Goblin

The English term derives from medieval Anglo-Norman and Old French gobelin and Medieval Latin gobelinus, attested in sources such as Orderic Vitalis's 12th-century Historia ecclesiastica which mentions a demon called Gobelinus in Évreux. Folkloric scholarship traces goblin-type figures to a broader category of 'little folk' and household spirits (brownies, kobolds, lutins) that were variously reinterpreted over time; some domestic protector spirits were later framed as dangerous or demonic under changing religious and cultural influences.

Accounts emphasize small stature and often grotesque or shaggy appearance: diminutive humanoids sometimes described as very short (around 30 cm in some traditions), shaggy-haired and raggedly dressed. Regional variants present distinct imagery—e.g., squat, iron-shod redcaps of Anglo-Scottish border lore—while other related little‑folk types display horned or hairy forms in their own traditions.

Goblins and goblin-like beings exhibit a wide behavioral spectrum in the sources: performing nocturnal domestic labor for small offerings (brownie-like), playing pranks and misdirecting travelers (púca-like), shapeshifting into animals or objects (boggart-like), and in some local legends acting violently or lethally (redcaps). Comparative summaries also note capacities attributed to analogous figures elsewhere—invisibility or physical threat (tokoloshe), rule-bound contests and rewards (dokkaebi)—but treat those as similar or comparable roles rather than identical powers.