Editing Mormo

{{short description|Greek mythical character}}
{{for|the moth genus|Mormo (moth)}}
'''Mormo''' ({{Langx|el|Μορμώ}}, ''Mormō'') was a female spirit in [[Ancient Greek folklore|Greek folklore]], whose name was invoked by mothers and [[nanny|nurses]] to frighten children to keep them from misbehaving.

The term '''mormolyce''' {{IPAc-en|m|ɔr|ˈ|m|ɒ|l|ᵻ|ˌ|s|iː}} ({{lang|el|μορμολύκη}}; pl. ''mormolykeia'' {{lang|el|μορμολύκεια}}), also spelt '''mormolyceum''' {{IPAc-en|m|ɔr|ˌ|m|ɒ|l|ᵻ|ˈ|s|iː|ə|m}} ({{lang|el|μορμολυκεῖον}} ''mormolukeîon''), is considered equivalent.

==Etymology==
The name ''mormo'' has the plural form ''mormones'' which means "fearful ones" or "hideous one(s)", and is related to an array of words that signify "fright".<ref name=johnston/>{{sfnp|Stannish|Doran|2013|p=118}}

The variant ''mormolyce'' translates to "terrible wolves", with the stem ''-lykeios'' meaning "of a wolf".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theoi.com/Phasma/Empousai.html |title=Lamia & Empusa (empousa) |website=theoi |access-date=2018-01-25}}</ref>{{sfnp|Stannish|Doran|2013|p=118}}

==Description==
The original Mormo was a woman of [[Corinth]], who ate her children then flew out; according to an account only attested in a single source.{{Refn|Scholios to [[Aristides]] (Dindorf, p. 41)<ref name=johnston/>}} '''Mormolyca''' {{IPAc-en|m|ɔr|ˈ|m|ɒ|l|ᵻ|k|ə}} (as the name appears in [[Doric Greek]]: {{lang|el|μορμολύκα}}) is designated as the [[wetnurse]] ({{langx|el|τιθήνη}}) of [[Acheron]] by Sophron ({{floruit}} 430 BC).{{Refn|Sophron frag. 9, ed. Kaibel.<ref name=johnston-AMRP/>}}

Mormo or Moromolyce has been described as a female specter, phantom, or ghost by modern commentators.<ref name=dict-grbm/><ref name=dict-grbm-mormolyce/>{{sfnp|Stannish|Doran|2013|p=28}} A mormolyce is one of several names given to the female ''phasma'' (phantom) in [[Philostratus]]'s ''Life of Apollonius of Tyana''.{{Refn|An ''empousa'', or ''lamia'', she is also called in the work.}}<ref>Philostratus, ''Life of Apollonius'' 4.25, quoted by {{harvp|Ogden|2013a|pp=106–107}}</ref>

Mormo is glossed as equivalent to [[Lamia]] and ''mormolykeion'', considered to be frightening beings, in the ''[[Suda]]'', a lexicon of the Byzantine Periods.<ref name=suda-mormo>"{{plain link|name=Mormo |url=http://www.stoa.org/sol-entries/mu/1212}}", ''Suda On Line'', tr. Richard Rodriguez. 11 June 2009.</ref> '''Mombro''' ({{lang|el|Μομβρώ}}) or Mormo are a [[bugbear]] ({{lang|el|φόβητρον}} ''phóbētron''), the ''Suda'' also says.<ref name=suda-mobro>"{{plain link|name=Mombro |url=http://www.stoa.org/sol-entries/mu/1212}}", ''Suda On Line'', tr.  David Whitehead. 27 July 2009.</ref>

"Mormo" and "[[Gello]]" were also [[aliases]] for [[Lamia]] according to one scholiast, who also claimed she was queen of the [[Laestrygonians]], the race of man-eating giants.{{Refn|name=scholios-theocritus|Scholios to Theocritus ''Idylls'' 15.40.{{sfnp|Ogden|2013b|p=98}}<ref name=johnston/>}}

===Bugbear===
The name "Mormo" or the synonymous "Mormolyceion" was used by the Greeks as a [[bugbear]] or [[bogeyman|bogey]] word to frighten children.<ref name=dict-grbm/><ref name=dict-grbm-mormolyce/>

