THE CALLICANTZARI.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."' SIR,—I gather from your review (June 11th) of Mr. J. C. Lawson's "Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion" (which I have not yet seen) that he derives the name of the Callicantzari—" those bugbears of all Greek peasants "—from sivravpos. He argues that the centaur was not a special creation of the " horse " kind, but one capable of transforming itself, like the Callicantzari, into different shapes. This etymology cannot, I think, be accepted. Mr. G. Loukas, in his work on the mythology of Cyprus, derives the term from Akos teal ArrCapos rArrcapos irapa riaotou= aYip. KaAwcdpvcapos = idyegs ilvhp (xon, Ta OWTHTIKik TOO A15/COU).
Professor S. Menardos, whom I have just consulted, concurs in regarding the derivation from KEYTICUpOS as " impossible." He is inclined to adopt the origin proposed by Professor Politic in his '• MExETai vspl TOD Blot TO& .EXA1IYIK0i; His derivation is from acod‘a Tcayyik (i.e., shoes).—I am,
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