View source for Leprechaun

{{short description|Irish legendary creature}}
{{About|the creature in Irish folklore}}
{{pp|small=yes}}
{{Sprotect|small=yes}}
{{EngvarB|date=May 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2019}}
{{Infobox mythical creature
|name           = Leprechaun
|image          = File:Leprechaun ill artlibre jnl.png
|image_size     = 200px
|caption        = A modern depiction of a leprechaun of the type popularised in the 20th century
|Grouping       = [[Legendary creature]]<br />[[Pixie]]<br />[[Sprite (entity)|Sprite]]<br />[[Fairy]]<br />[[Aos Sí]]
|Country        = [[Ireland]]
|Region         = 
|Details        = Found in a [[Moorland|moor]], forest, cave, garden
|First_Attested = In folklore
}}
A '''leprechaun''' ({{langx|ga|lucharachán/leipreachán/luchorpán}}) is a diminutive [[supernatural]] being in [[Irish folklore]], classed by some as a type of solitary [[fairy]]. They are usually depicted as little bearded [[Human|men]], wearing a coat and hat, who partake in mischief. In later times, they have been depicted as [[Shoemaking|shoe-makers]] who have a hidden pot of gold at the end of the [[rainbow]].

Leprechaun-like creatures rarely appear in [[Irish mythology]] and only became prominent in later folklore.

==Etymology==
The Anglo-Irish ([[Hiberno-English]]) word ''leprechaun'' is descended from Old Irish ''luchorpán or lupracán'',<ref>{{Cite web|title=Leprechaun: a new etymology.|url=https://bill.celt.dias.ie/vol4/displayObject.php?TreeID=11867|access-date=2021-03-04|website=bill.celt.dias.ie}}</ref> via various ([[Middle Irish]]) forms such as ''luchrapán, lupraccán'',{{sfnp|Binchy|1952|p=41n2}}<ref name="ohogain"/> (or var. ''luchrupán'').{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Another (intermediary) form is ''luchrupán'', listed by [[Ernst Windisch]],<ref name=windisch/> which is identified as Middle Irish by the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary|OED]]''<ref name="OEDa">Windisch cited as "Cf. Windisch  [[wikt:Glossar|Gloss.]]" in ''The Oxford English Dictionary'' s. v. "[http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50131980 leprechaun]", 2nd ed., 1989, ''OED Online'' "[http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50131980 leprechaun]", Oxford University Press, (subscription needed) 16 July 2009.</ref> Windisch does not comment on this being the root to English "leprechaun"}}

===Modern forms===
The current spelling {{lang|ga|leipreachán}} is used throughout Ireland, but there are numerous regional variants.{{sfnp|Ó Giolláin|1984|p=75}}

[[John O'Donovan (scholar)|John O'Donovan]]'s supplement to O'Reilly's ''Irish-English Dictionary'' defines {{lang|ga|lugharcán, lugracán, lupracán}} as "a sprite, a pigmy; a fairy of a diminutive size, who always carries a purse containing a shilling".<ref name=oreilly-lugharcan/><ref name="OEDc">O'Donovan in O'Reilly  (1817)''Irish Dict''. Suppl., cited in ''The Oxford English Dictionary''  s.v. "[http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50131980 leprechaun]", 2nd ed, 1989, ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, (subscription needed) 16 July 2009.</ref>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|[[Patrick S. Dinneen|Patrick Dinneen]] (1927) defines as "a pigmy, a sprite, or leprechaun".<ref>Patrick S. Dinneen, ''Foclóir Gaedhilge agus Béarla'' (Dublin: Irish Texts Society, 1927).</ref>}}

The Irish term ''leithbrágan'' in O'Reilly's Dictionary<ref name=oreilly-leithbragan/> has also been recognized as an alternative spelling.<ref name="OEDc"/>

Other variant spellings in English have included ''lubrican'', ''leprehaun'', and ''lepreehawn''. Some modern Irish books use the spelling ''lioprachán''.<ref name="OEDmain">"[http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50131980 leprechaun]" ''The Oxford English Dictionary'', 2nd ed., 1989, ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, (subscription needed) 16 July 2009</ref> The first recorded instance of the word in the English language was in [[Thomas Dekker (poet)|Dekker]]'s comedy ''[[The Honest Whore]], Part 2'' (1604): "As for your Irish lubrican, that spirit / Whom by preposterous charms thy lust hath rais'd / In a wrong circle."<ref name="OEDmain"/>

