Legendary monster
Not to be confused with
Orge
.
An
ogre
(
feminine
:
ogress
) is a legendary
monster
depicted as a large, hideous,
man-like being
that eats ordinary human beings, especially infants and children.
[1]
Ogres frequently feature in
mythology
,
folklore
, and
fiction
throughout the world. They appear in many classic works of
literature
, and are most often associated in
fairy tales
and legend.
In mythology, ogres are often depicted as inhumanly large, tall, and having a disproportionately large head, abundant hair, unusually colored skin, a voracious appetite, and a strong body. Ogres are closely linked with giants and with
human cannibals
in mythology. In both folklore and fiction, giants are often given ogrish traits (such as the giants in "
Jack and the Beanstalk
" and "
Jack the Giant Killer
", the Giant Despair in
The Pilgrim's Progress
, and the
Jotunn
of
Norse mythology
); while ogres may be given giant-like traits.
Famous examples of ogres in folklore include the ogre in "
Puss in Boots
" and the ogre in "
Hop-o'-My-Thumb
". Other characters sometimes described as ogres include the title character from "
Bluebeard
", the Beast from
Beauty and the Beast
,
Humbaba
from the
Epic of Gilgamesh
,
Grendel
from
Beowulf
,
Polyphemus
the
Cyclops
from
Homer
's
Odyssey
, the man-eating giant in "
Sinbad the Sailor
", the
oni
of
Japanese folklore
and the
ghouls
of
pre-Islamic Arabian religion
.
Etymology
[
edit
]
The word
ogre
is of
French
origin, originally derived from the
Etruscan
god
Orcus
, who fed on human flesh. Its earliest attestation is in
Chretien de Troyes
' late 12th-century verse romance
Perceval, li contes del graal
, which contains the lines:
Et s'est escrit que il ert ancore
que toz li reaumes de Logres,
qui jadis fu la terre as ogres,
ert destruite par cele lance.
"And it is written that he will come again,
to all the realms of
Logres
,
which was formerly land of ogres,
and destroy them with that lance."
The
ogres
in this rhyme may refer to the ogres who were, in the
pseudohistorical
work
History of the Kings of Britain
by
Geoffrey of Monmouth
, the inhabitants of Britain prior to human settlement. The Italian author
Giambattista Basile
(1575?1632) used the related
Neapolitan
word
uerco
, or in standard
Italian
,
orco
in some of his tales. This word is documented
[2]
in earlier Italian works (
Fazio degli Uberti
, 14th century;
Luigi Pulci
, 15th century;
Ludovico Ariosto
, 15th?16th centuries) and has even older cognates with the Latin
orcus
and the Old English
orcn?as
found in
Beowulf
lines 112?113, which inspired
J.R.R. Tolkien
's
Orc
.
[3]
All these words may derive from a shared Indo-European mythological concept (as Tolkien himself speculated, as cited by
Tom Shippey
,
The Road to Middle-earth
, 45). The Dictionary of the Academy of France alternatively states that the name is derived from the word
Hongrois
, which means
Hungarian
, as of western cultures referred to Hungarians as a kind of monstrosity.
[4]
Ogre could possibly also derive
[
citation needed
]
from the biblical
Og
, last of the giants (or from the Greek river god
Oiagros
, father of
Orpheus
).
The word
ogre
came into wider usage in the works of
Charles Perrault
(1628?1703) or
Marie-Catherine Jumelle de Berneville, Comtesse d' Aulnoy
(1650?1705), both of whom were French authors. The first appearance of the word
ogre
in Perrault's work occurred in his
Histoires ou Contes du temps Passe
(1696). It later appeared in several of his other fairy tales, many of which were based on the
Neapolitan
tales of Basile. The first example of a female ogre being referred to as an
ogress
is found in his version of
Sleeping Beauty
, where it is spelled
ogresse.
Madame d'Aulnoy
first employed the word
ogre
in her story
L'Orangier et l'Abeille
(1698), and was the first to use the word
ogree
to refer to the creature's offspring.
In modern fiction
[
edit
]
In modern times, ogres have appeared in the
Dungeons & Dragons
role-playing game as large, powerful humanoid creatures, with slightly below average intelligence,
[5]
: 249, 257
[6]
throughout its editions as adversaries
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]
[14]
[5]
but also playable characters.
[15]
[16]
[17]
The ogre was counted among the ten best low-level monsters by the authors of
Dungeons & Dragons for Dummies
. They posit that the ogre "teaches players about fighting big, powerful, stupid monsters, which is an iconic D&D experience".
