kelpie
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English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
The dog breed derives from the name shared by the first two breeding bitches (dam and pup), which name derives from the mythological spirit.
Noun[edit]
kelpie (plural kelpies)
- (Celtic mythology) A malevolent shapeshifting spirit, most often in the form of a horse, believed to haunt the rivers and lochs of Scotland.
- 1828, James Hogg, The Brownie of the Black Haggs:
- He was a boy in form, and an antediluvian in feature. Some thought he was a mule, between a Jew and an ape; some a wizard, some a kelpie, or a fairy, but most of all, that he was really and truly a Brownie.
- An Australian breed of sheepdog.
- 1979, Thea Astley, Hunting the Wild Pineapple, Nelson, page 28:
- There was no sound but the endless noise of forest and river, and the sleep-whimper of his kelpie.
- 1993, Tim Winton, Land's Edge, Picador, published 2014, page 4:
- Gulls scatter before the blur of my insane kelpie.
Translations[edit]
spirit
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sheepdog
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