===Meanings===
The word may have been [[Protologism|coined]] as a compound of the roots ''lú'' or ''laghu'' (from {{langx|el|[[wikt:ἐλαχύ|ἐ-λαχύ]]}} "small") and ''corp'' (from {{langx|la|corpus}} "body"), or so it had been suggested by [[Whitley Stokes (Celtic scholar)|Whitley Stokes]].<ref name=stokes/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The root ''corp'', which was borrowed from the [[Latin]] ''corpus'', attests to the early influence of [[Ecclesiastical Latin]] on the Irish language.<ref>"[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/leprechaun leprechaun]" ''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'', 4th ed., 2004, ''Dictionary.com'', Houghton Mifflin Company, 16 July 2009.</ref>}}  Research published in 2019 suggests the word derives from the ''Luperci'' and associated Roman festival of [[Lupercalia]].<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-49579940 Leprechaun 'is not a native Irish word' new dictionary reveals], BBC, 5 September 2019.</ref><ref>[https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/lost-irish-words-rediscovered-including-the-word-for-oozes-pus Lost Irish words rediscovered, including the word for ‘oozes pus'], Queen's University Belfast research for the [http://www.dil.ie Dictionary of the Irish Language] reported by Cambridge University.</ref><ref>[http://www.dil.ie/30904 lupracán, luchorpán] on the Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language (accessed 6 September 2019)</ref>

[[Folk etymology]] derives the word from ''leith'' (half) and ''bróg'' (brogue), because of the frequent portrayal of the leprechaun as working on a single shoe, as evident in the alternative spelling ''leithbrágan''.<ref name=oreilly-leithbragan/><ref name="OEDc"/>{{efn|Cf. {{harvp|Yeats|1888}}, {{URL|1=https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=XsIqAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA80|2=p. 80}}.}}

==Early attestations==
[[Image:Leprechaun engraving 1900.jpg|thumb|upright|A leprechaun counts his gold in this engraving c. 1900]]
The earliest known reference to the leprechaun appears in the medieval tale known as the {{lang|ga|Echtra Fergus mac Léti}} ({{'}}''Adventure of Fergus son of Léti''{{'}}). The saga exists in two widely divergent versions. The first of these is written in Dublin, Trinity College MS 1337 pp. 363b–365a, better known as H. 3. 18 (CIH iii: 882.4–883.28) and has been dated to the eighth century (Binchy 1952). The second version is a copy of the 8th century text written on a single leaf inserted into London, British Library MS Harley 432 f.5 (CIH ii: 354.28–355.41). The saga was rewritten in the 13th century as a burlesque version. The text contains an episode in which [[Fergus mac Léti]], King of [[Ulster]], falls asleep on the beach and wakes to find himself being dragged into the sea by three ''lúchorpáin''. He captures his abductors, who grant him three wishes in exchange for release.<ref>Koch, p. 1200.</ref><ref>{{harvp|Binchy|1952}} ed. & trans., [http://www.ucd.ie/tlh/trans/dab.eriu.16.001.t.text.html "The Saga of Fergus mac Léti"]</ref>

==Folklore==
The leprechaun is said to be a solitary creature, whose principal occupation is making and cobbling shoes, and who enjoys practical jokes.{{sfnp|Winberry|1976|p=63}} In McAnally's 1888 account, the Leprechaun was not a professional [[Shoemaking|cobbler]], but was frequently seen mending his own shoes, as "he runs about so much he wears them out" with great frequency. This is, he claims, the perfect opportunity for a human being to capture the Leprechaun, refusing to release him until the Leprechaun gives his captor supernatural wealth.<ref>McAnally, ''Irish Wonders'', [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19486/19486-h/19486-h.html#toc67 143].</ref>

