53: The mysterious brownies, hobs and gruagaich, and their language

 

Written and published by Linden Alexander Pentecost. Published on the 8^th of February 2025, published in the UK.

 

-In this article I discuss the words describing a particular form of ”nature spirit” ancestor in Britain, and go on to give examples of how these ancestors were said to speak, and some of their names. This is certainly an unusual language topic, I hope you find it interesting- Note that this article is entirely separate from my other publications, including my recent Kindle books in which I describe many other aspects to giants across different Kindle books, including my recent Kindle-only book discussing the “ciuthaich” (plural of "ciuthach"). Not that the “ciuthaich” are also different ancestors from the “gruagaich” discussed in the article in front of you, even though there may be some connection. This article contains interconnected text, with some references in the text, and no sub-sections. I discuss the mythology of these beings, what their names mean in our languages, how they might relate ambiguously to ancient hominids, their love for nature and empathy, and three points connected to aspects of their language (an example of a full poem/chant included in the third point), before some conclusive notes. This article contains 2088 words as measured on Libreoffice before uploading to www.bookofdunbarra.co.uk. This article is only published on this website as an online page and nowhere else.

 

Brownies are a form of nature spirit or ancestor in English folklore. They are sometimes described as small, elderly looking human-like beings, but they also take the form of a tall, human-like being, covered in hair, except for on the face and hands. The general oral history about these beings, is that they can be good friends to humans. They can clean the house at night, whilst the owners sleep, or look after the animals and nature around the farm. All they ask in return, is a bowl of milk, cake, porridge or cream, often placed near to the fireplace for the brownie to consume. But if they are insulted, for example, by being called their true name, or by being offered a piece of clothing, they will leave the house forever.

The noun “brownie” is a Scots and English dialect word meaning just “brown one”, due to the often brown hair covering their bodies. In Ulster in Ireland, and in parts of Scotland, the term gruagach is applied to similar ancestors. In both Ulster Irish and Scottish Gaelic, gruag means “hair”, and the -ach suffix simply derives a noun, so the name means essentially “hairy one”. In the north of England, similar beings exist, sometimes called “brownies” but also called “hobs”. The word “hob” in English has so many meanings, some of which refer to different types of spirit ancestors. I have previously discussed this word but, I will not lead anyone too much into that rabbit hole here! (and I have discussed it several times in other publications). But I suspect the word is pre-Indo-European, especially given that different meanings of the word were clearly distinguished long ago.

One interesting point though is that in English we say “to put a kettle on the hob”. i.e. the cooker or fireplace, and this does seem to indicate a specific linguistic connection between hairy “hob” spirits and the hearth or “hob” of a house.

 

A "brownie", often described under the term bwbach in Welsh, although this word bwbach is a more general term describing different types of spirit, and seems to be related to the Lonsdale (Lancashire) dialect word "bo" – “hobgoblin” (sourced from the book A glossary of the dialect of the hundred of Lonsdale, north and south of the sands, in the county of Lancaster by Peacock Robert Backhouse). Aspects of and other words of the Lonsdale dialect are also discussed in my article published only on archive.org, titled: Ancient Stone Steps And A Northern English Dialect (only Published On Archive.org), available here: https://archive.org/details/ancient-stone-steps-and-a-northern-english-dialect-only-published-on-arch

In the Basque Country, a similar being is known as basajaun (for males), and basajaunes (for females). In the Basque Country these beings are particularly associated with watching over livestock at night, and are sometimes attributed with having created some of the megalithic monuments in the Basque Country. The word basajaun means “wild lord” or even “mud lord”, basa means either “wild” or “mud”, and jaun means “lord”, the feminine title of which is jaunes. I have discussed different aspects of them in other publications.

 

I suspect that at one time, these beings did live in Europe and walk among us. The gruagach has been described in Ulster as having a pig-like nose and a prominent brow ridge. The “pig-like nose” could be connected to what a Neanderthal’s nose may have looked like, they may have appeared a little “pig-like” as Neanderthals had larger nasal passages due to breathing in colder European air. Neanderthals are possessed brow ridges, as did many other (known) species of extinct hominid. Some people, myself included, also have this brow ridge, said to be a Neanderthal trait, although I am not sure.

But the thing is, we know so little of the past and of ancient human fossils. The hominids in Britain over 400,000 years ago are assumed to be homo-heidelbergensis. But we really do not know. Many of the finds in Britain dated as being “Neanderthal” are also dated so due to the assumption that only Neanderthals could have been in Britain at that time, but, it is very uncertain.

I suspect that in different mythologies, ancestor spirits, who once walked the earth, perform different tasks depending on where they are. So it is quite possible that in areas where Neanderthals were, that according to my animistic beliefs, they would continue to interact with us in a spiritual form, perhaps resembling the forms they possessed when physical and earthly. For example, they may continue to help look after the land and house. But in a different part of Europe, it might be another ancient hominid type being who once lived there, so accordingly the spirits of which might look after the land and house might instead be of this ancient hominid, particular to this area.
And so there is no easy way of saying which of these spirits might have once physically lived as Neanderthals, or as Homo-Heidelbergensis for instance, but I will say that there is incredibly strong crossovers in how brownies, gruagaich and others are described, and what we know of the anatomy of certain ancient hominids.

