| Grouping | Mythological creature Fairy Sprite |
|---|---|
| First attested | In folklore |
| Other name(s) | Bocka (Cornish) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Region | Cornwall |
Bucca (Cornish, SWF: bocka, pl. bockas, bockyas [1][2]) is a male sea-spirit in Cornish folklore, a merman, that inhabited mines and coastal communities as a hobgoblin during storms. The mythological creature is a type of water spirit likely related to the Púca from Irish, the Pwca from Welsh folklore, and the female mari-morgans, a type of mermaid from Welsh and Breton mythology. Rev W. S. Lach-Szyrma, one 19th-century writer on Cornish antiquities, suggested the Bucca had originally been an ancient pagan deity of the sea such as Irish Nechtan or British Nodens, though his claims are mainly conjecture.[3] Folklore however records votive food offerings made on the beach similar to those made to the subterranean Knockers and may represent some form of continuity with early or pre-Christian Brittonic belief practices.
- ^ Harris, Steve, Dee Harris, Peter Harvey, and Raël Harvey (2019). A Learners' Cornish Dictionary in the Standard Written Form (2nd ed.), Ors Semple. p. 85.
- ^ "bocka". Gerlyver Kernewek : Cornish Dictionary. Akademi Kernewek. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
- ^ W.S. Lach-Szyrma, “Notes from Cornwall” The Antiquary 10 (1884), p. 264.