==Classification==
The leprechaun has been classed as a "solitary fairy" by the writer and amateur folklorist [[William Butler Yeats]].{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Or Yeats of "armchair folklore", to use a moniker from Kinahan's paper.{{sfnp|Kinahan|1983}}}}{{sfnp|Yeats|1888|p=80}} Yeats was part of the [[Celtic revival|revivalist]] literary movement greatly influential in "calling attention to the leprechaun" in the late 19th century.{{sfnp|Winberry|1976|p=72}} This classification by Yeats is derived from D. R. McAnally (''Irish Wonders'', 1888) derived in turn from [[John O'Hanlon (writer)|John O'Hanlon]] (1870).<ref>{{harvp|Kinahan|1983|p=257}} and note 5.</ref>

It is stressed that the leprechaun, though some may call it fairy, is clearly to be distinguished from the ''[[Aos Sí]]'' (or the 'good people') of the fairy mounds (''[[sidhe]]'') and raths.{{Refn|name=winberry-aes|{{harvp|Winberry|1976|p=63}}: "The leprechaun is unique among Irish fairies and should not be confused with the ''Aes Sidhe'', the 'good people', who populate the fairy mounds and raths, steal children, beguile humans, and perform other malicious pranks. "; also partially quoted by Harvey.<ref name=harvey/>}}<ref>{{harvp|O'Hanlon|1870|p=237}}: "The Luricane, Lurigadawne, or Leprechawn, is an elf essentially to be discriminated from the wandering ''sighes'', or trooping fairies."</ref><ref>{{harvp|McAnally|1888|p=93}}: "Unlike Leprechawns, the good people are not solitary, but quite sociable"; quoted by {{harvp|Kinahan|1983|p=257}}.</ref>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The anthologist Charles Squire makes the further considers the Irish fairy to be part of the tradition of the [[Tuatha Dé Danann]], whereas the leprachaun, puca (and the English/Scottish household spirits) have a different origin.<ref name=squire/>}} Leprachaun being solitary is one distinguishing characteristic,{{sfnp|O'Hanlon|1870|p=237}}{{sfnp|McAnally|1888|p=93}} but additionally, the leprachaun is thought to only engage in pranks on the level of mischief, and requiring special caution, but in contrast, the ''Aos Sí'' may carry out deeds more menacing to humans, e.g., the spiriting away of children.{{Refn|name=winberry-aes}}

This identification of leprechaun as a fairy has been consigned to popular notion by modern folklorist Diarmuid Ó Giolláin. Ó Giolláin observes that the [[Dwarf (mythology)|dwarf]] of [[Teutons|Teutonic]] and other traditions, as well as the [[Household spirit|household]] [[familiar]], are more amenable to comparison.{{sfnp|Ó Giolláin|1984|p=75}}

According to [[William Butler Yeats]], the great wealth of the leprechauns comes from the "treasure-[[Crock (dishware)|crocks]], buried of old in war-time", which they have uncovered and appropriated.<ref>{{harvp|Yeats|1888}}, [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/yeats/fip/fip23.htm p. 80].</ref> According to David Russell McAnally, the leprechaun is the son of an "evil spirit" and a "degenerate fairy" and is "not wholly good nor wholly evil".<ref>McAnally, ''Irish Wonders'', [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19486/19486-h/19486-h.html#toc67 140].</ref>

===Appearance===
[[File:Menwithleprechaun.jpg|thumb|upright|Tourists with a novelty oversized Leprechaun in [[Dublin]]]]
The leprechaun originally had a different appearance depending on where in Ireland he was found.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://old.emigrant.ie/article.asp?iCategoryID=189&iArticleID=1463 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070729204811/http://old.emigrant.ie/article.asp?iCategoryID=189&iArticleID=1463 |archive-date=29 July 2007 |title=Little Guy Style |url-status=dead |access-date=30 August 2016}}</ref> Before the 20th century, it was generally held that the leprechaun wore red, not green. [[Samuel Lover]], writing in 1831, describes the leprechaun as,<blockquote>... quite a beau in his dress, notwithstanding, for he wears a red square-cut coat, richly laced with gold, and inexpressible of the same, [[cocked hat]], shoes and buckles.<ref>From ''Legends and Stories of Ireland''</ref></blockquote>