I suspect that many of these beings are of a very good nature, and that whilst I do not believe that they were strictly human, I believe that they had an intelligence, empathy, and wisdom, that in many respects surpassed our own by far. The category of beings I am talking about are of the hairy kind, and I suspect that they are largely different from the “giants” more widely discussed in folklore, most of which are not described as being covered in hair, although there is also some crossover. Again, with such an incomplete fossil record, it is hard, if not impossible to make more specific connections between these hairy, and other giants, and human fossils.

One thing that frequently comes up with regard to the hairy ancestors like brownies, hobs and gruagaich, is that they seem to show a deep, I would say, very intuitively emotional relationship with the land and with living things. They seem to take joy in being caretakers of sacred spaces, like a house, and in taking care of the plants and animals.

 

There are also some interesting things to say about how these beings interact with us linguistically. Whilst it is unlikely that any identifiable linguistic traits associated with ancient hominids could have been passed down over hundreds of thousands of years, if as I suspect these beings do continue to interact with us, and did with our recent ancestors, in some spiritual form, it is possible I think that some elements of the way they interacted in language could be elements of their original languages, or at least may preserve some of the original patterns of their languages. I will discuss only three points in relation to this, numbered below. The third one also contains an example of a poem or full chant said by a brownie in Lincolnshire:

1. In the book Celtic Folklore by John Rhys, the author gives a legend from Monmouthshire in which a brownie, or bwbach, is heard saying its personal name, which a Gwarwyn-a-throt. The first element, gwarwyn is from gwar – “nape” and gwyn – “white”. The second elements, -a- and -throt, a mutated form of trot, seem to mean something like “that trots, one that trots”. This does in fact seem to be some kind of sacred name said to be the true identify of various otherworldly beings in Welsh mythology, but in the story recorded by John Rhys, the association is with what we might call a brownie or hob. Even though the words in the name are largely intelligible, the second elements: a-throt do not really make sense in Welsh. This word is likely connected to English “to trot”, a word with other cognates in Germanic languages, but which may be pre-Indo-European in origin. Perhaps not the word itself, but the rhythm and syllabic patterns of the name, and perhaps even the elements a-throt, could be some indication of the language used by these brownies, in some way.

2. Despite the previous example, the names of brownies and hobs are largely rarely heard, and this is the second point I would like to draw attention to. That namely there seems to be some great taboo about knowing the original names of these beings, and in some cases, even giving these beings a nickname seems to drive them away. The previous point is thus interesting for showing an example of when the name of one of these beings was heard, even though it is perhaps a Welsh interpretation of whatever was originally heard, perhaps preserving the original sound patterns of a name much older, but perhaps also partially re-interpreted through Welsh meanings.

3. Thirdly: brownies in England seem to possess a poetic, rhythmic way of talking. In the following example the text can be, more or less, interpreted accurately as being English (apart from the word “hamp”). But something of the poetic metre could be far older, the dance and way of the brownie existing as a kind of substrate of the English words. The following is an example from Lincolnshire, as given in the book: Simpson, Jacqueline; Roud, Steve, A Dictionary of English Folklore: An Engrossing Guide to English Folklore. The brownie in the story says the following when leaving a house after being insulted:

 

Harden, harden, harden hamp,

I will neither grind nor stamp;

Had you given me linen gear,

I have served you many a year.

Thrift may go, bad luck may stay,

I shall travel far away.

 

This “way of talking”, and in fact some of the more general attributes of “brownies” and similar spirits, remind me a little of how Tom Bombadil talks in poetry in Lord of the Rings. Note I have discussed other aspects to the mysticism of Tom Bombadil elsewhere, and have also discussed poetic language a lot, including how the Neverending Story character Uyulala speaks in poetry (this and the name are discussed in other articles on the bookofdunbarra website (this website)). Note that I also discussed Lincolnshire in relation to the “dragon” at “Dragonby” in one of my recently published Kindle books, which is entirely unrelated to this article (also not the same as the "ciuthaich" book).

Conclusive notes: I hope that this article was an interesting overview of the subjects relating to these ancient land spirits, their possible relationship to ancient hominids, and comments on how they communicate with language. I personally think that, perhaps like other angelic, ancient beings, this aspect of them “speaking in poetry” may be a recollection of an ancient era of consciousness, rhythm, and voices, intermixed with those of nature, and that the examples I gave could be instances of how these ancient voices and rhythms may, in some way, have been passed down to us.

I write this article for the love of my family, and for the brownies, hobs and gruagaich and others. I appreciate especially their care for the land and emotional empathy, and their nice characters. We no doubt have a lot to learn from them.