wondering whether ‘hobgoblins’ were originally, somehow, family or hearth spirits: hob = stove or hub. If so, why would they be malicious? Spirits of the hearth are usually benign, no? According to one expert, the answer is: they’re named Robert. Rob. Bob. Goblin.

The connection of the Devil with the name Robert, which has left a trace in the human imagination and art (Meyerbeer’s opera Robert le Diable enjoyed great popularity in his day), is even more puzzling. Robert is, naturally, Rob, and since initial r- often alternates with h-, we have hob “sprite,” as an independent word and as the first element in hobgoblin and, by devious ways, if my etymology is correct, in hobbledehoy. Robin Goodfellow is another fiend. Good in his name owes its existence to taboo: propitiate an enemy, appease him, call him good, and he may leave you in peace. All kinds of flibbertigibbets and Rumpelstilzchens are evil but gullible. It is not fortuitous that Robin Hood, a folklore figure without a historical prototype, though not exactly a forest demon, and Robin Goodfellow are namesakes. We again have the big question unanswered: Why Robin/Robert?

Apparently there isn’t any good answer to that last question (assuming the rest is right). I find this sort of thing moderately interesting.

Comments

At least it’s not Roberts.

By Adam Roberts on 09/24/07 at 12:55 PM | Permanent link to this comment

I found a nice list of names in Jeffrey Burton Russell’s Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages 66. I’m not convinced of his conclusion, though:

He is Old Horny, Old Hairy, Black Bogey, Lusty Dick, Dicon or Dickens, Gentleman Jack, the Good Fellow, Old Nick, and Old Scratch, with comparable sobriquets in French, German, and other languages. Such names shade off into those of minor demons, themselves identified with the sprites or ‘little people’ of paganism. Hundreds of such names exist, such as Terrytop, Charlot, Federwisch, Hinkebein, Heinekin, Rumpelstiltskin (all -lin, -kin, -lein, -le, -lot names are diminutives), Hämmerlin, Haussibut, Robin Hood, Robin Goodfellow, and Knecht Ruprecht. All nicknames were popular not only because of their association with the ‘little people’ but also because to give the Devil an absurd name is to offer an antidote to the fear he engendered. In the twentieth century one hears fewer diminutive names for the Devil because fewer people believe in him.

By Karl Steel on 09/24/07 at 01:23 PM | Permanent link to this comment

nosirreebobsyeruncle.

By nnyhav on 09/24/07 at 02:20 PM | Permanent link to this comment

Robin because the new-year robin kills the old wren, of course.

By ben wolfson on 09/25/07 at 12:12 AM | Permanent link to this comment

Lookie here. Lots and lots of stuff. Ignore the Henry Potter part.

By John Emerson on 09/25/07 at 07:18 AM | Permanent link to this comment

It’s interesting that the Bob’s your uncle site (and elsewhere that I googled) trace the expression to 1887 only. I first encountered it in Patrick O’Brien’s Aubrey Maturin novels set between 1790 and 1815 roughly. My impression is that O’Brien was a meticulous researcher who would have avoided any obvious anachronisms.

By on 09/25/07 at 01:10 PM | Permanent link to this comment

Certain little people were notorious for bringing afflictions down on the heads of housewives—spoiling milk and butter, killing cows, causing changelings. I wouldn’t be surprised that part of their name would be to distinguish them as the spirits that dealt with the home and hearth.

By on 09/25/07 at 01:39 PM | Permanent link to this comment

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Monday, September 24, 2007

Hobgoblin

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