Selkie

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A mythical creature in Scottish folklore, depicted as a seal that can shed its skin to assume a human form
2. Described as a being that lives in the sea and possesses the ability to transform between aquatic and human appearances
3. Often associated with themes of love and longing, where its human transformation can lead to both enchantment and sorrow

Etymology: The selkie is a creature of Scottish and Northern Isles folklore: a seal that can shed its skin and appear as a human. The word itself is Scots in origin, drawn from the phrase "selkie fowk," meaning "seal folk." "Fowk" is the Scots form of "folk," so the term named a whole people of seals rather than a single animal, and the word then narrowed to refer to one seal-person at a time. The compound shows its parts plainly. "Selkie" is a Scots word for "seal," and the phrase pairs it with "folk," the people of the sea who in the legends could come ashore by removing their sealskins. The folklore, rather than the vocabulary, carries most of the story: a selkie who lost her skin was trapped on land, a motif that runs through the tales told along the Scottish coasts and islands.

Synonyms: seal folk, seal people, seal woman, seal man