moss-folk

Noun

moss-folk pl (plural only)

1. (Germanic, plural, plural-only) A type of wood spirit that wears a covering of moss, lichen, and leaves.
   • The wild hunter pursues the moss-folk, the little wood-wives; he remains unseen, but you hear him bluster in the air, that it crickles and crackles.1882, Jacob Grimm, translated by James Steven Stallybrass, Teutonic Mythology, volume III, London: George Bell and Sons, page 929
   • "In the vile," says Dr. Krauss, " also known as Samovile, Samodivi, and Vilivrjaci, we have near relations to the forest and field spirits or the wood and moss-folk of Middle Germany, France and Bavaria the wild people of Hesse, Eifel, Salzburg and the Tyrol, the wood-women and woodmen of...1920, Lewis Spence, An Encyclopædia of Occultism, London: George Routledge and Sons, page 370, column 2

   Synonyms:

   moss-people