Some of its instances are found in [[Aristophanes]].<ref>Aristophanes. ''Archanians'', 582ff. "Your terrifying armor makes me dizzy. I beg you, take away that Mormo (bogey-monster)!"</ref><ref>Aristophanes. ''Peace'', 474ff. "This is terrible! You are in the way, sitting there. We have no use for your Mormo's (bogy-like) head, friend."</ref> The poet [[Erinna]], in her poem ''The Distaff'', recalls how her and her friend Baucis feared Mormo as children.<ref>{{cite book|last=Snyder|first=Jane McIntosh|title=The Woman and the Lyre: Women Writers in Classical Greece and Rome|publisher=SIU Press|location=Carbondale|year=1991|isbn=9780809317066|pages=94&ndash;95}}</ref>

Mormo as an object of fear for infants was even recorded in the ''[[Alexiad]]'' written by a Byzantine princess around the [[First Crusade]].<ref>{{citation|author=Anna Comnena |others=Sewter, Edgar Robert Ashton (tr.) |title=The Alexiad of Anna Comnena |publisher=Penguin Books |year=1969 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H2sbAAAAYAAJ&q=Mormo |page=61|isbn=9780140442151 }}</ref>

===Modern interpretations===
A mormo or a lamia may also be associated with the [[empusa]], a phantom sent by the goddess [[Hecate|Hekate]].{{sfnp|Fontenrose|1959|pp=116–117}}

==References==
=== Citations ===
{{reflist|30em|refs=
<ref name=dict-grbm>{{citation|author=L.S. <!--Lewis Short--> |editor-last=Smith |editor-first=William |title=Mormo |work=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology |place=London |publisher=John Murray |year=1870 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=mormo-bio-1&highlight=mormo}}</ref>

<ref name=dict-grbm-mormolyce>{{citation|author=L.S. <!--Lewis Short--> |editor-last=Smith |editor-first=William |title=Mormo'lyce |work=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology |place=London |publisher=John Murray |year=1870 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aentry%3Dmormolyce-bio-1}}: "the same phantom or bugbear as Mormo, and also used for the same purpose".</ref>

<ref name=johnston>{{cite book|editor-last=Johnston |editor-first=Sarah Iles |title=Restless Dead: Encounters Between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece|publisher=Univ of California Press |orig-year=1999|year=2013|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=57MwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA174 |page=174|isbn=9780520280182 }} {{isbn|9-780-5202-8018-2}}</ref>

<ref name=johnston-AMRP>{{Cite book|last=Johnston |first=Sarah Iles |editor-last=Meyer |editor-first=Marvin W.  |editor-last2=Mirecki |editor-first2=Paul Allan |title=Defining the Dreadful: Remarks on the Greek Child-Killing Demon |journal=Ancient Magic and Ritual Power |year=1995 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YZZ9AAAAMAAJ&q=Mormo+Acheron |page=367<!--361–387-->|isbn=9789004104068 }} {{isbn|9-789-0041-0406-8}}</ref>

}}

=== Bibliography ===
{{Refbegin}}
*{{cite book |last=Fontenrose|first=Joseph Eddy |author-link=Joseph Eddy Fontenrose |title=Python: A Study of Delphic Myth and Its Origins |publisher=University of California Press |year=1959 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wqeVv09Y6hIC |isbn=9780520040915}}
*{{cite book |ref={{SfnRef|Ogden|2013a}}|last=Ogden |first=Daniel |author-link=<!--Daniel Ogden--> |title=Drakon: Dragon Myth and Serpent Cult in the Greek and Roman Worlds |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2013-02-28|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA86 |isbn=9780199557325 }} {{isbn|0199557322}}
*{{cite book |ref={{SfnRef|Ogden|2013b}}|last=Ogden |first=Daniel |author-link=<!--Daniel Ogden--> |title=Dragons, Serpents, and Slayers in the Classical and Early Christian Worlds: A Sourcebook |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2013-05-30 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bFwWDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA99 |pages=99– |chapter=10 Lamia, Slain by Eurybatus and Others|isbn=9780199925117 }} {{isbn|0199323747}}* [[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith, William]]; ''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]'', London (1873). [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DM%3Aentry+group%3D29%3Aentry%3Dmormo-bio-1 "Mormo" ]
*{{Cite journal |last1=Stannish |first1=Steven M. |last2=Doran |first2=Christine M. |title=Magic and Vampirism in Philostratus's Life of Apollonius of Tyana and Bram Stoker's Dracula |journal=Preternature: Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural |volume=2 |number=2 |year=2013 |pages=113–138 |doi=10.5325/preternature.2.2.0113 |jstor=10.5325/preternature.2.2.0113|s2cid=191692706 }}

{{Refend}}

[[Category:Greek legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Mythological anthropophages]]
[[Category:Female legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Greek folklore]]
[[Category:Bogeymen]]
[[Category:Lamia]]