Zmeu - WikiHQ

thumb|300px|[[Făt-Frumos and a zmeu, art by Nadia Bulighin]]

The zmeu (plural: zmei, feminine: zmeoaică / zmeoaice) is a fantastic creature of Romanian folklore and Romanian mythology.

Though referred by some sources as a dragon, the zmeu is nevertheless distinct, because it usually has clear anthropomorphic traits: it is humanoid and has legs, arms, the ability to create and use artifacts such as weapons, and to ride a horse, and has the desire to marry young girls. There are commentators that class it as a giant (equivalent of an ogre), or a devil, or even a vampire.

In some stories, Zmeu appears in the sky and spits fire, or has the ability to change form. In other stories, it has a magical precious stone on its head that shines like the sun. It likes beautiful young girls, whom it kidnaps, usually for the purpose of marrying them. It is almost always defeated by a daring prince or knight-errant.

The zmei has also been conflated with or confused with the dracu or with the balaur type dragon.

Etymology

Most scholars agree that the Romanian term zmeu derives from Slavic zmey. However, Václav Machek considered this problematic, leading to Romanian linguists Sorin Paliga and Eugen S. Teodor to propose the hypothesis of an early Slavic loan from the North Thracian language.

Description

The zmeu is described by some as a "dragon", but a dragon that may assume the role of a suitor or a lover of a human woman, and in some cases are heroic figures,

Indeed, zmeu has been described as a sort of man-eating giant, an equivalent of the Western ogre, possessing a "rocky tail", and are capable of human speech, though in somewhat uncouth a fashion.

One paper categorized the zmeu among the Rumanian vampires, alongside the vârcolac (blood-drinking werewolf), but the latter tends to be confused more with the blood-sucking strigă (pl. strigoi).

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