Puck (mythology) - Etymology and Origins

Etymology and Origins

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the etymology of the name Puck is "unsettled", and it is not clear even whether its origin is Germanic (cf. Old Norse puki, Old Swedish puke, Icelandic puki, Frisian Puk), or Celtic (Welsh pwca Cornish Bucca and Irish púca).

One inference would surmise that a theoretical Proto-Indo-European original for both is earlier than the linguistic split.

According to Paul Devereux, the names of various creatures from Celtic folklore, including the Irish, "púca," Welsh, "pwca" or "pwca," could be from the same Celtic family as the term "pixies" (in Cornwall, "Piskies"), however "piskie" could be related to the Swedish word "pyske" meaning "small fairy."

Other likely names:

• Bosworth and Toller list only "púcel" (puucel) in Old English.
• In Friesland, there is a “Puk”
• In old German, the “putz” or “butz” is a being not unlike the original English Puck.
• In Icelandic a “Púki” is a little devil. “Púkinn” with the definite article suffix "-inn", "The Puck", means the Devil.
• “Pukje” is the Norwegian word for a similar malevolent spirit creature.
• In modern Cornwall folklore are Buccas, good and bad.