According to [[Yeats]], the solitary fairies, like the leprechaun, wear red jackets, whereas the "trooping fairies" wear green. Yeats' leprechaun wore a jacket with seven rows of buttons with seven buttons to each row. Yeats describes that on the western coast, the red jacket is covered by a [[frieze (textile)|frieze]] one, whereas in [[Ulster]] the creature wears a cocked hat, and when he is up to anything unusually mischievous, he leaps onto a wall and spins, balancing himself on the point of the hat with his heels in the air.<ref>From ''Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry''.</ref>

According to McAnally the universal leprechaun is described as follows:

{{blockquote|He is about three feet high, and is dressed in a little red jacket or roundabout, with red [[breeches]] buckled at the knee, gray or black [[stockings]], and a hat, cocked in the style of a century ago, over a little, old, withered face. Round his neck is an Elizabethan ruff, and [[Frill (fashion)|frills]] of lace are at his wrists. On the wild west coast, where the Atlantic winds bring almost constant rains, he dispenses with ruff and frills and wears a frieze overcoat over his pretty red suit, so that, unless on the lookout for the cocked hat, ''ye might pass a Leprechawn on the road and never know it's himself that's in it at all.''}}

This dress varied by region. In McAnally's account there were differences between leprechauns or Logherymans from different regions:<ref>McAnally, ''Irish Wonders'', [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19486/19486-h/19486-h.html#toc67 140–142].</ref>
* The Northern Leprechaun or Logheryman wore a "military [[red coat (British army)#History|red coat]] and white breeches, with a broad-brimmed, high, pointed hat, on which he would sometimes stand upside down".
* The Lurigadawne of [[County Tipperary|Tipperary]] wore an "antique slashed jacket of red, with peaks all round and a [[Jockey's cap|jockey cap]], also sporting a sword, which he uses as a magic wand".
* The Luricawne of [[County Kerry|Kerry]] was a "fat, pursy little fellow whose jolly round face rivals in redness the [[Cutaway (coat)|cut-a-way jacket]] he wears, that always has seven rows of seven buttons in each row".
* The Cluricawne of [[County Monaghan|Monaghan]] wore "a swallow-tailed evening coat of red with green vest, white breeches, black stockings," shiny shoes, and a "long cone hat without a brim," sometimes used as a weapon.

In a poem entitled ''The Lepracaun; or, Fairy Shoemaker'', 19th century Irish poet [[William Allingham]] describes the appearance of the leprechaun as:
<blockquote>...A wrinkled, wizen'd, and bearded [[Elf]],
Spectacles stuck on his pointed nose,

Silver buckles to his hose,

Leather apron&nbsp;— shoe in his lap...<ref>[http://faerylands.org/faerie/poems/Lepracaun.html William Allingham – The Leprechaun] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100501133608/http://faerylands.org/faerie/poems/Lepracaun.html |date=1 May 2010 }}</ref></blockquote>

The modern image of the leprechaun sitting on a [[Mushroom|toadstool]], having a red beard and green hat, etc. is a more modern invention, or borrowed from other strands of European folklore.<ref>A dictionary of Celtic mythology</ref> The most likely explanation for the modern day Leprechaun appearance is that green is a traditional national Irish color dating back as far as 1642.<ref>Andries Burgers (21 May 2006). "Ireland: Green Flag". Flags of the World. Citing G. A. Hayes-McCoy, A History of Irish Flags from earliest times (1979)</ref> The hat might be derived from the style of outdated fashion still common in Ireland in the 19th century. This style of fashion was commonly worn by [[Irish Americans|Irish immigrants to the United States]], since some [[Elizabethan era]] clothes were still common in Ireland in the 19th century long after they were out of fashion, as depicted by the [[Stage Irish]]. The buckle shoes and other garments also have their origin in the Elizabethan period in Ireland.


