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The term sprite is a broad term referring to a number of preternatural
Preternatural

The preternatural or praeternatural is that which appears outside or beyond the nature. While this may include what is more commonly called the supernatural, it may also simply indicate extremity ? an ordinary phenomenon taken 'beyond' the natural....
 legendary creature
Legendary creature

A legendary creature is a mythology or folklore creature ....
s. The term is generally used in reference to elf
Elf

An elf is a creature of Germanic mythology. The elves were originally thought of as a race of minor nature and fertility deity, who are often pictured as youthful-seeming men and women of great beauty living in forests and underground places and caves, or in wells and springs....
-like creatures, including fairies
Fairy

A fairy is a type of mythological being or legendary creature, a form of spirit, often described as spirit#Metaphysical and metaphorical uses, supernatural or preternatural....
, dwarves
Dwarf

A dwarf is a creature from Continental Germanic mythology, fairy tales, fantasy fiction, and role-playing games. It usually has magical talents, often involving metallurgy....
, and the likes of it, but can also signify various spiritual beings, including ghost
Ghost

File:Henry Fuseli- Hamlet and his father's Ghost.JPGA ghost is popularly held to be the disembodied spirit or soul of a death person. Popularly described as insubstantial and partly transparent, ghosts are reported to haunt particular List of reportedly haunted locations that they were associated with in life or at time of death....
s.

The word "sprite" is derived from the Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 "spiritus" (spirit). Variations on the term include "spright" (the origin of the adjective "sprightly", meaning "spirited" or "lively") and the Celtic
Celtic mythology

Celts mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure....
 "spriggan".






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The term sprite is a broad term referring to a number of preternatural
Preternatural

The preternatural or praeternatural is that which appears outside or beyond the nature. While this may include what is more commonly called the supernatural, it may also simply indicate extremity ? an ordinary phenomenon taken 'beyond' the natural....
 legendary creature
Legendary creature

A legendary creature is a mythology or folklore creature ....
s. The term is generally used in reference to elf
Elf

An elf is a creature of Germanic mythology. The elves were originally thought of as a race of minor nature and fertility deity, who are often pictured as youthful-seeming men and women of great beauty living in forests and underground places and caves, or in wells and springs....
-like creatures, including fairies
Fairy

A fairy is a type of mythological being or legendary creature, a form of spirit, often described as spirit#Metaphysical and metaphorical uses, supernatural or preternatural....
, dwarves
Dwarf

A dwarf is a creature from Continental Germanic mythology, fairy tales, fantasy fiction, and role-playing games. It usually has magical talents, often involving metallurgy....
, and the likes of it, but can also signify various spiritual beings, including ghost
Ghost

File:Henry Fuseli- Hamlet and his father's Ghost.JPGA ghost is popularly held to be the disembodied spirit or soul of a death person. Popularly described as insubstantial and partly transparent, ghosts are reported to haunt particular List of reportedly haunted locations that they were associated with in life or at time of death....
s.

The word "sprite" is derived from the Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 "spiritus" (spirit). Variations on the term include "spright" (the origin of the adjective "sprightly", meaning "spirited" or "lively") and the Celtic
Celtic mythology

Celts mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure....
 "spriggan". The term is chiefly used in regard to elves and fairies in European folklore
European folklore

European folklore:*Northern Europe**Estonian folklore**Finnish mythology**Lithuanian mythology**Scandinavian folklore*Western Europe**Paganism in the Eastern Alps...
, and in modern English
Modern English

Modern English is the form of the English language spoken since the Great Vowel Shift, completed in roughly 1550.Despite some differences in vocabulary, texts from the early 17th century, such as the works of William Shakespeare and the King James Bible, are considered to be in Modern English, or more specifically, are referred to as using...
 is rarely used in reference to spirit
Spirit

The English word "spirit" comes from the Latin "spiritus" . The term is commonly used to refer to a supernatural being which is transcendence and therefore metaphysical in nature....
s or other mythical creatures. Sprites can also be lightning strikes and problems involving electricity.

Belief in sprites


The belief in diminutive beings such as sprites, elves
Elf

An elf is a creature of Germanic mythology. The elves were originally thought of as a race of minor nature and fertility deity, who are often pictured as youthful-seeming men and women of great beauty living in forests and underground places and caves, or in wells and springs....
, fairies
Fairy

A fairy is a type of mythological being or legendary creature, a form of spirit, often described as spirit#Metaphysical and metaphorical uses, supernatural or preternatural....
, pixies, gnome
Gnome

A gnome is a mythical creature characterized by its extremely small size and wiktionary:subterranean lifestyle. The word gnome is derived from the New Latin gnomus....
s, Japanese yokai
Yokai

are a class of obake, creatures in Japanese folklore ranging from the evil Oni to the mischievous kitsune or snow woman Yuki-onna....
, The Spanish and Latin-American duende
Duende

Duende is a difficult-to-define phrase used in the Spanish arts, including performing arts. From the Duende , the artistic and especially musical term was derived....
 and various Slavic fairies
Slavic fairies

'Fairy in Slavic mythology' come in several forms and their names are spelled differently based on the specific language. Among the ones listed below there were also khovanets , dolia , polyovyk or polevoi , perelesnyk , lisovyk or leshyi , blud , mara , chuhaister , mavka or niavka , potoplen...
 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 "druidism" and Ásatrú
Ásatrú

File:Valknut-Symbol-triquetra.svg in the United States is a form of Germanic Neopaganism, in particular inspired by the Norse paganism as described in the Eddas and as practiced prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia....
. The belief in spiritual beings, particularly ghost
Ghost

File:Henry Fuseli- Hamlet and his father's Ghost.JPGA ghost is popularly held to be the disembodied spirit or soul of a death person. Popularly described as insubstantial and partly transparent, ghosts are reported to haunt particular List of reportedly haunted locations that they were associated with in life or at time of death....
s, is almost universal to human culture.

In some elemental magics, the sprite is oft believed to be the elemental of air (see also Sylph
Sylph

Sylph is a mythological creature in the Western tradition. The term originates in Paracelsus, who describes sylphs as invisible beings of the air, his elementals of air ....
). Another variation is the water sprite
Water sprite

A water sprite is a general term for a legendary creature, an elemental spirit associated with water, according to alchemist Paracelsus. Water sprites are said to be able to breathe water or air, and in some cases, can fly.They are mostly harmless unless threatened....
.

See also

  • Sprites in popular culture
    Sprites in popular culture

    Sprite have appeared many times in works of culture.*Famous fictional sprites include Shakespeare's Ariel and Puck .* In Power Rangers Mystic Force, the Pink Ranger turns into the Sprite Titan....


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