ganfer

English

Etymology

Originally a dialectal term from Shetland and Orkney, also denoting certain negative atmospheric phenomena. Thought to ultimately derive from Old Norse gandferð (“gand-journey”), with the first element connected to Old Norse gandr (“evil spirit”). Compare dialectal Norwegian gannfar, gandferd

Noun

ganfer (plural ganfers)

1. A kind of ghost found in the folklore of Orkney and Shetland.
   • 1879, George Low, A tour through the islands of Orkney and Schetland, with an intr. by J. Anderson, page 8:

     […] by Ghosts here called Ganfers, in all which many place more confidence than in the more reasonable propositions that can be adduced to convince them of the absurdity of such notions.

   • 1891, Samuel Hibbert, A Description of the Shetland Islands: Comprising an Account of Their Scenery, Antiquities and Superstitions. Edinburgh, A. Constable and Co. [etc., Etc.] 1822, page 249:

     ... Ganfers or ghosts are, however, very commonly seen, particularly by the sagacious shelty.

   • 2008 February 14, Maxine Alterio, Ribbons of Grace, Penguin Random House New Zealand Limited, →ISBN:

     He lay on his bunk, pale as a ganfer.

   • 2010 November 17, Anne Rice, Lasher, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 547:

     ... the Ganfers, the Sluagh, the Demons of Hell.

Further reading

• Joseph Wright, editor (1900), “GANFER”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume II (D–G), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC. "GANFER, sb. Sh.I. Or.I. […] 1. A ghost. […] 2. A precursor of snow. Or.I. A drizzling rain in winter is said to be ‘a ganfer for snow’ (S.A.S.). […] 1. The word is used in the sense of Dan. gien-færd, an imaginary spirit, which is supposed by the superstitious to be able to clothe itself in the form of a dead or absent person, a wraith. The word is also used fig. of the apprehension of an unpleasant or dreadful occurrence (Dansk Ordbog). But in form ganfer is prob. the same word as Norw. dial. gannfar (gandferd), a ride of witches (Aasen); cp. ON. gand-reið (Vigfusson); see Jakobsen Norsk in Shetl. (1897) 80."