==Similar creatures==
The leprechaun is similar to the ''[[clurichaun]]'' and the ''[[far darrig]]'' in that he is a solitary creature. Some writers even go as far as to replace these second two less well-known spirits with the leprechaun in stories or tales to reach a wider audience. The clurichaun is considered by Yeats to be merely a leprechaun on a drinking spree.<ref>Yeats, ''Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry'', [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/yeats/fip/fip84.htm 321].</ref>

==In politics==
In the [[politics of the Republic of Ireland]], leprechauns have been used to refer to the [[wikt:twee|twee]] aspects of the [[Tourism in the Republic of Ireland|tourism field in Ireland]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0495/D.0495.199810200015.html|title=Dáil Éireann – Volume 495 – 20 October, 1998 – Tourist Traffic Bill, 1998: Second Stage.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060515221251/http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0495/D.0495.199810200015.html |archive-date=15 May 2006 }}</ref><ref name="historical-debates.oireachtas.ie">{{cite web|url=http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0206/D.0206.196312110087.html|title=Dáil Éireann – Volume 206 – 11 December, 1963 Committee on Finance. – Vote 13—An Chomhairle Ealaoín.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312213503/http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0206/D.0206.196312110087.html |archive-date=12 March 2007 }}</ref> This can be seen from this example of [[John A. Costello]] addressing the [[Oireachtas]] in 1963—
<blockquote>For many years, we were afflicted with the miserable trivialities of our tourist advertising. Sometimes it descended to the lowest depths, to the [[caubeen]] and the [[shillelagh (club)|shillelagh]], not to speak of the leprechaun.<ref name="historical-debates.oireachtas.ie"/></blockquote>

==Popular culture==
{{More citations needed section|date=March 2020}}
Films, animated cartoons, and advertising have popularised a specific image of leprechauns which bears little resemblance to anything found in the cycles of Irish folklore. Some argue that the popularised image of the leprechaun is little more than a series of [[stereotype]]s based on derogatory [[Anti-Irish sentiment|anti-Irish]] 19th-century [[Caricature|caricatures]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Venable |first=Shannon |url=https://archive.org/details/goldculturalency00vena |title=Gold: A Cultural Encyclopedia |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2011 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/goldculturalency00vena/page/n218 196]–197 |url-access=limited }}{{dead link|date=November 2023}}</ref><ref name="Negra2006">{{cite book|editor=Diane Negra|title=The Irish in Us: Irishness, Performativity, and Popular Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J2GzFmGkuGsC|date=22 February 2006|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=0-8223-3740-1|page={{Page needed|date=September 2010}}}}</ref>{{Elaborate|date=November 2023}}

Many [[Celtic music]] groups have used the term leprechaun as part of their naming convention or as an album title. Some popular forms of American music, including [[Heavy metal music|heavy metal]], [[celtic metal]], [[punk rock]], and [[jazz]], have also made use of the mythological character.

Famous leprechaun characters include:

* Lucky, the mascot of [[Lucky Charms]] cereal, created by [[General Mills]]
* The [[Notre Dame Leprechaun]], official mascot of the [[Fighting Irish]] sports teams at the [[University of Notre Dame]]
* Lucky the Leprechaun, mascot of the [[Boston Celtics]], who is featured on the team's logo
* [[Hornswoggle]], a character created by professional wrestler Dylan Mark Postl, who competed under the persona for the majority of his [[WWE]] tenure
* The 1993 American horror slasher-film ''[[Leprechaun (film)|Leprechaun]]'' and its sequels feature a killer leprechaun portrayed by [[Warwick Davis]].

Nobel Prize-winning economist [[Paul Krugman]] coined the term "[[leprechaun economics]]" to describe distorted or unsound economic data, which he first used in a tweet on 12 July 2016 in response to the publication by the Irish [[Central Statistics Office (Ireland)|Central Statistics Office (CSO)]] that Irish GDP had grown by 26.3%, and Irish GNP had grown by 18.7%, in the 2015 Irish national accounts. The growth was subsequently shown to be due to Apple restructuring its [[Double Irish arrangement|double Irish]] tax scheme which the EU Commission had fined €13bn in 2004–2014 Irish unpaid taxes, the largest corporate tax fine in history. The term has been used many times since.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}}

In the U.S., Leprechauns are often associated with [[Saint Patrick's Day|St. Patrick's Day]] along with the color green and shamrocks.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}}

===Darby O'Gill===

The Disney film ''[[Darby O'Gill and the Little People]]'' (1959)—based on [[Herminie Templeton Kavanagh]]'s ''Darby O'Gill'' books—which features a leprechaun king, is a work in which [[Fergus mac Léti]] was "featured parenthetically".<ref name=ocroinin/> In the film, the captured leprechaun king grants three wishes, like Fergus in the saga.

