Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A creature or spirit in Scottish and Irish folklore that has the form of a seal but can also assume human form.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Irish mythology A
seal which canmagically transform into a human.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word selkie.
Examples
-
“A selkie is a seal creature who can remove his or her pelt and assume human form,” Munro said.
The Shape-Shifter’s Curse Amanda Marrone 2010
-
“A selkie is a seal creature who can remove his or her pelt and assume human form,” Munro said.
The Shape-Shifter’s Curse Amanda Marrone 2010
-
“A selkie is a seal creature who can remove his or her pelt and assume human form,” Munro said.
The Shape-Shifter’s Curse Amanda Marrone 2010
-
His latest, Ondine (2009, Paramount, 12), finds Jordan returning to more rewardingly lyrical fare with a whimsical tale of a lonely fisherman (Colin Farrell) who catches a "selkie" (half woman, half seal) and finds himself entrapped in a tightening emotional net.
-
The "selkie" object is a seal that was washed up onto the beach.
Amelia's World The Year in Pictures 2008
-
Also if she was a "selkie" she would not be "distained by the islanders".
Hh Com 333 Miss Snark 2006
-
I like "selkie" tales but your query does not atttract me. sorry.
Hh Com 333 Miss Snark 2006
-
a mermaid, but she could be a selkie, which is even better, because selkies aren't like fish from the waist down.
Kitsap Sun Stories 2010
-
Annie (Alison Barry), Syracuse's young daughter, researches Irish folklore and tells her father that Ondine is a "selkie," a sort of washed-ashore mermaid who can return to the water only after finding her lost "seal coat."
-
It was wonderful, an Orkney village confronted with a swan, a selkie, and a dragon, and the consequences of allowing (or forcing) them to live among humans, as humans.
"And when the waves came crashing down, he closed his eyes and softly kissed her." sovay 2009
-
For the uninitiated, selkies come from Scottish folklore, stemming particularly from the Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland. Selkies, a kind of mythical creature that shapeshifts from a seal to a human form. In many examples of selkie legends, part of the lore typically involves a woman selkie who loses her pelt to a man of the land. When this happens, she is tied to him so long as she is unable to find her pelt, and therefore unable to return to her seal form and her ocean habitat.
Around the World in 80 Books: A Global Reading List Abby Hargreaves 2020
john commented on the word selkie
“The childish, romantic story of “Ondine” is about a West Cork fisherman named Syracuse (Colin Farrell) who one day snags a lovely, breathing young woman in his net. This comely catch, who gives her name as Ondine (Alicja Bachleda), isn’t a mermaid, but might be another, more locally familiar sort of mythic beast, a selkie: a woman who is also a seal.”
The New York Times, Neil Jordan’s Possible World of the Impossible, by Terrence Rafferty, May 28, 2010
June 1, 2010
jgould commented on the word selkie
With his hand on the wheel
Midst selkie and seal
Unsure as to which one was real.
He brought one to lair
Right into the air
Trying to transform to a pair.
Oh Selkie! he cried
I was alone, could have died
Now I'm happily sealed for a ride.
June 15, 2010