Not on a poetic note, but to comment only on the meanings of different
vampire terms. In Serbian 'vampir' is the word for vampire, but 'vukodlac',
in Serbian, Bosnian and Croatian means werewolf after 'vuk' (wolf).

You have 'tenatz' as Bosnian and 'tenac' as Croatian. This is obviously the
same term - 'c' in Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and indeed Slovenian and other
Slavonic languages that use the Latin alphabet, is pronounced 'ts', so its
simply a matter of transliteration.

The standard terms for vampire in Albanian are: 'vampir' (as Serbian) and
'vurkollak' (like Greek). 'Lugat' is not strictly speaking a vampire, but a
kind of ghost, although as with vampires they come from the grave, and
'kukuthi' seem to be named after owls, 'kukuvajk', also often given a
demonic charge in folklore.

Piers



>From: Anny Ballardini <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Anny Ballardini <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Vampires
>Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2003 23:04:08 +0100
>
>For those who wish to know all about vampires, I am forwarding Neal
>Robbins' exhaustive message, and add to it a poetic link:
>
>http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~humm/Topics/Lilith/rossetti_poems.html
>
>and the following which is dense in information on Lillith:
>http://www.lilitu.com/lilith/lilit.html
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Neal Robbins
>
>
>Since it's Halloween, I'll make a posting on a phenomenon of supernatural
>portent.
>Those of us who live in the English speaking part of the West (or the
>Occident, as it's also called) refer to those bloodsucking creatures as
>vampires. The topic of this e-mail is what those macabre beings are called
>in other  parts of the world. Dracula, Lestat, and Co. have their
>counterparts in non-Western regions. And here they are:
>
>Bhuta - This was a type of female vampire in the floklore of western India.
>She was said to wander at night and reanimate dead bodies of others. They
>would then attack people.
>
>Chiang-shih - In Chinese mythology this was a very vicious vampire. It was
>said to be made when someone had an improper burial or a bad death. It
>generally took the form of a human, but could manifest itself as a wolf.
>The Chiang-shih was believed to have sometimes appeared with a
>phosphorescent green glow. Sometimes it had serrated teeth.
>
>Penanggalan - A gruesome vampire in the folklore of Malaysia.
>
>Pontianak - A female vampire of Malaysia.
>
>Maneden - This type of vampiric creature was said to dwell in plants. If a
>human chopped or cut the plant, the Maneden would attach itself to the
>human, suck his or her blood, and not let go until given a substitute (such
>as a nut). The Maneden is also in the folklore of Malaysia.
>
>Rakshasas- These were said to be vampiric demi-gods in India. Rakshasas
>wandered at night, had fangs, and drank blood.
>
>Kappa - This is an anomaly among vampires. The Kappa (It is in Japanese
>folklore.) was said to dwell in water and attack livestock, for example,
>cattle and horses. It dragged them into the water and devoured them.
>
>Churel - A type of vampire in India. Churels were believed to have been
>exclusively female. A Churel was a woman who died an unnatural death. She
>would come back and take revenge on any family members who treated her
>badly. She could drain the blood from male family members. It was also said
>that she could tempt young men with food at night and keep them until dawn.
>In the morning they returned to their villages as old men. A Churel's feet
>were said to be turned backwards.
>
>Now I'll discuss vampires of the Middle East:
>
>Dhakhanavar - This was a category of vampire in Armenian folklore. It was
>said to live in the wild and such the blood from travelers' feet as they
>slept. A legend says that two men outsmarted it by sleeping with each
>other's heads on the feet. The Dhakhanavar felt frustrated in seeing what
>it perceived to be a creature with two heads and no feet and left.
>
>Lilith - In ancient Sumerian mythology, she was a vampire goddess. I have
>mentioned Lilith in past e-mails. Some stories say that she was the first
>wife of Adam and left him to go and dwell in the desert. Many tales have
>been told about her.
>So vampires are found in folklore of a lot of different places.
>
>Sincerely,
>Neal Robbins
>
>P.S. Even in the West there are various names for the vampire. Here are
>some examples:
>
>Albanian - Kukuthi, lugat
>
>Bosnian - Lampir, tenatz
>
>Greek - Vrykolakas, empusa, nosophoros
>
>Ukrainian - Upyr, Upiribi, Upior
>
>Russian - Upir, Vieszcy, Uppyr, or Upierczi
>
>Magyar - Vampir
>
>Hungarian - Pamgri
>
>Croatian - Vukodlak, kosac, prikosac, tenjac
>
>Bosnian - Lampir, tenatz
>
>In Serbia they are called vampyres, essentially the same name that English
>speakers use.
>
>The name empusa is a very old one. It goes back to the legends about the
>vampiric Empusae, who were said to the daughters of Hekate. I discussed
>them and the vampires called Lamiae (daughters of the goddess Lamia) in a
>previous e-mail.

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