While the film project was in development, Walt Disney was in contact with, and consulting [[Séamus Ó Duilearga|Séamus Delargy]] and the [[Irish Folklore Commission]], but never asked for leprechaun material, even though a large folkloric repository on such subject was housed by the commission.<ref>{{harvp|Tracy|2010|p=35}}</ref>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The Commission would have preferred the project be not about leprechauns, and Delargy was clearly of this sentiment.{{sfnp|Tracy|2010|p=50}} The commission's archivist [[Bríd Mahon]] also recalls suggesting as alternatives the heroic sagas like the  ''[[Táin Bó Cúailnge|Táin]]'' or the novel ''[[The Well at the World's End]]'', to no avail.{{harvp|Tracy|2010|p=48}}}}

==See also==
<!-- New links in alphabetical order please -->
* [[Crichton Leprechaun]]
* [[Irish mythology in popular culture]]
* [[Leprechaun traps]]
* [[Mooinjer veggey]]
* [[Sleih beggey]]

==Explanatory notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em|refs=

<ref name=harvey>{{cite journal|last=Harvey |first=Clodagh Brennan |author-link=<!--Clodagh Brennan Harvey--> |title=The Supernatural in Immigrant and Ethnic Folklore: Conflict or Coexistence? |journal=Folklore and Mythology Studies |volume=10 |year=1987 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VOFPAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Aes+Sidhe%22 |page=26<!--20–-->}}</ref>

<ref name=ocroinin>{{cite book|last=O Croinin |first=Daibhi |author-link=Daibhi O Croinin |title=Early Medieval Ireland 400-1200 |edition=2nd revised |location=New York |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2016|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AislDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA96 |page=96 |isbn=<!--1317192702, -->9781317192701}}</ref>

<ref name="ohogain">{{cite book|last=Ó hÓgáin |first=Dáithí |author-link=Dáithí Ó hÓgáin |title=Myth, Legend & Romance: An encyclopaedia of the Irish folk tradition |location=New York |publisher=Prentice Hall |year=1991 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qUgUAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Luchorp%C3%A1n |page=270|isbn=9780132759595 }}</ref>

<ref name=oreilly-lugharcan>O'Donovan's supplement in O'Reilly, Edward (1864) ''An Irish-English Dictionary'',  s.v. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=B5QCAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA37-PA3 lugharcán, lugracán, lupracán]".</ref>
<ref name=oreilly-leithbragan>O'Reilly, Edward (1864) ''An Irish-English Dictionary'',  s.v. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=B5QCAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA11-PA8 leithbrágan]".</ref>

<ref name=squire>{{cite book |last=Squire |first=Charles |author-link=<!--Chales Squire--> |title=The Mythology of the British Islands: An Introduction to Celtic Myth, Legend, Poetry, and Romance |location=London |publisher=[[Blackie and Son]] |year=1905 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0GEAAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA403 |pages=247–248, 393, 403}}</ref>

<ref name=stokes>{{cite journal|last=Stokes |first=Whitley  |author-link=Whitley Stokes (Celtic scholar) |title=Mythological Notes |journal=Revue Celtique |volume=16 |issue=Contributions in Memory of Osborn Bergin |year=1870 |url=https://archive.org/details/revueceltique01gaid |pages=[https://archive.org/details/revueceltique01gaid/page/256 256]–257}}</ref>

<ref name=windisch>{{cite book|last=Windisch |first=Ernst |author-link=Ernst Windisch |others=Whitley Stokes |title=Irische Texte mit Wörterbuch |location=Leipzig |publisher=S. Hirzel |year=1880 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6y8gSPledfoC&pg=PA839 |page=839}}</ref>

}}
<!-- Dead note "myth1": [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/cft/cft06.htm The Field of Boliauns] - A typical tale involving a leprechaun printed in the 1800s. -->
<!-- Dead note "myth3": [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/tfm/tfm133.htm Clever Tom and the Leprechaun] -->
<!-- Dead note "myth2": [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/tfm/tfm134.htm The Leprechaun in the Garden] -->

