DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9841#0227
208 VAMPIRES OF THE HEBREWS AND ARABS. [CHAP.
a destroyer32, yet seems to have its peculiar Cretan sig-
nification even in the very poem where it occurs in the
more general and earlier sense33.
A belief in the existence of similar night-wandering
blood-sucking monsters prevailed even in ancient times,
and seems to have been one of the superstitions of the
Jews. The lilith, mentioned in Isaiah, is agreed to be
a nocturnal spectre: Michaelis supposes that it may
mean a kind of incubus: and the Arabic version trans-
lates the word by "a/go/," the man-devouring demon of
the waste, known by the name Goule to the English
reader of the Arabian Nights. Some persons have sup-
posed, but, seemingly, without any good reason, that the
expression in the Psalms, "Thou shalt not be afraid for
the terror by night, nor for the pestilence that walketh
in darkness31," denotes a similar monster35.
I have also been taught, by a communication recently
received from a learned friend, Professor Von Bohlen
32 Emmanuel Georgillas, in his poem entitled to Hhvutlkov ti)s
'PoBov, quoted by Koray, ATAKTA, Vol. ii. p. 186.
vd TroXe/jLi^ovv cvvaTa Kai vdiravTOvv tov gkv\ov
tov 'VoupKov tov K.aTa~xavdv, tj/s dvo/iias tov <pi\ov.
The same poet, in his lament of Constantinople, (Bp?jvos tj]s Kavo-TavTivov
Tro'Xems,) in Koray, Vol. ii. p. 113.
Tov TovpKov tov Kcct a\av dv abTov tov Xov >■ Kid pi] v.
On which passage Koray explains the word as follows : Syuaivei tov e£o\o-
QpeVTijV diro to KaTa^dvai, r\yovv MLaTayaovw, eirei&j to dirXovv Kai
auvtjdes Xdva tslvai, as ea^/ieiaBi]—see ATAKTA, Vol. i. p. 267.
33 Georgillas in his Qpijvos, as quoted by Ducange, Append, ad
Glossarium. med. et inf. Graecit. p. 185. v. TX,aKap6\os, and by Koray,
ATAKTA, Vol. ii. p. 185.
Kai Seveiv r\ kciki] apyji avTos 6 t^aKapoXos
Km yivcTui Yia.Taxa.vds Kai direKei Kayqv oXos.
In which passage Koray writes Sevev and yivsTo. He conjectures that
t^aKapoKos may be the Italian tangherello, and rightly explains tcdyiiv as
iKari. He seems to have had no idea whatever of the meaning which the
Cretan usage of the word shews to be contained in the passage.
34 Psalm, xci. 5, 6.
35 Bochart, Hierozoicon, P. n. L. vi. c. ix. p. 829. ed. Lips. 17!)K.
Compare Van Dale de Orig. et Prog. Idol. Diss. i. cap. vi. p. 131. On
the absurd Rabbinical traditions concerning demons, and especially on the lady
Lilith, the reader may also consult Allen, Modern Judaism, pp. 162—168.
a destroyer32, yet seems to have its peculiar Cretan sig-
nification even in the very poem where it occurs in the
more general and earlier sense33.
A belief in the existence of similar night-wandering
blood-sucking monsters prevailed even in ancient times,
and seems to have been one of the superstitions of the
Jews. The lilith, mentioned in Isaiah, is agreed to be
a nocturnal spectre: Michaelis supposes that it may
mean a kind of incubus: and the Arabic version trans-
lates the word by "a/go/," the man-devouring demon of
the waste, known by the name Goule to the English
reader of the Arabian Nights. Some persons have sup-
posed, but, seemingly, without any good reason, that the
expression in the Psalms, "Thou shalt not be afraid for
the terror by night, nor for the pestilence that walketh
in darkness31," denotes a similar monster35.
I have also been taught, by a communication recently
received from a learned friend, Professor Von Bohlen
32 Emmanuel Georgillas, in his poem entitled to Hhvutlkov ti)s
'PoBov, quoted by Koray, ATAKTA, Vol. ii. p. 186.
vd TroXe/jLi^ovv cvvaTa Kai vdiravTOvv tov gkv\ov
tov 'VoupKov tov K.aTa~xavdv, tj/s dvo/iias tov <pi\ov.
The same poet, in his lament of Constantinople, (Bp?jvos tj]s Kavo-TavTivov
Tro'Xems,) in Koray, Vol. ii. p. 113.
Tov TovpKov tov Kcct a\av dv abTov tov Xov >■ Kid pi] v.
On which passage Koray explains the word as follows : Syuaivei tov e£o\o-
QpeVTijV diro to KaTa^dvai, r\yovv MLaTayaovw, eirei&j to dirXovv Kai
auvtjdes Xdva tslvai, as ea^/ieiaBi]—see ATAKTA, Vol. i. p. 267.
33 Georgillas in his Qpijvos, as quoted by Ducange, Append, ad
Glossarium. med. et inf. Graecit. p. 185. v. TX,aKap6\os, and by Koray,
ATAKTA, Vol. ii. p. 185.
Kai Seveiv r\ kciki] apyji avTos 6 t^aKapoXos
Km yivcTui Yia.Taxa.vds Kai direKei Kayqv oXos.
In which passage Koray writes Sevev and yivsTo. He conjectures that
t^aKapoKos may be the Italian tangherello, and rightly explains tcdyiiv as
iKari. He seems to have had no idea whatever of the meaning which the
Cretan usage of the word shews to be contained in the passage.
34 Psalm, xci. 5, 6.
35 Bochart, Hierozoicon, P. n. L. vi. c. ix. p. 829. ed. Lips. 17!)K.
Compare Van Dale de Orig. et Prog. Idol. Diss. i. cap. vi. p. 131. On
the absurd Rabbinical traditions concerning demons, and especially on the lady
Lilith, the reader may also consult Allen, Modern Judaism, pp. 162—168.