[18]
The green-skinned ogre
Shrek
is a fictional character created by the American author
William Steig
that since 1990 has appeared in a book, several movies, a TV series, and a musical.
The Ogre Mulgarath is the main antagonist in
The Spiderwick Chronicles
books series (also adapted into a film and a TV series).
Ogres make up the army of Duke Igthorn, antagonists in
Adventures of the Gummi Bears
.
[19]
In this children's TV series, they are presented as antropomorphized creatures, emphasized through
neomedieval
trappings in clothing and equipment.
[20]
In
Smurfs
, ogres appear human-like but are stouter than humans.
In
Disenchantment
, Elfo's maternal family are ogres which makes him a hybrid between an ogre and an elf.
Fairy tales that feature ogres
[
edit
]
Gallery
[
edit
]
In illustration
[
edit
]
In sculpture
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Warner, Marina.
Why do Ogres Eat Babies?
. SpringerLink.
doi
:
10.1007/978-1-349-13816-6_18
.
- ^
Vocabolario Degli Accademici Della Crusca
Archived
2007-10-13 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"Beowulf"
. Humanities.mcmaster.ca
. Retrieved
2012-03-28
.
- ^
Dictionnaire de l'Academie francaise (1932?35)
- ^
a
b
Ammann, Keith (2019).
The Monsters Know What They're Doing
.
Saga Press
.
ISBN
978-1982122669
.
- ^
Croitoriu, Michael (May?June 1998). "Aide Au Jouer: Talents & Pouvoirs".
Backstab
(in French). Vol. 9. p. 54.
- ^
Gygax, Gary
, and
Dave Arneson
.
Dungeons & Dragons
(3-Volume Set) (TSR, 1974)
- ^
Gygax, Gary
.
Monster Manual
(
TSR
, 1977)
- ^
Gygax, Gary
, and
Dave Arneson
[1974], edited by
J. Eric Holmes
.
Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set
(TSR, 1977)
- ^
Gygax, Gary
, and
Dave Arneson
[1974], edited by
Frank Mentzer
.
Dungeons & Dragons Set 1: Basic Rules
(TSR, 1983)
- ^
Cook, David
, et al.
Monstrous Compendium Volume One
(
TSR
, 1989)
- ^
Slavicsek, Bill
.
Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Game
(TSR, 1999)
- ^
Cook, Monte
,
Jonathan Tweet
, and
Skip Williams
.
Monster Manual
(
Wizards of the Coast
, 2000)
- ^
Mearls, Mike
, Stephen Schubert, and
James Wyatt
.
Monster Manual
(
Wizards of the Coast
, 2008)
- ^
Slavicsek, Bill
.
The Complete Book of Humanoids
(TSR, 1993)
- ^
Croitoriu, Michael (November 2000). "Dungeon Master's Guide".
Backstab
(in French). No. 24. pp. 74?75.
- ^
Eckelberry, David, Rich Redman, and Jennifer Clarke Wilkes.
Savage Species
(Wizards of the Coast, 2003)
- ^
Slavicsek, Bill
;
Baker, Rich
;
Grubb, Jeff
(2005).
Dungeons & Dragons for Dummies
. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing. p. 356.
ISBN
978-0-7645-8459-6
. Retrieved
27 March
2012
.
- ^
Burak, Alexander (2011).
"Some Like It Hot ? Goblin-Style: 'Ozhivliazh' in Russian Film Translations"
.
Russian Language Journal
.
61
(1): 5?31.
- ^
Mussies, Martine (2021). "
'Dashing and daring, courageous and caring': Neomedievalism as a Marker of Anthropomorphism in the Parent Fan Fiction Inspired by
Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears
".
Dzieci?stwo. Literatura i Kultura
.
3
(2): 60?83.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Briggs, Kathrine Mary.
The Fairies in Tradition and Literature
.
London: Routledge, 2002.
- "Ogre."
Encyclopædia Britannica Online
. 15 May 2006,
search.eb.com
[
dead link
]
- Rose, Carol.
Giants, Monsters, & Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth
. New York:
W. W. Norton & Company
, 2001.
ISBN
0-393-32211-4
- Shippey, Tom.
The Road to Middle-earth
. London: HarperCollins, 1992 (rev.).
ISBN
0-261-10275-3
- South, Malcolm, ed.
Mythical and Fabulous Creatures: A Source Book and Research Guide.
Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1987. Reprint, New York: Peter Bedrick Books, 1988.
ISBN
0-87226-208-1
External links
[
edit
]
Look up
ogre
in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
- Media related to
Ogre
at Wikimedia Commons
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