I know saying “Don’t google this” will just make people google it, but don’t say I didn’t warn you when you google “Carbuncle” and don’t add “animal” or “mythology” or something alongside it and get an eyefull of cluster boils that you didn’t want to see. The problem comes because the word comes from the latin word for both “precious stone” and “pustule” and it gets used for both, unfortunately.
Anyway the mythical carbuncle is a nebulous mammal with a gemstone in its head that shows up around mines. The most famous modern depictions are probably in the Final Fantasy games.
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Espeon may take some of it’s design cues from the Carbuncle as well (the head gem), though admittedly the nekomata side of the inspiration is way stronger.
Some words are just very unfortunate with the different meanings they can have.
You get the boil images even when you do include folklore in the search. A fun time was had, for sure.
That actually makes me think of Espeon, though it might be since I haven’t played more than a couple old FF games to reference the creature..
Etymologically, carbuncle is means “small coal”. (“carbo”, plus diminutive “culus”, which is also found in particle, small part, or clavicle, small key, caruncle, small flesh, and of course homunculus, small human.)
So both gemstones and pustules were independently compared to a small, shiny lump of coal…
New collective noun: A coal-ition of diminutives. >;->
I swear, Maned Wolves are just cryptids with a PR department behind them saying “Oh, no, those are totally normal creatures.”
Extremely long, deer-like legs.
Coloration similar to a fox.
Diet consists of 50% of “wolf apples”, which are related to tomatoes but really do look like green apples.
Has a “Roar-Bark”, not a howl.
Pee smells like weed.
That’s just a cryptid hiding in plain sight.
Of course I did it anyway lol… but I did find this, which is pretty neat…
https://www.etsy.com/it/listing/811280315/arcanists-carbuncle-final-fantasy-xiv
Keep up the great work…we appreciate the heck out of you…
Carbuncle gemstones are pretty.
“It may originate from the medieval guivre, which was said to have a carbuncle on its head.”
That would explain it. :D
Are there naiads as well as dryads in SD?
I found out this obscure meaning for “carbuncle” when as a kid, I read the Sherlock Holmes story “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle.”
An Espeon?
Also, Yu-Gi-Oh.
THANK YOU for explaining why we shouldn’t google it
(this is the right way for people cursed with curiosity)
Is it weird that I understand this other definition because I watch Call the Midwife?