Sc. [Of uncertain etym.; Gael. calpa, cailpeach, bullock, heifer, colt, has been suggested, but positive evidence is wanting.] The Lowland Scottish name of a fabled water-spirit or demon assuming various shapes, but usually appearing in that of a horse; it is reputed to haunt lakes and rivers, and to take delight in, or even to bring about, the drowning of travellers and others. Also water-kelpie.
The beliefs relating to the kelpie are essentially the same as those connected with the Danish and Norw. nøkken, and the Icel. nykur or nennir; but in Scotland the kelpie was sometimes held to render assistance to millers by keeping the mill going during the night.
1747. Collins, Pop. Superst. Highlands, 137. Drowned by the kelpie’s wroth.
1792. Burns, Lett. to Cunningham, 10 Sept. Be thou a kelpie, haunting the ford or ferry.
1805. Scott, Last Minstrel, VI. xxiii. But the Kelpy rung, and the Mermaid sung, The dirge of lovely Rosabelle.
1813. Hogg, Queen’s Wake, 192. The darksome pool … Was now no more the kelpie’s home.
1881. W. Gregor, Folk-Lore, 66 (E.D.D.). The wife … tried to dissuade him under the fear that Kelpie would carry him off to his pool.