===Bibliography===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite journal|last=Binchy |first=D. A. |author-link=D. A. Binchy |title=The Saga of Fergus Mac Léti |journal=Ériu |volume=16 |issue=Contributions in Memory of Osborn Bergin |year=1952 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UitKAAAAYAAJ&q=This+seems+to+be+the+earliest+reference+in+the+extant+literature |pages=33–48 |jstor=30007384}}; [http://www.ucd.ie/tlh/trans/dab.eriu.16.001.t.text.html online text] via UCD.
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* {{Cite journal|last=Kane |first=W. F. de Vismes |author-link=<!--W. F. de Vismes Kane--> |title=Notes on Irish Folklore (Continued) |journal=Folklore |volume=28 |issue=1 |date=31 March 1917 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1429973 |pages=87–94 |issn= 0015-587X |doi=10.1080/0015587x.1917.9718960 |jstor=1255221}}
* [[Thomas Keightley (historian)|Keightley, T.]] ''The Fairy Mythology: Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various Countries''. London: H. G. Bohn, 1870.
* {{citation|last=Kinahan |first=F. |author-link=<!--Frank Kinahan--> |title=Armchair Folklore: Yeats and the Textual Sources of "Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry" |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Section C: Archaeology, Celtic Studies, History, Linguistics, Literature |volume=83C |year=1983 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/25506103 |pages=255–267|jstor=25506103 }}
* {{Cite book|last=Koch |first=John T. |author-link=John T. Koch |title=Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia |publisher= ABC-CLIO |year= 2006 |isbn= 1851094407}}
* [[Samuel Lover|Lover, S.]] ''Legends and Stories of Ireland''. London: Baldwin and Cradock, 1831.
*{{citation|last=O'Hanlon |first=John |author-link=John O'Hanlon (writer) |chapter=XVII: The Solitary Fairies |title=Irish folk lore: traditions and superstitions of the country |year=1870 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GxgCAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA237 |pages=237–241}}
* {{cite journal|last=Ó Giolláin |first=Diarmuid |author-link=<!--Diarmuid Ó Giolláin--> |title=The Leipreachán and Fairies, Dwarfs and the Household Familiar: A Comparative Study |journal=Béaloideas |volume=52 |year=1984 |pages=75–150 |doi=10.2307/20522237 |jstor=20522237}}
* {{cite book|last=McAnally |first=David Russell |author-link=<!--David Russell McAnally--> |title=Irish Wonders: The Ghosts, Giants, Pookas, Demons, Leprechawns, Banshees, Fairies, Witches, Widows, Old Maids, and Other Marvels of the Emerald Isle |location=Boston<!--and New York--> |publisher=[[Houghton, Mifflin]] |year=1888 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=niDaAAAAMAAJ }}
* Negra, D. [ed.]. ''The Irish in Us: Irishness, Performativity and Popular Culture''. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. 2006. {{ISBN|978-0-8223-8784-8}}.
* {{cite journal|last=Tracy |first=Tony |author-link=<!--Tony Tracy--> |title=When Disney Met Delargy: 'Darby O'Gill' and the Irish Folklore Commission |journal=Béaloideas |volume=78 |year=2010 |pages=44–60|jstor=41412207}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Winberry |first=John J. |author-link=<!--John J. Winberry --> |title=The Elusive Elf: Some Thoughts on the Nature and Origin of the Irish Leprechaun |journal=Folklore |volume=87 |issue=1 |year=1976 |url=<!--N/A--> |pages=63–75 |issn = 0015-587X |jstor=1259500}}
* [[Jane Wilde|Wilde, Jane]]. [Speranza, pseud.]. ''Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland''. London : Ward and Downey, 1887.
*{{citation|last=Yeats |first=William Butler |chapter= The Legend of Knockgrafton |title=Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry |location=London |publisher=W. Scott  |year=1888 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XsIqAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA80 }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline}}
* {{Wikisource-inline}}

{{Fairies}}

[[Category:Irish legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Mythological tricksters]]
[[Category:Lupercalia]]
[[Category:Dwarves (folklore)]]
[[Category:Fairies]]
[[Category:Goblins]]
[[Category:Pixies]]
[[Category:Stock characters]]