woodwoman

Noun

woodwoman (plural woodwomen)

1. A female elf, nature spirit, or the like, that inhabits the woods.
   • In the story of Balderus and Hotherus in Saxo Grammaticus, which tells in a form more nearly resembling the form of mediæval legends the history of the death of Balder, we meet with some wood-women in a transition state between Valkyriur and witches.1882, Charles Francis Keary, Outlines of Primitive Belief Among the Indo-European Races, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, page 510
   • "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