Editing Sprite (folklore)

{{Short description|Supernatural entity}}
<!-- article looks fine if i'm wrong then just re-tag {{Cleanup rewrite|date=May 2015}} -->
{{Infobox mythical creature
|name           = Sprite
|image          =
|image_size     =
|caption        =
|Grouping       = [[Legendary creature]] <br /> [[Pixie]] <br /> [[Fairy]]
|Country        =
|Region         = [[Europe]]
|Habitat        =
|First_Attested = In folklore
}}
A '''sprite''' is a [[supernatural]] entity in European mythology. They are often depicted as [[fairy]]-like creatures or as an ethereal entity.<ref name=BriggsFairies>{{cite book|last=Briggs|first=Katharine M. |author-link=Katharine Mary Briggs |title=A Dictionary of Fairies|publisher=Penguin|location=Harmondsworth, Middlesex|year=1976|page=381|isbn=978-0-14-004753-0}}</ref>

==Etymology==
The word ''sprite'' is derived from the [[Latin]] ''spiritus'' ("spirit"), via the French ''[[wiktionary:esprit|esprit]]''. Variations on the term include ''spright'' and the [[Celtic mythology|Celtic]] ''[[spriggan]]''. The term is chiefly used with regard to elves and fairies in [[European folklore]], and in [[modern English]] is rarely used in reference to spirits. 

== Belief in sprites ==
[[File:Richard Doyle - Spurned Suitor.jpg|thumb|The prince thanking the Water sprite, from ''The Princess Nobody: A Tale of Fairyland (1884)'' by [[Andrew Lang's Fairy Books|Andrew Lang]] (illustration by [[Richard Doyle (illustrator)|Richard Doyle]])]]
The belief in diminutive beings such as sprites, [[elf|elves]], [[fairy|fairies]], etc. has been common in many parts of the world, and might to some extent still be found within neo-spiritual and religious movements such as "[[neo-druidism]]" and [[Ásatrú]].

In some elemental magics, the sprite is often believed to be the elemental of air (see also [[sylph]]).

== Water sprite ==
{{For|the plant species|Ceratopteris thalictroides}}
{{main|Water spirit}}

[[File:August Malmström - Dancing Fairies - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Dancing Fairies]]'' by the Swedish painter [[August Malmström]]]]
A water sprite (also called a water fairy or water faery) is a general term for an [[elemental]] spirit associated with [[water]], according to alchemist [[Paracelsus]]. Water sprites are said to be able to breathe water or air and sometimes can fly.

These creatures exist in the [[mythology]] of various groups. [[Ancient Greeks]] knew [[Nymph|water nymphs]] in several types such as [[naiads]] (or ''nyads''), which were divine entities that tended to be fixed in one place<ref>{{Cite book|title=A Handbook of Greek Mythology.|last=Rose|first=Herbert|publisher=E.P. Dutton & Co.|year=1959|isbn=978-0-525-47041-0|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/handbookofgreekm00rose/page/173 173]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofgreekm00rose/page/173}}</ref> and so differed from gods or physical creatures. [[Slavic mythology]] knows them as [[vila (fairy)|vilas]].

Water sprites differ from [[Matter|corporeal beings]], such as [[selkies]], [[mermaid]]s, and [[Siren (mythology)|sirens]], as they are not purely physical and are more akin to local deities than animals.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A Dictionary of English Folklore|last=Simpson|first=Jacqueline|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2000|isbn=978-0198607663|location=Oxford}}</ref>
{{clear}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links|wikt=|b=no|q=no|s=|v=no|species=no}}
* [http://www.morion.com/morion/wood/beings.html Swedish myths]

{{Fairies}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Sprites (folklore)| ]]
[[Category:Fairies]]
[[Category:Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Water deities]]
[[Category:Water spirits]]
[[Category:European legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Fictional fairies]]
[[Category:Ghosts]]