bloedkaros

Dutch

FWOTD – 31 October 2020

Etymology

Compound of bloed +‎ karos.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈblut.kaːˌrɔs/
• Hyphenation: bloed‧ka‧ros

Noun

bloedkaros f (plural bloedkarossen)

1. (historical, folklore) A folkloric carriage that would abduct children who were outside late and cause them to bleed to death, usually by maiming their limbs or slitting their throats; as a bogeyman it was widely believed in by the common people in early modern times and was frequently connected to stories about foreign monarchs collecting blood.
   • 1983, Herman Roodenburg, “De autobiografie van Isabella de Moerloose. Sex, opvoeding en volksgeloof in de zeventiende eeuw”, in Tijdschrift voor sociale geschiedenis, volume 9, page 323:

     Daarmee staan zij waarschijnlijk dichter bij de volkscultuur, want niet alleen de kinderen in het achttiende-eeuwse Antwerpen maar ook de volwassenen geloofden in het fabeltje van de bloedkaros.

     In doing so they are probably more in tune with popular culture, because not only children but also adults in eighteenth-century Antwerp believed in the folk tale of the "blood carriage".