A leprechaun () is a diminutive supernatural being in Irish folklore, classed by some as a type of solitary fairy. They are usually depicted as little bearded men, wearing a coat and hat, who partake in mischief. In later times, they have been depicted as 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, via various (Middle Irish) forms such as luchrapán, lupraccán, Windisch does not comment on this being the root to English "leprechaun"
Modern forms
The current spelling is used throughout Ireland, but there are numerous regional variants.
John O'Donovan's supplement to O'Reilly's Irish-English Dictionary defines as "a sprite, a pigmy; a fairy of a diminutive size, who always carries a purse containing a shilling".
The Irish term leithbrágan in O'Reilly's Dictionary The first recorded instance of the word in the English language was in 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." Research published in 2019 suggests the word derives from the Luperci and associated Roman festival of Lupercalia.
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.
Folklore
The leprechaun is said to be a solitary creature, whose principal occupation is making and cobbling shoes, and who enjoys practical jokes. In McAnally's 1888 account, the Leprechaun was not a professional 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.
Classification
The leprechaun has been classed as a "solitary fairy" by the writer and amateur folklorist William Butler Yeats. Yeats was part of the revivalist literary movement greatly influential in "calling attention to the leprechaun" in the late 19th century. This classification by Yeats is derived from D. R. McAnally (Irish Wonders, 1888) derived in turn from John O'Hanlon (1870).
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.