Celtic Manx language

"Glashtin" is the orthography in the Manx language according to Cregeen's dictionary (1835),^[4] and this is the spelling adhered to by Joseph Train, A. W. Moore and various other 19th century authorities of Manx folklore.^[5][6][7]

However the spelling "Glashtyn" is used as heading in John Kelly's Fockleyr dictionary of 1866.^[8]

Manx Gaelic glashtin, glashtyn is pronounced /ɡlaʃtʲənʲ/ according to a recent paper on the language.^{[9][lower-alpha 1]}

Manx English

In the Manx English dialect, "Glashan, glashtan, glashtin" as 'hairy goblin' is the primary (and most detailed) entry given in Moore's posthumous dictionary (1924), completed in collaboration with Morrison and Goodwin.^[11]

Glashtan, glashtin ([glaʃən]) and glashan ([glaʃþən]) are the phonology given in Moore's dictionary.^{[11][lower-alpha 2][lower-alpha 3]}

The form "glashan" is found in folklore examples collect on a southerly island (Calf of Man) by J. F. Campbell.^{[lower-alpha 4][12]}

Shapeshifter theory

The two conflicting accounts above can be reconciled by regarding the Manx glashtin as a shape-shifter. Recent literature embracing this notion claims that the equine glashtin assumes human form at times, but betrays his identity when he fails to conceal his ears, which are pointed like a horse's.^[16]

One modern fairy tale relates how a fisherman's daughter living in Scarlett outwitted the foreign-tongued "dark and handsome" stranger whom she recognized as glashtin by his horse's ears. She knew she was in peril because according to lore, the glashtin had the ill habit of transforming into a "water-horse" and dragging women to sea.^[17]

Water horse

In one passage, Train claims the glashtin to be a water-horse, and that this sea-glashtin^[22] would at one time emerge from his marine habitat, mingling with the local land-roving ponies, and cross breed to produce foal.^[5]

Train drew similarity to the Manx water-bull (see #taroo ushtey below) which also shared the trait of mingling with land livestock.^[5] In fact the water-bull attempts to mate with domesticated cows as well, only unsuccessfully, according to George Waldron (1731).^{[lower-alpha 7][lower-alpha 8][24]}

The glashtin, it was said, ceased to appear after the islanders started cross-breeding their native horses with breeds from the outside.^[5]

Seducer of women

German mythographer Karl Blind noted that Manx glashtin or elashtan "attacks lonely women" as is the case with the Shetlandic nuggle and the Scottish kelpie.^[3]

The creature was known to have great curiosity for women and pester them in rather picaresque manner, and would grab hold and tear off pieces of women's attire.

Fairy fiddler

Train also alleged that the renowned Hom Mooar (which signifies "Big Tom", a name of a fairy fiddler^[29]), was a glashtin.^[30] He goes on to supply as an example a tale taken from Waldron, describing a man was lured by invisible musicians to a strange banquet, and obtained the silver cup that came to be used for the "consecrated Wine in Kirk-Merlugh (Malew Church),^[31][32] even though Waldron never refers to the enchanted musicians as glashtin or "Big Tom".

Helpful spirit

Manx lore concerning a helpful glashan was collected by Scottish folklorist J. F. Campbell, from a woman living on the Calf of Man in the southern part of the Isle of Man. The story-telling woman described a creature or being which assisted her as farmhand, performing the tasks of rounding up sheep from the fold, or threshing stalks of corn left unbundled.^{[12][lower-alpha 10]}

Tarroo-ushtey

tarroo-ushtey (Manx pronunciation: [ˌtaru ˈuʃtʲə],^[33] Manx English pronunciation:[ˈtaru ˈùʃtþə], Mx. for "water bull")^[34][35]

The 18th century Manx local historian George Waldron records the superstition about the Water-Bull, an "amphibious creature" with every semblance of a natural bull, but a cow mating with it calves only a misshapen "lump of flesh and skin without bones" and often dies giving birth. Waldron also wrote that a neighbor detected a stray bull in his herd and, suspecting it to be a Water-Bull, rounded up a group of men with pitchforks to give it chase.^[24] The beast, however, dove into a river and eluded them, bobbing its head up in mockery.^[24] It was Train who later supplied the equivalent name in the Manx language, and made similarity comparisons to the glashtin.^[36]

John Nelson (1840-1910^[37]), a Manx informant well-versed in local Gaelic lore, argued that the water-bull was "supposed to be a goblin half cow and half horse" and so it and the glashtin were one and the same.^[38]

Cabbyl-ushtey

cabbyl-ushtey^{[lower-alpha 11]} (Manx pronunciation: [ˈkaːvəl ˈuʃtʲə],^[40] [ˈkabəlˈuʃtʲə],^[41] Manx English pronunciation:[ˈkāvəl ˈùʃtþə], Mx. for "water horse")^[39]

Manx folklorist and historian Arthur William Moore was unable to avoid the dichotomy regarding the glashtin. In one instance, Moore represents the glashtin as "a hairy goblin or sprite",^[42] but also says glashtin was another name for a water-horse^[42] or the cabbyl-ushtey.^{[43][lower-alpha 12]}

Moore says there was a sighting of the horse in 1859 at Ballure Glen, and after being spotted people from nearby Ramsey flocked to see, but no one caught sight of it. The glen beneath the Glen Meay Waterfall (near Peel; see Morrison's tale above^[28]) was haunted by the ghost of a man who unwittingly rode on the horseback of the glashtin or cabbyl-ushtey, and was drowned at sea.^{[45][46][lower-alpha 13]}

One tale recounts how a cabbyl-ushtey emerged from the Awin Dhoo (Black River) and devoured a farmer's cow, then later it took his teenaged daughter.^[47] Nevertheless, recent literature makes the cabbyl-ushtey as being more benign than the Scottish Gaelic each-uisge.^[48]