Gigelorum

Gigelorum (or Giol-Daoram) is an insect of Scottish folklore. It was believed to be the smallest creature. No description or information is available about it except that it inhabits the ear of a mite.^[1]

Speculation exists that it may be based upon the tiniest insect that can be discerned by people possessing excellent eyesight, the giolcam-daobhram, which is described as "an animalcule, the smallest supposable living thing".^[2] Ronald Black, a one time Celtic studies lecturer, author and journalist,^[3] suggests that the creature could be a figment of the imagination of folklorist and Tiree minister John Gregorson Campbell as he could trace no authoritative sources for it.^[2]

References

Citations

1. Gregorson Campbell (1900), p. 220
2. Gregorson Campbell (2005), p. 375
3. Martin Devine & Logue (2002), p. 23

Bibliography

• Martin Devine, Thomas; Logue, Paddy (2002), Being Scottish: Personal Reflections on Scottish Identity Today, Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 978-1-902930-36-7
• Gregorson Campbell, John (1900), Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, James MacLehose
• Gregorson Campbell, John (2005) [1990 & 1902], Black, Ronald, ed., The Gaelic Otherworld: Superstitions of the Highlands and the Islands and Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, Birlinn, ISBN 978 1 84158 207 8 – via Questia Online Library, (subscription required (help))