A goblin is a monstrous creature that appears in the folklore of multiple European cultures, first attested in stories from the Middle Ages. They are ascribed various and conflicting abilities, temperaments and appearances depending on the story and country of origin. They are almost always small and grotesque, mischievous or outright malicious, and greedy, especially for gold and jewelry. They often have magical abilities similar to a fairy or demon. Similar creatures include brownies, dwarfs, duendes, gnomes, imps, and kobolds.
Name
Alternative spellings include gobblin, gobeline, gobling, goblyn, goblino, and gobbelin. Englishgoblin is first recorded in the 14th century and is probably from unattested Anglo-Norman *gobelin, similar to Old French gobelin, already attested around 1195 in Ambroise of Normandy's Guerre sainte, and to Medieval Latingobelinus in Orderic Vitalis before 1141, which was the name of a devil or daemon haunting the country around Évreux, Normandy. It may be related both to German kobold and to Medieval Latin cabalus - or *gobalus, itself from Greek κόβαλος, "rogue", "knave", "imp", "goblin". Alternatively, it may be a diminutive or other derivative of the French proper nameGobel, more often Gobeau, diminutive forms Gobelet, Goblin, Goblot, but their signification is probably "somebody who sells tumblers or beakers or cups". Moreover, these proper names are not from Normandy, where the word gobelin, gobelinus first appears in the old documents. German Kobold contains the Germanic root kov- which means originally a "hollow in the earth". The word is probably related to Dial. Norman gobe "hollow in a cliff", with simple suffix -lin or double suffixation-el-in The Welshcoblyn, a type of knocker, derives from the Old French gobelin via the English goblin. The term goblette has been used to refer to female goblins.
In South Korea, goblins, known as dokkaebi, are important creatures in folklore. They usually appear in children's books. The nursery song 'Mountain Goblin' tells of meeting a goblin and running away to live.
In Bangladesh, Santal people believe in gudrobonga which is very similar to goblins.
Other Goblins had been identified with creatures from another culture:
Goblins sometimes became identified with jinn in Islamic culture.
Goblins in modern fiction
Goblinoids are a category of humanoidlegendary creatures related to the goblin. The term originated in the Dungeons & Dragonsfantasy role-playing game, in which goblins and related creatures are a staple of random encounters. Goblinoids are typically barbaric foes of the various human and "demi-human" races. Even though goblinoids in modern fantasy fiction are derived from J. R. R. Tolkien's orcs, in his Middle-earth "orc" and "goblin" were names for the same race of creatures. In the Harry Potterbook series and the shared universe in which its film adaptations are set, goblins are depicted as strange, but civilised, humanoids, who often serve as bankers or craftsmen. The Green Goblin is a well-known supervillain who has various abilities like enhanced stamina, durability, agility, reflexes and superhuman strength due to ingesting a substance known as the "Goblin Formula". He has appeared in various Spider-Man related media, such as comics and films, including Spider-Man as Norman Osborn, and Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 as Harry Osborn. The early Smurfs were called goblins.
Goblin-related place names
'The Gap of Goeblin', a hole and tunnel in Mortain, France.
Cowcaddens and Cowlairs, Glasgow, Scotland. 'Cow' is an old Scots word for Goblin, while 'cad' means 'nasty'. 'Dens' and 'lairs' refers to goblin homes.
