Marid

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A supernatural entity from Arabian folklore, often depicted as a powerful wish-granting genie with a capricious nature
2. A type of jinn in Middle Eastern mythology, known for its ability to manipulate and grant desires, typically associated with water
3. A legendary spirit characterized by its vast strength and its tendency to be both helpful and mischievous, embodying the duality of fortune and peril

Etymology: The word "marid" comes from Arabic "mārid," meaning "rebellious" or "insubordinate," and in the Quran it describes a particularly defiant class of jinn. Its root, m-r-d, carries the sense of being rebellious or refusing to yield, and the same root gives Arabic words for a stubborn or unruly person. Medieval Arabic writers used "mārid" for the most powerful and dangerous jinn, so the word's original emphasis was on rebellion against authority rather than on water or wish-granting. The water association developed later, and it is the part of the story most readers will not expect. Some Arabic traditions linked the marids with the sea and with places where water gathered, and in the Arabian Nights they appear as huge, imposing spirits who can be bound in bottles or lamps and who serve whoever holds them. That image of a powerful spirit compelled to grant wishes is the one that reached English through translations of the Nights in the 18th and 19th centuries, when the word was borrowed directly from Arabic.

Synonyms: djinn, genie, spirit